Unream by Jiani Zeng and Honghao Deng Pioneers Dynamic Material Design for Brands

How This Award Winning Design Bridges Digital and Physical Materials, Creating New Possibilities for Brand Innovation

What if your product could communicate through material itself, shifting its appearance as customers move around it, all without a single wire, battery, or screen?

The question of material-based communication sits at the heart of one of the most fascinating developments in contemporary design: the emergence of dynamic materials that blur the boundary between what we experience digitally and what we hold in our hands. For brand leaders, product developers, and innovation teams, dynamic materials represent a genuinely exciting frontier. The physical products that define your brand identity could soon express the same fluid, animated qualities that digital interfaces have trained consumers to expect.

Unream, created by designers Jiani Zeng and Honghao Deng, stands as a compelling proof of concept for the future of dynamic materials. Recognized with a Platinum A' Design Award in 3D Printed Forms and Products Design in 2020, the Unream voxel printed lamp demonstrates something that sounds almost impossible: a three-dimensional object that displays dynamic visual content without any electronic components whatsoever. Unream functions as a daytime artifact reflecting ambient light and as a night lamp projecting fantastical atmospheres, shifting appearance based purely on viewing angle and light conditions.

For enterprises exploring next-generation product differentiation, the implications of dynamic material design deserve serious attention. The following sections reveal how computational fabrication workflows, advanced multi-material printing, and optical physics converge to create material experiences that can transform how consumers perceive and interact with physical goods.

Understanding Dynamic Materials and Their Strategic Value for Product Innovation

The concept of dynamic materials requires a brief foundation before we can appreciate commercial applications. Traditional materials behave predictably. A matte black surface remains matte black from every angle. A glossy red finish reflects light consistently regardless of how you approach the surface. Predictability has defined industrial design for generations, and predictable material behavior works perfectly well for countless applications.

Dynamic materials operate differently. Dynamic materials encode visual information within their three-dimensional structure, revealing different appearances depending on viewing position, light source location, or even the material's interaction with the surrounding environment. Think of the holographic elements on currency or identification cards, but imagine holographic technology extended into complex three-dimensional forms with vastly greater expressive range.

The strategic value for brands emerges from several directions simultaneously. First, dynamic materials create inherent memorability. When a product shifts appearance as a customer walks past the product on a shelf or examines the product in their hands, that experience registers as remarkable. The human visual system pays attention to motion and change, so dynamic materials essentially command visual attention through their fundamental properties.

Second, dynamic materials offer authentication possibilities. A surface that displays specific patterns or colors only from certain angles proves extraordinarily difficult to counterfeit. Premium brands investing heavily in product authenticity find the authentication characteristic particularly compelling.

Third, and perhaps most importantly for brand strategists, dynamic materials allow physical products to mirror the experiential qualities of digital interfaces. Consumers who spend hours daily interacting with animated screens, fluid transitions, and responsive visuals have developed expectations that static physical objects struggle to meet. Dynamic materials begin to bridge the experiential gap between digital and physical worlds.

The development that makes Unream particularly significant is the demonstration that dynamic visual effects can be achieved through fabrication processes rather than applied coatings or attached components. The dynamism exists within the material structure itself.

The Technical Foundation: Voxel Printing and Lenticular Optics Explained

To understand why Unream represents a substantial technical achievement, we need to examine two core technologies: voxel printing and lenticular optics.

Voxel printing extends the familiar concept of pixels into three dimensions. Just as a digital image consists of two-dimensional picture elements arranged in a grid, a voxel-printed object consists of three-dimensional volume elements, each of which can be assigned different material properties. Voxel printing means that at the scale of individual voxels, designers can specify color, transparency, reflectivity, and hardness independently.

The implications become clearer with a specific example. Imagine a single cubic centimeter of printed material. With conventional manufacturing, that cube might be uniformly one material. With voxel printing, that same cube could contain thousands of distinct material assignments, each voxel contributing to a larger pattern or effect invisible at the individual level but coherent at human viewing scales.

