teenage engineering co-designs the orange Rabbit r1

An orange square at CES

On 9 January 2024, during CES in Las Vegas, the AI start-up Rabbit presents the r1 in a keynote and opens preorders the same day.¹ The device costs $199.² It comes in one colour only, a bright orange.¹ Engadget calls it "an objectively adorable little square in an endearingly bright shade of orange."² It has a 2.88-inch touchscreen, an analogue scroll wheel, a push-to-talk button and a rotating camera.² Engadget's headline names the design partner alongside the function: the r1 is "co-designed by Teenage Engineering".²

The credit is part of the pitch. Jesse Lyu, Rabbit's founder and CEO, writes on X that the r1 offers "god-level design from Teenage Engineering, retro-culture resonating the good old fun tech era" at what he calls the best price for a device of its kind.³ For teenage engineering, the Stockholm company founded in 2005, the launch puts its look at the centre of a product whose core is software it did not write.⁴

The look as a sales argument

Demand arrives faster than Rabbit expects. "When we started building r1, we said internally that we'd be happy if we sold 500 devices on launch day," the company posts, followed by "10,000 units on day 1!"⁵ A second batch of 10,000 sells out shortly after.¹ A week after CES, Dezeen counts more than 30,000 preorders.⁶

Coverage reads the object through its designer. Engadget credits the device's appeal to "the design gurus at Teenage Engineering".² Dezeen introduces the studio through its synthesisers and speakers and sees a nod to the Tamagotchi.⁶ Pocket Tactics later calls teenage engineering a "designer and hipster favorite electronics brand".⁷ The orange body and the scroll wheel give a new AI product a familiar face, borrowed from a company whose name already carries meaning for design-minded buyers. Rabbit's own announcement says the r1 design is "widely recognized in the consumer technology industry for its retrofuture aesthetic".⁸

A closer tie between the two names

The relationship runs deeper than a single commission. Lyu's earlier company, Raven Tech, hired teenage engineering to design its Raven H and Raven R speakers, and Lyu has sat on teenage engineering's board since 2020.⁸ In April 2024 Rabbit appoints Jesper Kouthoofd, founder of teenage engineering, as its Chief Design Officer, while he keeps his roles as head of design and CEO in Stockholm.⁸ "He and the teenage engineering team were instrumental in co-designing our first product, rabbit r1," says Lyu.⁸ Kouthoofd frames the move in terms of the category: "The consumer electronics industry is at a turning point where AI will create new possibilities for many people."⁸ The two brands now share a person as well as a product, and the head of teenage engineering speaks for the client's strategy. would tie them.

When the reviews arrive

Deliveries begin in late April 2024 with a pickup event at the TWA Hotel in New York.⁹ First impressions favour the hardware. Engadget's Cherlynn Low writes: "The R1 just oozes character."⁹ She notes a scroll wheel "reminiscent of the crank on the Playdate", the console teenage engineering designed for Panic.⁹ The full reviews judge what the device does. Tom's Guide awards 1.5 stars and describes a device that "looks way cooler than it performs".¹⁰ Even this review praises the object itself, "a neon orange square design that's reminiscent of an iPod-Tamagotchi hybrid".¹⁰ Marques Brownlee titles his video review "Rabbit R1: Barely Reviewable".⁷ Reports that the r1 software can be installed on an Android phone, and security findings in the summer, add to the scrutiny.¹¹

The design does not stay outside the criticism. On Engadget's podcast, Devindra Hardawar sets the r1 against the Playdate and says it "Feels chunkier and cheaper."¹² The Playdate, he adds, "actually has metal and premium feeling stuff."¹² The comparison runs through teenage engineering's own record: its earlier object becomes the measure for the new one. The studio's past work raises expectations of the build, and the r1 is judged against them.

What lending design credibility buys and costs

For teenage engineering, the r1 shows both sides of putting its name on another company's product. The credit buys reach far beyond the music technology audience. The studio's name runs through CES coverage in general technology media, and the client's founder presents its design as a reason to buy.³ Forbes reports some 130,000 units sold by June 2024.¹¹

The cost is exposure. When reviews turn on a product's functions, the photographs still show the orange square, and the designer's name travels with them. teenage engineering does not write the software, yet its look is the face of the device in every review. With Kouthoofd also Rabbit's Chief Design Officer from April 2024, the two reputations are tied more closely than any single commission