Commercial radios that support the work of protecting local safety"VP8000"

Flagship model of commercial radio for fire and police

The VP8000 is a professional portable radio sold in North America by EF Johnson Technologies, Inc. (based in the USA), a JVCKENWOOD Group company. It is the flagship model of the Viking series, which the company has been selling since 1939 for the public safety market, including fire departments and police departments. JVCKENWOOD Design was responsible for the design research and product design in the advanced development phase.

Pursuing reliable operability in harsh environments

The development of commercial radios for fire and police forces requires durability, water resistance, and dust resistance that meet the "MIL-Spec" standards established by the US Department of Defense. In developing this device, not only did it meet those standards, but materials were selected based on even stricter original standards, and the design was packed with ingenuity throughout, anticipating use in harsh environments.

At the scene of a fire, stable communication and reliable operability are directly linked to the safety of firefighters and rescuers. To prevent the device from falling, the VP8000 uses an inverted pyramid-shaped flared form that widens upwards, improving grip when held in the hand. The top surface is now wider than before, and the display has been enlarged, improving visibility. A guard shape is applied around the top surface to protect the display and operation buttons from impacts in the event of a fall and prevent malfunctions.

Additionally, because firefighters wear thick gloves at fire scenes and police officers carry a lot of equipment around their waists, the control knobs on the top are tilted slightly outward and the orange button for use in emergencies is positioned large enough to ensure reliable operation even while wearing these gear.The green coloring of the firefighting model is designed to ensure high visibility at fire scenes.

Design research to pursue usability

In this project, before starting to develop specific elemental technologies, we carried out preliminary development that included interviews and other methods for about a year, and worked on the design based on the feedback we received there.

When designing professional radios, we place great importance on research to deepen our understanding of the field, and for past models, our designers traveled to North America, our main target, to interview firefighters and police officers, as well as participate in firefighting drills conducted by local fire departments. The knowledge gained from this has been incorporated into the design of this flagship model.

Firefighters engaged in firefighting activities wear equipment weighing several tens of kilograms in total, including helmets, fireproof clothing, oxygen tanks, etc. During the firefighting training, designers donned this equipment and practiced crawling and climbing over walls, providing an experience as close to the real thing as possible, and this was used as design research to gain insights for the subsequent mockup production.

During the design process for this device, we obtained gloves worn at fire scenes and repeatedly verified the grip on the casing, ease of operating the knobs, ease of pressing the buttons, etc. We then had local people try out the mockups we created, and we reflected their specific feedback one by one in the design.

Design that supports the work of professionals who protect the safety of the community

Since 2005, JVCKENWOOD Design has been incorporating the concept of emotional design, which is emphasized, in the design of commercial radios, in addition to ergonomic considerations and ensuring reliability and robustness as equipment used by professionals. We aimed to create a design that has the appearance of a tool used by professionals, and that would inspire firefighters and police officers who protect the safety of local communities by wearing it.

"Speaker Grill"Creating product identity through the creation of

"Viking" is a series of professional radios that has been sold in North America since 1939 by EF Johnson Technologies, Inc. (based in the USA), a JVCKENWOOD Group company. Since the company became part of the JVCKENWOOD Group in 2014, JVCKENWOOD Design has been involved in the design of this series.

KENWOOD is a brand that originally started out in the business of radio equipment, and has released a number of products that are considered to be excellent models for both amateur and professional use. In particular, the sound quality that can be reliably transmitted even in harsh conditions has earned the company a certain level of support from users.

For professional radios, we have created a product identity throughout the series by ensuring consistency in the shape of the speaker grille. From a functional standpoint, this distinctive speaker grille design takes into consideration situations where sound is difficult to produce in the rain, when submerged in water, or at the scene of a fire, while also visually expressing the reliability and safety of the product as a design icon that sets it apart from competing products.