Brand Design
Zeal Optics builds the highest quality eyewear for those who love adventure. The design aesthetic is based off their founding principles: Use Less, Give Back, Explore More. Defining our passion for the outdoors is often just as important in the creative direction as the product itself. When producing each piece of media we begin by identifying how each product will allow us to connect with the natural environment and see the world through a better lens.
Case Study
The Meridian Goggle + Define Your Line Campaign
Zeal Optics set out to expand their line of award-winning products with a new medium-fit goggle that showcased their latest lens and frame technologies. We were tasked with designing the product, packaging, and a fully integrated campaign to launch the Meridian for Winter ‘25/26. Guided by research and consumer insights, we developed a cohesive creative system that not only introduced their most ground-breaking product to date, but also built a campaign identity that scaled globally across digital, retail, and social channels.
Phase 1: Research + Strategic Insights
Audience Focus: Women and individuals with smaller facial structures who struggle with oversized goggles. Target demographics include skiers, snowboarders, and outdoor enthusiasts who prioritize comfort and fit, as well as style.
User-Centric Insights: Ergonomic fit study to understand the preferences of women and those with smaller faces to highlight fit and comfort in our design.
Market & Competitor Analysis: Position Meridian by including a nod to their innovative lens technologies and sustainability initiatives that are unique to Zeal.
Visual Connection: Understand how visual elements will align design work with the theme of precision and clarity in defining one’s line.
Phase 2: Design & Visual Direction
The process began by sketching over 50 thumbnails to get some inspiration and iteration for lots of different styles. We researched past Zeal designs, as well as market trends to see what would fit together and stand out. Functionality was foremost and the product had to perform and fit comfortably in any condition. The team chose their top four designs and the detailed final sketches provided a technical blueprint to be delivered to the manufacturing team.
Design System Development
Built a linear, geometric visual language inspired by ridgelines and topography.
Created scalable design elements—typography, color palettes, illustration styles—that adapted across digital, retail, and packaging.
Designed guidelines that ensured consistency for both global rollout and regional teams.
Result: A flexible system that balanced global brand cohesion with localized storytelling.
The first product samples gave us great feedback and confirmed that we were moving in the right direction. The Zeal team loved the new shape as well as the new RLs lens design. Overall, changes needed to be made in the ventilation and frame top to allow for a better visual profile and fit.
After another round of samples, the final product was approved and testers were thrilled with the overall performance. The mid-size fit was perfect for smaller faces and the downwards-tilted lens expands the vertical field of view by 20%, giving an eagle’s-eye-view of the slopes. With the product finished it was time to move on to the marketing campaign for the winter season and final launch.
Phase 3: Campaign Execution
We rolled out the Define Your Line campaign across Zeal’s owned channels: dotcom, app, email, and social.
Directed campaign imagery and motion graphics to showcase product performance and brand values.
Designed packaging and in-store collateral to extend the campaign seamlessly into retail environments.
Focus: Every touchpoint—from screen to shelf—carried the same bold,
elevated identity.
Tagline & Storytelling: "Define Your Line" should reflect both the personal and technical aspects—precision in sport and individuality in choice.
Lens Innovation Spotlight: Showcase how the Sakura lens enhances visibility and contrast, possibly tying in cherry blossom colors into lens tints.
Athlete & Ambassador Alignment: Collaborate with female athletes who embody precision, boldness, and self-expression in winter sports.
Sakura blossoms and softer colors lend a feminine yet refined touch that align with Define Your Line. We used a hand-drawn look from Japanese Ink styles to the illustrations and the herringbone pattern for the accent. Clean lines and typography tie everything back to the Zeal brand guidelines and ensure quick recognition.
Our approach to the creative design for the winter marketing was to capture the sense of light, subtle beauty of Zeal’s Define Your Line campaign. It's a call to embrace and express your personal style. From sleek silhouettes with nods to timeless patterns and bold colors, every frame and strap is designed to let you slay the slopes in clean winter fashion. We took inspiration from Japan, the Alps, and the light purple colors of the new “Sakura” lens.
Global Rollout & Cross-Functional Collaboration
Results + Impact
Partnered with product, marketing, photography, and retail teams to ensure alignment at every stage.
Built design decks and presentations for internal stakeholders, securing buy-in across departments.
Delivered a campaign toolkit that empowered regional teams to execute with precision and consistency.
Launched Zeal’s most anticipated goggle to date, supported by its strongest global campaign system.
Strengthened consumer connection through inclusive design, aligning brand storytelling with authentic outdoor values.
Established a scalable design framework that Zeal could carry into future campaigns.
Zeal Optics’ collection of meticulously crafted goggles combines performance with elan, ensuring you look and see as incredible as you ride. With a 360° approach from product, print, social, and retail, the Meridian goggle and Define Your Line footprint are a cohesive and unique design collaboration. Get ready to step into your freeride mode and join us as we redefine winter fashion.
ZEAL x Pat Milbery
Zeal Optics partnered with Denver-based artist Pat Milbery to create a limited series of sunglasses and goggles that embodied the vibrance and energy of the Colorado mountains. Our challenge was to design both the product line and the end-to-end campaign, translating Milbery’s bold geometric style into a cohesive system that spanned product, packaging, and marketing. To authentically tell this story, we immersed ourselves in Milbery’s LoveTap series and his mission to give back to future generations of outdoor stewards.
