Huawei, the third largest mobile group in the world, chose Paris to set up an aesthetic research center in 2014 in its quest to conquer European markets. They named Mathieu Lehanneur as Design Director. Huawei phones use Android with an overlay designed by them (Android 7.0 Nougat combined with EMUI version 5.1). The Huawei phones offer several interchangeable themes depending on the user’s taste.

Huawei entrusted us with an aesthetic research mission around the customizable interface. The objective was to create different universes that correspond to European trends. Based on Peclers’ trend book, and working with the teams at the aesthetic research center, we conducted three work phases lasting four months each from 2014 to 2016. We set up a dedicated team composed of graphic designers, UI designers, motion designers, sound designers, and iconographers. We created entire themes that included wallpapers, button and pictogram designs, ringtones, and screen unlocking animations.

In 2016, for the launch of the new P10, several Huawei research teams were competing on a global level. We were pleased to see four of our themes integrated into the new user interface. The Aquatic theme was the default theme installed on all P10’s in Europe.