USB-C Pro Hub (with Wireless Charging)
The brief was to design a compact, premium hub for people working between home, office, and travel. Beyond refining usability and form, I explored how the hub could offer meaningful functional differentiation by integrating wireless charging directly into the device — an idea that ultimately led to a new hub variant and established the foundation for a broader product family.
Role:
Senior Industrial Designer
Scope:
Industrial Design • Product Architecture • Concept Development • Engineering Collaboration
Outcome:
Launched product + foundation for ZAGG’s productivity hub ecosystem
Rethinking the Hub
Most hubs prioritise port density over usability, and yet still leave certainly functionality at the wayside causing users to need multiple devices. The goal was to design a hub better suited to modern mobile work.
Form Exploration
While exploring form differentiation, I focused on improving usability as well as aesthetics. Three architectural directions were explored:
• Flexible extension formats
• Inline compact forms
• Integrated plug bodies
• Inline compact forms
• Integrated plug bodies
Each direction improved usability, but the product still felt like a conventional USB hub, so the project needed to go a step further.
Product Innovation: Wireless Hub
To create meaningful distinction in a crowded market, I worked with the engineering team and proposed using the hub’s existing power capabilities to integrate wireless charging directly into the device. This reframed the hub from a passive connectivity accessory into an active desktop surface and prompted a re-evaluation of the internal architecture to support the charging system.
Design & Engineering Challenge
Integrating wireless charging introduced several additional components, including the charging coil, shielding layers, and thermal separation. These elements required additional vertical space within the enclosure. Several layouts were explored to preserve the original form factor, but the wireless configuration ultimately required a deeper enclosure to maintain reliable charging performance.
Evolution
To maintain the hub’s compact footprint while enabling the new functionality, the product split into two variants:
Standard Pro Hub — retains the original height for portability
Pro Hub with Wireless Charging — increases to accommodate the charging system
Pro Hub with Wireless Charging — increases to accommodate the charging system
Final Outcome
The project introduced wireless charging to the hub range and established the design foundation for a broader family of hubs, adapters, and desktop docking products now released as part of ZAGG’s productivity line.
