Client:
PENTAIR
Year:
2022
Role:
Industrial Design, Brand Identity, UI/UX Standards
Pentair’s diverse product offerings in pool and water solutions have long been known for innovation, quality, and reliability. However, a fragmented visual identity diluted the brand's impact, confusing consumers and limiting market differentiation.
The Visual Brand Language (VBL) program unified Pentair’s product ecosystem under a cohesive, consumer-centric design strategy that bridged form, function, and emotional engagement. In an industrial design role, I contributed to the effort by defining signature design elements, creating versatile CMF strategies, and ensuring usability and cohesion across physical and digital touchpoints.
Following a major merger and rebrand, Pentair looked to transition from a refreshed 2D identity into a fully realized industrial design system. The goal: bring consistency, clarity, and brand equity to physical products. This next chapter translated the updated brand story and graphic elements—clean geometry, calming palettes, purposeful simplicity—into a tangible design language that now unifies Pool, Residential, and Commercial Water Treatment lines under one cohesive visual and tactile experience. Inspired by water, anchored by strategy, and validated by stakeholders.
The project began with an in-depth exploration of Pentair’s brand values, consumer perceptions, and market opportunities.
The early stages of the project were dedicated to defining the brand’s design intent from the ground up. We initiated a deep-dive research process, including interviews across global teams, distributor insights, and user ethnography. Through this, we identified critical gaps—not only in product styling, but in how brand personality translated to industrial design.
From there, the team mapped the competitive landscape across regional markets (North America, EMEA, and China) and compared product ecosystems to identify best-in-class design practices and opportunities for category leadership.
Building from this foundation, we translated core brand attributes—such as “Purposeful,” “Confident,” and “Premium”—into formal directions, each grounded in a defined industrial design gestalt. The ideation phase yielded eight early theme platforms, each framed around distinct geometry, silhouette logic, and brand storytelling potential. We explored approaches that ranged from carved minimalism to kinetic flow, with each theme tested across both Pool and Water Treatment categories.
This ideation process involved extensive sketching, early CAD mockups, and cross-category visual testing. Even at this stage, we evaluated manufacturability, cost, and SKU breadth to ensure the system could scale across the portfolio. What emerged was a toolkit of formal languages that could adapt to different form factors while reinforcing a single, unified Pentair identity.
The VBL was defined around clear, actionable principles.
To validate our early design hypotheses, we conducted two rounds of Voice of the Customer (VOC) testing with end users and stakeholders. The first session focused on directional feedback and emotional resonance, identifying which aesthetic territories aligned with user perceptions of quality, durability, and trust. Later testing evaluated refined form factor models, confirming preferences for cohesive, purposeful shapes with thoughtful CMF application.
Rather than creating a single “look,” we developed a design system—a flexible architecture of form, proportion, and detail that could be applied across product categories without forcing visual sameness. The selected direction, nicknamed "GEO", relied on softened geometric primitives, proportionally scaled chamfers, and a recognizable "pillowed" silhouette that evoked containment, precision, and quiet strength.
One of the core elements was the running chamfer, a signature form detail that flows around the perimeter of the product. This element acts as both an aesthetic anchor and a subtle guide for how branding, screens, or ports are positioned. It provided a flexible scaffolding that could shift depending on product scale, housing material, or tier—while always remaining visually consistent with the rest of the portfolio.
Fluid Forms: Rounded silhouettes and simple geometric structures inspired by water’s calming qualities. Proportional guidelines were provided to ensure the entire product family could be crafted with a single set of dimensional constraints.
Signature Chamfer and Line: The Chamfer reduced visual weight and provided a sculpted, technical form semantic, while The Line symbolized water’s flow and continuity.
Versatile CMF Strategy: Tailored palettes connected products to their environments while maintaining overall brand cohesion.
This system gave Pentair more than just design inspiration. It gave them a toolset—rules for curvature, spacing, and geometry that can be applied across existing SKUs and future product families alike, while staying recognizable to end users and retailers.
These principles ensured the VBL was adaptable, recognizable, and applicable across Pentair’s product segments, unifying everything from pool equipment to residential water filtration systems.
CMF strategy tailored distinct palettes for each product segment.
With the VBL form language in place, we turned our focus to Color, Material, and Finish. The CMF system was designed to clearly communicate product purpose and positioning, while reinforcing consistency and reducing visual noise within each category. Rather than rely on one blanket palette, we defined three distinct CMF families based on where and how each product would be used.
Pool Products: The "Sand," "Stone," and "Sea" palette connects these products to outdoor environments, creating harmony with natural surroundings. Finishes emphasize ruggedness and high outdoor visibility. Textured black casings, sandy neutrals, and durable accent colors like Bright Blue were introduced to align with the poolside environment, where exposure to sun and water required UV-stable materials and readable details.
Residential Water Solutions: Clean, modern tones like "Snow" and "Slate" integrate seamlessly into home interiors. The soft whites, deep-toned blues, and high-touch textures created a refined presence that could live quietly under sinks or alongside home appliances. Minimal contrast was used intentionally to create a sense of calm and reduce perceived complexity.
Commercial Solutions: These needed to balance both performance and polish. A durable yet refined combination of "Slate" and metallic accents projects strength and reliability These products typically live in professional kitchens or utility closets, and needed to look clean, capable, and engineered.
Beyond the geometric construction of products, the VBL extended into physical and digital user interfaces.
A cohesive brand experience doesn’t end at the enclosure. The VBL extended into how people interact with Pentair products—both physically, through buttons and screens, and digitally, through iconography and interface structure. These elements were integrated into the system with the same attention to hierarchy, proportion, and clarity as the exterior forms.
In the physical space, we used VBL elements to frame interaction zones. Chamfered insets guided where users would find screens or buttons, while layout patterns helped distinguish tiered models from one another without relying solely on labels or color. Product branding was aligned to a consistent placement system and adjusted based on product proportions, whether on large pool heaters or compact reverse osmosis systems.
For digital interactions, we proposed foundational principles for how to translate the VBL into UI elements—such as edge framing, typographic scale, and icon styling. These ensured that the interaction design matched the tone and clarity of the physical product it lived on.
Standardized Iconography: Clear, universal symbols simplify operation across diverse products.
Harmonized Interfaces: Digital interfaces echo the physical design language, using the same color palette and rounded forms for a seamless user journey.
Human-Centered Design: Control layouts prioritize accessibility and ease of use, ensuring intuitive operation for both professionals and end-users.
By bridging the physical and digital, we reinforced a single brand experience—one that felt considered, intuitive, and intentional across every touchpoint.
The final VBL gives Pentair a unified visual foundation that elevates product perception and streamlines development across the board. With clear guidelines for form, CMF, and interaction, teams now have a shared framework for decision-making—and consumers have a more consistent experience across the full range of offerings.
For Pentair:
Establishes a repeatable design language that can be applied across categories and business units
Enhances brand visibility in competitive environments like trade shows, websites, and retail shelves
Provides a flexible structure for product tiering, segmentation, and innovation over time
For Designers and Engineers:
Simplifies collaboration through shared visual rules and scalable geometry
Speeds up development by removing ambiguity around form and finish
Bridges physical and digital through clear UI integration strategies
For End Users:
Improves usability with intuitive touchpoints and visually legible products
Builds trust through consistent design cues that suggest quality and performance
Strengthens emotional connection with a clearer brand presence in the home, on the jobsite, or at the pool
The result is a brand identity that is functional, emotionally resonant, and reflective of Pentair’s mission: To deliver smart, sustainable solutions for water - life’s most essential resource.