Design Approach
Drawing from Milbery’s uplifting color palette and dynamic patterns, we developed a design system that merged art, fashion, and performance. His artwork was seamlessly integrated into the frame design using high-quality materials and precision printing techniques, transforming each sunglass into a wearable canvas. For the follow-up Lookout goggle, we evolved the system into a darker, more adventurous expression — layering snow-capped mountain motifs and sunrise elements to align with the Phoenix lens and the culture of thrill seekers.
Campaign Execution
The collaboration extended beyond product to a full creative rollout:
Visual Identity: Adapted Milbery’s artwork into a scalable set of graphics and color systems for digital, retail, and packaging touchpoints.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partnered closely with Milbery, product engineers, and marketing teams to ensure brand integrity and storytelling alignment.
Omnichannel Marketing: Designed launch assets spanning social media, retail displays, and digital campaigns, amplifying the energy of the artwork and its message of positivity.
Results + Impact
The Open Hearts collaboration was an immediate success — selling out quickly, generating millions of impressions in its first months, and raising thousands of dollars for Milbery’s nonprofit organizations supporting underprivileged youth. The campaign demonstrated how design can transcend product, building community through storytelling, creativity, and purpose. By fusing art and performance into a cohesive system, Zeal strengthened its brand identity and extended its global reach.
UX Case Study - Mobile Site
Through user testing and Google Analytics, we discovered that customers were wasting time manually changing product image perspectives (front, quarter, side) for each individual product. This behavior was especially noticeable among comparison shoppers and mobile users browsing multiple styles.
Session recordings revealed users clicking into multiple product pages just to view the angle they preferred—often repeating the same image tap pattern over and over. The result: friction, frustration, and longer paths to purchase.
Our Goal
Design a solution that allows users to set a preferred product image angle globally across product listing pages (PLP), product detail pages (PDP), and quick view modules—reducing repetitive behavior, increasing product confidence, and supporting faster decision-making.
Before
After
Research & Discovery
Reviewed Hotjar session recordings to analyze image interaction patterns.
Interviewed 5 users who regularly browsed sunglasses or goggles online.
Found that 80% preferred a consistent angle (usually 3/4 view) to assess fit, shape, and depth.
Ideation & Design
Explored lightweight interaction patterns like:
A sticky toggle or selector for “default view” (e.g., Front / Quarter / Side).
A hover or tap-activated perspective switcher on thumbnails.
Prioritized a persistent user preference, stored in local browser cache.
Prototyping & Testing
Built interactive prototypes in Figma for mobile and desktop.
Tested with 6 users: 3 DTC shoppers, 3 repeat Zeal customers.
Iterated to make the toggle intuitive but unobtrusive, placing it in the top bar on desktop and filter drawer on mobile.
Final Solution
A global image perspective toggle:
Appears at the top of PLPs and in PDP image galleries.
Allows users to select and lock their preferred angle (Front, 3/4, Side).
Applies the selected view persistently across all product listings and previews during the session.
Also included:
Updated thumbnail logic to default to selected angle, even during filtering or navigation.
Designed fallback for products missing certain image views.
Brand-aligned content headline “change your perspective”, a direct tieback to global brand storytelling efforts.
Outcome
46% reduction in average time on PDP before add-to-cart, indicating faster decision-making.
Conversion rate increased by 12% for users who interacted with the toggle feature.
Positive customer feedback in post-purchase surveys around “easier product comparison.”
Reduced bounce rates from PDPs, especially on mobile.
Bonus Feature: Mobile “Sort By” Filter
During user testing, we observed shoppers struggling to find sorting options—many scrolled the full product grid before realizing filtering tools were buried at the bottom.
To improve navigability:
We introduced a sticky “Sort By” filter button on the top-right of mobile PLP.
Made the filter accessible without opening the full filter drawer, improving discoverability and speed.
Illustration
This part is FUN. Whether the request is for a sketch, multi-page catalog, or a new brand tool. Adding to the library of beautiful artwork for an active team like Zeal is an exciting opportunity to design your outdoor dream. Want the perfect wave? No problem. Maybe it’s the steepest couloir in the greater ranges of your mind. Either way, we hope it inspires you to explore more.
Print Media
Seasonal catalogs, learning materials, and sales tools are important parts of the Zeal Optics brand marketing. We are there to help create simple and effective designs that come to life with beautiful colors, layouts, and images that draw you in and move the eye exactly where it needs to be. Need help working with the printer or delivering files to spec? We have you covered.
Product Design
Goggles, sunnies, you name it and we love to make it come to life. Every season Zeal comes to us for their new collection of strap designs, packaging, and technical drawings for prototyping.
Digital Media
Retail + OOH
Zeal Optics’ flagship retail store in Boulder, Colorado is a wonderful display of the newest and most sustainable collection of sunglasses and goggles in the outdoor industry. Each season we design and deliver all retail POP, signage, and digital assets that will bring their space to life. The collection is also available to all their wholesale partners including REI, Christy Sports, and many more.
