Be Antiordinary

When Ron Arad and his partner approached us about bringing pq to the United States, they had an idea that connected design and technology in a very personal way: eyewear made to fit the individual wearing it. Ron lives and has his art studio in London. His work as an industrial designer and architect spans furniture, objects and buildings, with a long history of experimenting with materials and how things are made. That same curiosity was at the heart of pq, the Italian eyewear company he was helping shape.

The glasses brought together Ron’s distinctive approach to form with the possibilities of 3D printing. The frames were printed as a single piece, with small cuts at the edges that allowed the arms to bend instead of using separate hinges held together with screws. Facial scanning added another dimension, allowing the shape and proportions of a person’s face to inform the fit. There was a clear connection between the technology and something people experience every day: how their glasses look and feel when they put them on.

At the time, pq was using a physical face scanner and building a bank of scanned faces as it developed the system. The longer-term ambition included making scanning accessible through a phone or computer camera. Our work focused on introducing the product and explaining the experience they were bringing to market. We wanted people encountering pq for the first time to understand both the design of the glasses and the personal value of having a frame fitted to them.

We met with Ron several times and worked with him and his partner on the strategy for entering the US market. New York and CES in Las Vegas were important parts of that introduction, bringing the brand in front of audiences interested in fashion, design and technology. The presentation needed to speak clearly to all of them. Someone drawn to the shape of the frames should be able to discover the thinking behind them, while someone interested in the technology should be able to picture themselves wearing the finished product.

That relationship between the glasses and their wearer became the starting point for the name. We explored different directions and helped name the customized offering pq&u. It preserved the connection to pq while bringing the person into the identity itself. We developed the branding and a logotype that joined “&u” with the existing name, giving the offering its own expression within the brand.

The website gave us a way to make the process visible. We created an opening animation that showed a face being scanned, followed by customized eyewear appearing on it. It was an explanation of the product experience, making the connection between facial measurements and the finished glasses easy to follow. Visitors could see what customization meant before reading about the details.

Ron’s work has a rough, bold character and a strong use of color. We carried the site’s clarity through a single-page design with a restrained black, white and gray palette, allowing the colors and shapes of the frames to stand out. Simple line icons introduced the product’s qualities, and imagery from the Italian shops gave people a sense of the brand beyond the screen. The line “Meticulously crafted. Tailored to perfection.” brought the design and custom-fit story together in a few words.

The site helped build buzz around pq&u and supported its introduction to the US. Our contribution brought the launch strategy, naming, identity and digital presentation together around a product Ron and the pq team had developed. It was an honor to work directly with Ron and help introduce this part of his work to a new audience.

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Services: Brand strategy, Brand identity, Web design