Lenticular optics, the second key technology, involves tiny lens structures that direct light in specific ways depending on viewing angle. The most familiar application appears in novelty postcards that show different images when tilted. Lenticular sheets placed over specially printed images create the illusion of motion or depth.

What makes Unream exceptional is the integration of voxel printing and lenticular optics. Rather than manufacturing lenticular lenses separately and applying the lenses to a surface, the designers developed a computational workflow that designs the optical elements and the underlying image content together as a single unified material structure. The lenses and the content the lenses reveal are fabricated simultaneously through multi-material voxel printing.

The integration of lens and content eliminates the constraints that have historically limited lenticular applications to flat surfaces. The Unream lamp demonstrates that lenticular dynamic effects can be applied to curved, three-dimensional forms. Any surface geometry becomes a potential canvas for dynamic material expression.

The research underpinning the Unream project, conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and described as exploring "illusory materials," opens pathways for applying dynamic material techniques across diverse product categories.

Translating Research Innovation Into Brand Applications

The journey from research demonstration to commercial application involves understanding how dynamic material capabilities address specific brand challenges. Let us examine several concrete scenarios where dynamic material design could create meaningful value.

Consumer electronics brands continuously seek differentiation in crowded markets. Imagine a wireless speaker whose housing displays subtle animated patterns that respond to the music playing within, accomplished entirely through passive optical effects rather than power-hungry LED arrays. The device conserves battery while creating visual experiences that connect the auditory and visual senses.

Luxury goods manufacturers invest substantially in creating products that communicate craftsmanship and exclusivity through material quality. Dynamic materials add a new dimension to craftsmanship communication. A handbag clasp that reveals hidden brand elements only from specific angles. A watch face that shifts color temperature throughout the day through purely optical means. Applications like handbag clasps and watch faces transform static luxury objects into experiential ones.

Packaging designers for premium beverages, cosmetics, or consumer products could incorporate dynamic material elements that engage customers during the crucial unboxing moment. A perfume bottle that appears to shimmer with internal motion as the bottle rotates in the customer's hand creates sensory associations that static packaging cannot achieve.

Automotive interior designers exploring how to create distinctive cabin experiences might find dynamic materials particularly relevant. Dashboard elements or control interfaces that display different information depending on driver viewing position, all without electronic displays, could contribute to both aesthetic distinction and functional innovation.

The common thread across automotive, packaging, luxury, and electronics applications is the creation of material experiences that feel alive without depending on electronic systems. The absence of electronics matters for practical reasons including durability, power consumption, and manufacturing complexity, but the absence of electronics also matters for philosophical reasons. There is something deeply appealing about materials that possess inherent expressiveness rather than borrowed animation.

The Computational Workflow: How Designers Create Dynamic Material Experiences

One of the most valuable contributions of the Unream project extends beyond the physical object itself to the computational workflow developed to create dynamic materials. The computational workflow represents a potential new design methodology that brand innovation teams might adopt as multi-material printing technology becomes more accessible.

Traditional product design workflows separate material specification from form development. Designers create shapes, then surface designers or material engineers specify the finishes and materials that will cover those shapes. The separation of form and material makes sense for conventional manufacturing processes where forms and finishes involve different production technologies.

The computational workflow developed for Unream integrates form and material concerns from the earliest design stages. Because the optical effects depend on the precise relationship between lens geometry, underlying image content, and overall product form, designers must consider all three simultaneously. The workflow provides tools that visualize how different material distributions will appear from various viewing angles, allowing rapid iteration and refinement.

The integration of form and material enables designers to create what the creators describe as "object interfaces with various material distributions that can display unique material expressions." The term "interface" here carries significance. The interface concept suggests that the material surface itself becomes a communication medium, conveying information and creating experiences rather than simply enclosing internal components.

For brand product teams considering how to incorporate dynamic material capabilities, the existence of a documented computational workflow matters enormously. Research innovations often remain locked in laboratories because the path from demonstration to replication remains unclear. The workflow development associated with Unream suggests that dynamic material techniques can be systematized and potentially transferred to commercial design environments.

