News

Happy New Year from everyone at Tactile! Before we dive into 2026, we’re celebrating a year packed with major milestones. 2025 saw us launching new ventures, winning awards, and strengthening our team culture. Our design team celebrated a trio of accolades, taking home Good Design Awards for the ecobee Smart Thermostat Essential, ecobee Smart Doorbell Camera, and Sparx BEAM. These awards validate our continued commitment to seamless, user-centric design. See the winners. We also expanded our creative capabilities with the launch of TactileFX, a new studio dedicated to high-end visual storytelling, animation, and digital experiences. Visit TactileFX. On the industrial side, we helped launch the DCI DigiTrak ARES with its AI-powered scanning and showcased our ergonomic work on the Genie PCON scissor lift controller. Beyond the work, we reunited our Seattle, Boston, and remote teams for Tactile IRL. This unforgettable offsite reminded us that collaboration is key to our success. Read about the event. And lastly, we also continued to grow our partnerships with industry leaders like Stanley, Bose, XBOX, Meta, Keurig, and Zebra, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in physical and digital product design. We can't wait to show you what we’re working on for 2026!

We are thrilled to announce that Tactile has been awarded three prestigious 2025 Good Design Awards for our work with established partners ecobee and Sparx Hockey. These accolades from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design celebrate the most innovative and cutting-edge industrial, product, and graphic designs produced around the world. Our ongoing collaboration with ecobee continues to set the standard for the smart home, and we are proud to see two products recognized this year: Smart Thermostat Essential and Smart Doorbell Camera. Our ongoing collaboration with ecobee continues to set the standard for the smart home with two recognized products this year. The ecobee Smart Thermostat Essential brings signature, human-centered design to a more accessible price point, ensuring energy-saving technology is within reach for every home through intuitive control and easy installation. Alongside it, the ecobee Smart Doorbell Camera was designed to see what others can't, featuring an industry-leading 175-degree vertical field of view. Its sleek, weatherproof form factor integrates radar-sensing technology and "sensor fusion" to deliver crystal-clear vision day or night, providing homeowners with true peace of mind. Read more about the design of these two products HERE.

We are also celebrating a win for the Sparx BEAM, a revolutionary addition to the Sparx Hockey sharpening ecosystem. The BEAM (Blade Edge Accuracy Measurement) device uses state-of-the-art laser technology to measure skate blade edges to 1/10,000th of an inch. Our design team worked to create a handheld form that feels like a unified part of the Sparx toolset, turning complex measurement capabilities into an intuitive experience for elite and everyday skaters alike. These awards are a testament to the vision and trust of our partners. A huge congratulations to the teams at ecobee and Sparx Hockey! We are honored to help bring these industry-defining products to life. Check out the full list of winners at the Good Design Awards website.

To cap off an amazing 2025, the Tactile Seattle crew gathered at Tinte Cellars’ Tasting Room in Georgetown for a night full of good wine, great food, and even better company. It was the perfect way to close out the year — relaxed, festive, and a fun night to remember. Between clinking glasses, swapping stories, and sampling Tinte’s fantastic pours, we took a moment to toast everything our team accomplished this year. From big launches to creative breakthroughs (and plenty of coffee-fueled brainstorms), it’s been one for the books. Huge thanks to our Tactile Seattle team (and their +1s) for celebrating the holidays with us!

Tactile collaborated with Genie to design the next-generation scissor lift platform controller (PCON), giving operators more intuitive, precise, and confident control on busy job sites. The work builds on a long-standing partnership, uniting industrial design and engineering to create a robust, brand-aligned controller for Genie’s scissor lift portfolio. The controller’s ergonomics, handle options, and clear access to joystick, screen, and E‑Stop were shaped around real-world operator needs at both the platform and ground. Modular mounting and refined internal architecture support consistent deployment across lift configurations while simplifying assembly, service, and long-term durability. Read more HERE.

