ASUS Republic of Gamers Teams up With ArtCenter College of Design

TAIPEI, Taiwan, October 5, 2021 — ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) is proud to announce a collaboration with ArtCenter College of Design, aiming to develop new possibilities for the ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop and its iconic feature, the lid-mounted AniMe Matrix™ LED display. Students and faculty from across multiple departments will partner with ROG engineers and designers to collaborate on new possibilities for the future of AniMe Matrix.

ASUS partnering with ArtCenter

ASUS previously partnered with ArtCenter College of Design, working together on the ProArt product line that focuses on professionals and content creation. During that effort, ArtCenter’s young artists and designers came up with numerous novel and innovative ideas that could be implemented in future versions of existing products. This time, ROG and ArtCenter are working together to develop new functionality and features for AniMe Matrix, the iconic LED system built into the top lid of the ROG Zephyrus G14. As a powerful creative tool, ROG is eagerly looking forward to the team’s creations.

”ROG is committed to producing out-of-this-world experiences for gamers and enthusiasts everywhere,” said Allen Chen, director of the ASUS Design Center. “We are currently aiming to extend the potential on Zephyrus G14's AniMe Matrix even further. That’s why we reached out to ArtCenter, which has an outstanding reputation for product design and collaboration.”

Cross-departmental effort

ArtCenter College of Design has recruited a multi-departmental team, with faculty and students from Product Design, Media Design Practices, Graphic Design, Interaction Design and Transportation Design majors all contributing. “The project itself is quite different than most we’ve tackled,” said Jeff Higashi, Associate Professor of Product Design at ArtCenter. “In my view, it’s like a professional internship in 14 weeks. The outcomes need to be feasible for today with an outlook on tomorrow’s product strategy for succession and expansion. Even some internships don’t provide this.”

ROG will support the project with members of its product marketing, design, R&D and marketing teams assisting throughout the process. These team members will serve as mentors for the next generation artists and designers whenever they need a helping hand over the course of the project.

Students design the future of ROG

This 14-week partnership kicked off on September 15, 2021 and will take the students through three distinct phases. At first, the young artists will focus on building a deep understanding of the current G14 and its implementation of AniMe Matrix. In the second phase, the team will help develop new ideas about what the G14 can be used for and potential interactions with other ROG products, as well as creating new animations and experiences with the AniMe Matrix™ LED system. Towards the end of the semester, the next generation artists and designers will focus on future applications for this technology across a wide spectrum of devices. With this holistic approach, students will be able to see the product from multiple perspectives and help craft new possibilities for an existing device.