The designers note that their approach allows manipulation of color, texture, and reflectivity of materials freely, creating objects with unique optical expressions achievable through no other method. The freedom to manipulate material properties at the voxel level represents an expansion of the designer's palette that parallels the expansion digital tools provided when digital tools first entered design practice.

Strategic Considerations for Brand Innovation Programs

For brand leaders evaluating whether dynamic material design belongs on their innovation roadmap, several strategic considerations deserve attention.

The first consideration involves timing. Multi-material voxel printing technology continues advancing rapidly. Resolution increases, material options expand, and production speeds improve with each generation of equipment. Brands that begin exploring dynamic material capabilities now position themselves to move quickly as the technology matures toward commercial viability at scale.

The second consideration concerns intellectual property. As dynamic material design evolves into a recognized design discipline, early innovations will establish foundational patents and proprietary processes. Brands investing in research partnerships or internal development programs could secure advantageous positions in emerging material markets.

The third consideration relates to brand narrative. Demonstrating commitment to material innovation communicates forward-thinking leadership to consumers, investors, and talent. Even before dynamic materials appear in shipping products, the research and development activities themselves generate valuable brand associations with innovation and technological sophistication.

Those interested in understanding the current state of the art and the specific implementation details of dynamic material technology should Explore Unream's Award-Winning Dynamic Material Innovation, which demonstrates conclusively that dynamic material concepts have moved from theoretical possibility to functional reality.

The fourth consideration involves ecosystem development. Dynamic material design requires new collaborations between industrial designers, optical engineers, computational specialists, and manufacturing experts. Brands that cultivate interdisciplinary relationships build capabilities applicable across multiple product lines and future technologies.

Finally, brands should consider the experiential differentiation that dynamic materials enable. In an era when product specifications often converge across competitors, the qualitative experience of interacting with a product becomes increasingly important for preference formation. Materials that respond, shift, and reveal create memorable experiences that static materials cannot match.

The Future Trajectory of Material Expression in Product Design

Looking ahead, several developments appear likely to accelerate the adoption of dynamic material design principles.

Manufacturing technology will continue democratizing. Equipment that currently requires major capital investment and specialized expertise will become more accessible to design studios, contract manufacturers, and even in-house innovation labs. Manufacturing democratization follows the pattern established by conventional 3D printing, which moved from aerospace and medical applications to consumer availability within two decades.

Material libraries will expand. Researchers continue developing new printable materials with novel optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. The current generation of voxel-printed dynamic materials represents early exploration. Future generations will offer greater chromatic range, improved durability, and enhanced optical precision.

Design software will mature. The computational workflows pioneered by researchers like those behind Unream will evolve into commercial design tools accessible to product designers without specialized programming expertise. When designers can specify dynamic material effects as easily as designers currently specify colors or textures, adoption will accelerate dramatically.

Consumer expectations will shift. As dynamic materials begin appearing in products, consumers will develop new expectations for material behavior. Static materials will not become obsolete, but static materials will increasingly share shelf space with dynamic alternatives. Brands that master the new material vocabulary early will shape evolving expectations rather than responding to expectations set by others.

The environmental implications also deserve consideration. Dynamic visual effects achieved through material structure rather than electronic displays eliminate the environmental costs associated with display manufacturing, power consumption, and electronic waste. As sustainability considerations grow in importance for brand strategy, the passive nature of optical dynamic materials becomes an increasingly valuable characteristic.

Closing Reflections

The boundary between digital and physical experience has shaped consumer expectations for a generation. Products that exist only in screens offer fluid animation and responsive change, while products we hold in our hands remain steadfastly static. Unream demonstrates that the digital-physical boundary is more permeable than previously assumed.

For brands investing in product differentiation, material innovation, and experiential design, the emergence of dynamic materials presents an opportunity to create physical products that communicate, respond, and engage in ways previously reserved for digital interfaces. The technical foundations exist. The design methodologies are developing. The strategic question becomes whether to explore dynamic material possibilities now or wait for competitors to lead the way.

What might your flagship product look like if the product's materials could express your brand's dynamism as vividly as your digital presence does?