Tactile is proud to share our collaboration with Genie, supporting their bold move toward an electrified and more sustainable future in lift equipment while maintaining brand legacy and clarity. As Genie rolled out electric and hybrid versions of their flagship lifts, we worked side-by-side to extend their visual brand language to these innovative models. Our approach included developing unique design cues that allow electric and hybrid lifts to be instantly identifiable in the field, reinforcing both Genie's trusted legacy and their advancing role in eco-conscious, reliable solutions for tomorrow’s job sites. Electric models feature split graphics that create the visual effect of a bolt of electricity—making them highly visible on any job site. A striking white logo, serving as a mark of modernity, further distinguishes these products and cements Genie’s position as a premium, forward-thinking brand. New brand guidelines ensure these distinguishing visual elements can be applied consistently, supporting both today’s and future product generations. Read more HERE.

Tactile partnered with Digital Control Inc. (DCI) to help design ARES, DCI’s next-generation DigiTrak HDD locating system and the company’s first ground-up locator in nearly two decades. This collaboration brought together our expertise in human-centered industrial and digital design with DCI’s leadership in horizontal directional drilling technology to create a more intuitive, precise, and future-ready field tool. We helped reimagine the operator experience for ARES, a fully reengineered locating platform intended to define the next era of DigiTrak systems. Building on a long-standing relationship that includes prior collaborations like the DCI TeraTrak R1, the teams worked closely from early vision through refinement to align hardware, interface, and workflow around real job site needs. Congrats to our friends at DCI on their recent launch of ARES!

Tactile teammates from Seattle, Boston, and remote locations recently came together in person for connection, collaboration, and fun at our Seattle studio. Over the course of a couple of days, team members from across our Seattle and Boston studios, along with remote staff, gathered in our downtown Seattle office. The goal was simple: create space to reconnect face-to-face, strengthen relationships, and spark the kind of informal conversations that fuel great design work.​ The team started each day with coffee catch-ups that flowed naturally into working sessions, hallway chats, and impromptu critiques. Lunches and dinners around the city gave people a chance to swap stories, share recent project wins, and build new connections across disciplines and geographies.​

One evening, the team headed to Garage Billiards & Bowl on Capitol Hill in hopes of throwing a few strike! Between frames, people mixed across project teams and studios, celebrating strikes, laughing off gutter balls, and enjoying time together away from laptops and whiteboards.​ In-person time like this reinforces the trust, curiosity, and collaboration that underpin Tactile’s work designing tools and experiences for professionals. As Tactile continues to grow across locations, these IRL moments help ensure the studio culture remains tight-knit, even as the team works with clients around the world.

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of TactileFX, the newest sub-brand from Tactile! As an extension of our legacy in purposeful, human-centered design, TactileFX offers next-level visualization services, helping brands tell their stories in the most dynamic and immersive ways possible. Whether you’re seeking hyper-real renderings, stylized animations, or innovative 3D effects, TactileFX is your new creative partner for unforgettable digital experiences. Explore what’s possible at tactilefx.com!

The new ecobee Smart Thermostat Essential brings the company’s signature, human-centered design language to a more accessible, easy-to-install family of products, and Tactile is proud to have helped shape its form, feel, and everyday experience. Designed for straightforward installation by both HVAC professionals and homeowners, Smart Thermostat Essential streamlines setup so more people can benefit from a connected, energy‑saving home. It extends ecobee’s leadership in smart home comfort, pairing approachable design with technology that helps conserve energy without added complexity. Essential continues ecobee’s iconic “squircle” language in a compact wall‑mounted object with a sleek black front and a clean white side that gently flows into the back of the housing. This soft, balanced geometry, combined with a simple interface, helps the thermostat feel warm and familiar in a typically technical category. The Essential thermostat is deliberately understated, with minimized ornamentation so it can blend seamlessly into a wide range of interiors. As part of a long-standing collaboration with ecobee, Tactile carried key design elements across the broader family of smart home products, allowing Essential to fit naturally within the ecobee ecosystem. Read more HERE.

As we bid farewell to another remarkable year, the entire team at TACTILE would like to extend our heartfelt wishes for a Happy New Year! This past year has been filled with incredible moments and achievements, and we are deeply grateful for your support and partnership. Your trust in us has made all the difference, and we are excited to continue this journey with you. Looking ahead, we are filled with optimism for the future. Together, we'll continue pushing boundaries, creating meaningful experiences, and achieving new milestones. Thank you for being an essential part of our story. We wish you a year filled with joy, prosperity, and countless opportunities. May 2025 bring you success in all your endeavors!