Visual Brand Language Warning Speaker Design

Federal Signal

The Best Design Ring Through

Designing new Speakers and Warning System VBL and product line.

Challenge

Federal Signal partnered with Beyond Design to develop a new Visual Brand Language for their speaker and warning system product line. The challenge was establishing a distinctive design identity that could unify multiple products while maintaining Federal Signal’s recognizable brand presence. The system needed to work across various configurations and product types within a cohesive family.

Process

Through extensive form exploration, designers identified geometric shapes that were simple yet distinguishable in the market. One of the forms that stood out took on a triangular form factor that became the foundation of the new Federal Signal VBL, and was incorporated across the product line to create visual consistency and brand recognition.

The speaker grill pattern incorporates the Federal Signal logo, further establishing brand awareness through every product touchpoint. Designers integrated lighting elements to the speaker system, resulting in a unified design featuring three distinct lights triangulating around the horn, thus taking up less wall space, faster to install, and visually more appealing. Through continued development with 3D modeling, designers visualized how this triangular language would communicate across different product configurations while maintaining a cohesive brand identity.

Impact

The new VBL successfully differentiated Federal Signal’s speaker systems in the industrial market while creating a scalable design language for future product development. The integrated logo patterns strengthened brand recognition at every customer touchpoint. The cohesive design system allowed Federal Signal to offer different product configurations under one unified aesthetic, enabling flexible sales strategies while maintaining strong visual brand consistency across the entire speaker and warning system line.