At Quirky, I worked on a project with GE Lighting to create a line of connected smart products. We noticed that Philips was leading the charge in connected lighting with their Hue bulbs, but they were too expensive for the average consumer to upgrade their entire household's lighting. We believed we had a more affordable solution at Quirky and presented our project to GE Lighting.
Created at Quirky, NYC
CREATING AN AFFORDABLE SMART BULB
The other bulbs on the market looked nothing like the comforting incandescent light that GE had made famous. Our proposal: Make an LED bulb that looks like an incandescent, works like a smart bulb but costs only $15.
INTRODUCING GE LINK BULBS
As it turned out, the idea of reinventing the bulb had been bubbling in GE’s mind already—our synchronicity was undeniable. We got the bulbs to market in record time. No company had successfully delivered an affordable, mass-market connected light bulb to the consumer, and (with our help) it only made sense that GE Link bulbs were the brand to break into this market.
A NEW CATEGORY
Quirky acted as a design house for GE to create a visual identity as fresh and innovative as the Link bulbs. Unlike the rest of the stale, cluttered boxes in the lighting aisle, our GE Link packaging features eye-catching infographics and a clean, modern look.
“GE promises smart light bulbs without the usual steep prices.”
—Engadget, July 2014
LINK IS LAUNCHED
Six months after the project started, we launched Link. This bulb helped GE break into the connected lighting market, allowed everyday people to create a smart home affordably, and represented a perfect marriage of both companies’ strengths.
“That time we reinvented the light bulb for the inventor of the light bulb.”
—Ben Kaufman, CEO Quirky
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Designed at
Quirky, NYC
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Industrial Design
Quirky in-house
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Branding + Packaging
Quirky in-house
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Photography
Quirky in-house
Marshall Troy -
App + Dev
Quirky in-house
Wink in-house