From Glo Hyper Pro to Industry Realignment: A Defining Move by BAT’s Former Design Head

——For Jonathon Lister, good design starts not with form or flair—but with trust, ethics, and regulatory clarity

By 2Firsts

Editor’s Note

“The new innovation, glo Hyper Pro, and upgraded consumables are driving our improved organic performance.”—British American Tobacco, Preliminary Results 2024

When a product appears not just on store shelves but in a global tobacco company’s annual financial statement, it signals something more than a standard upgrade. glo Hyper Pro, launched by British American Tobacco (BAT), marked a strategic inflection point in the company’s heated tobacco portfolio—a move that signaled its intent to challenge PMI’s long-standing dominance in the category. It is one of the few products in recent memory that sits squarely at the intersection of design, technology, regulation, and commercial strategy.

It emerged at a rare moment in the industry: as nicotine products transition from fringe culture to mainstream acceptance; as regulations tighten globally; and as the public conversation around risk, responsibility, and consumer protection grows louder. In this new reality, product design is no longer just about differentiation—it is about trust. Function alone doesn’t make a product compelling; purpose and clarity do.

Jonathon Lister—formerly Director of Product and Experience Design at BAT, and led the team that delivered GLO devices embodies this new paradigm. With a background in global consumer brands like Nokia and HP, he brought not just aesthetics but a systemic design philosophy into a product category that had long prioritized visual flair over ethical coherence. His work reframed features as choices, not tricks; made interaction intuitive rather than obscure; and reinforced the idea that adult users should feel fully in control of their choices.

His design didn’t just shape a device—it mapped the social role such a device could responsibly play.

We chose to interview him not because the product won awards or moved market share—though it did both—but because the thinking behind it offers a mirror to an industry at a tipping point. As design becomes a front-line language for accountability, Jonathon’s approach reminds us: the time has come not just to launch better devices, but to define better products.

Jonathon Lister’s Key Insights：

1. A product feature doesn’t exist until the user feels it—and understands it.

Jonathon doesn’t believe in invisible value. Boost Mode existed in earlier Glo devices, but most users never knew it was there. His redesign didn’t add a new function—it made the function discoverable. For manufacturers used to piling on features, his view is the opposite: if a feature isn’t felt, it’s wasted. Innovation isn’t about how much you build in; it’s about what you enable people to experience.

2. Design isn’t for standing out—it’s for building trust.

In much of the vaping industry, design is treated as surface: flashing lights, bold colors, visual edge. Jonathon reverses that logic. For nicotine products, design isn’t about catching the eye—it’s about clarity, transparency, and control. A product that isn’t readable can’t be trusted, and without trust, there can be no responsible use. Trust is not a byproduct—it’s the deliverable.

3. Regulation isn’t an obstacle—it’s the design brief.

While many see regulation as something to work around, Jonathon sees it as the creative foundation. Each rule—on heat limits, emissions disclosure, user interface—was treated not as a barrier but a boundary within which better design could emerge. “The tougher the regulation,” he says, “the clearer the job.” This isn’t just compliance—it’s clarity.

4. Ethics isn’t a legal checkbox—it’s where good design begins.

Many companies treat compliance as a finish line—Jonathon treats it as the baseline. A product that misleads, hides risk, or encourages misuse isn’t good—no matter how well it performs. He believes adult nicotine users deserve honest, clear tools—not seductive or manipulative ones. For him, design isn’t neutral: it shapes how people engage, behave, and decide.

5. Manufacturing is not design. Shenzhen builds fast, but vision takes something else.

Jonathon has worked closely with Chinese manufacturing partners and deeply respects Shenzhen’s speed and precision. But he draws a sharp line: “A supply chain can make things—but it can’t tell you what’s worth making.” A product that’s easy to produce isn’t necessarily right to produce. Meaning, relevance, and responsibility come from cultural insight, not assembly speed.

He cautions against confusing execution with authorship. Shenzhen has become a global production center—but to become a global design center, it must also become a center of judgment, values, and user understanding. In Jonathon’s view, a product isn’t finished when it’s built—it’s finished when it makes sense.

The Man Behind Glo Hyper Pro—And Why He Left to Build Something New

2Firsts: After years leading design at BAT, you’ve stepped into a new role—founder of your own studio. Why now? And what kind of work will ELURA take on?

Jonathon Lister: My new company will be called ELURA. The foundation of its name is inspired by Warmth, Aura and Aroma. After the expiry of my post-employment restrictions, ELURA will focus on next-generation products, offering strategic design, UX/UI and branding support in the specialism of NGPs, providing services in the realm of Strategy, Product Design, UX/UI, and Branding. I plan to grow the company at the right moments. Presently, I have made great connections with suppliers and individual contributors that I will be able to resource for any given circumstance.

2Firsts: You handed off the Glo design team before launching ELURA. Looking back, what would you want your successor to focus on? Any advice you left behind?

Jonathon Lister: I managed to ensure we have great design processes in place within the design team and I would hope that these remain as it brought a great togetherness and enjoyment in working together to create solutions. I would therefore strongly advise that maintaining and building on the internal cultures to be most important.

Strategy in Form — How Glo Hyper Pro Became BAT’s Strategic Device

2Firsts: What brief were you given for designing the new iteration of Glo?

Jonathon Lister: To elevate device appeal through design. Unfortunately, a common misunderstanding of design is just about how something looks. However, it is much more than that—it is how a product feels and works. The original Hyper devices had the USP of Boost mode. To enable this, the user had to hold down the button for 5 seconds (3s for normal). However, most users did not know this feature existed. As we evolved the designs, we began to solve this and eventually designed the Hyper Pro dial. We also pushed the development teams to consider alternative internal layouts and battery solutions to move away from small, boxy proportions to slimmer, longer and more natural form factors.

2Firsts: What new technologies were included in the new product?

Jonathon Lister: We developed a custom AMOLED display for Hyper Pro. We explored lots of existing off-the-shelf display technologies, but they all negatively impacted the device size or perceived quality. We also ruled out several display options that would not perform well in bright sunlight.

2Firsts: Please walk us through the steps from concept to prototype for the new Glo. Did that process differ from the typical design process for consumer goods?

Jonathon Lister: The success of a process always starts with ensuring you know what the consumer needs are, what is commercially viable, and how to implement the right technologies. This is based on upfront consumer research and identifying their needs. However, it is important not to take this as verbatim. Consumers don’t always know exactly what they want, but you can help them get there by reading between the lines and interpreting in fresh and novel ways. The design process I use has not changed much over the years or between different projects. It is always about finding the balance between "What if" and "How." It is also key that cross-functional alignment on the product values is maintained. Without this, too much time can be spent debating the wrong things.

2Firsts: When you first joined BAT, what were the core design limitations of Glo?

Jonathon Lister: The brief was to sharpen Glo’s design identity and solve some architectural constraints.The devices needed large internal batteries to achieve heating performance, which forced them into one-piece formats and led to bulky, masculine forms that lacked elegance—especially in comparison to IQOS. One of our priorities was to break away from that and push the development teams toward slimmer, longer, more intuitive form factors.

2Firsts: In developing Hyper Pro, how did you arrive at AMOLED as your display choice? What alternatives were ruled out?

Jonathon Lister: We explored a lot of existing display solutions. Many of them were off-the-shelf components, but they impacted device size or fell short in terms of outdoor visibility. Others degraded the perceived quality of the product. We ruled out multiple options and eventually decided to develop a custom AMOLED screen to strike the right balance between visibility, form factor, and premium perception.

2Firsts: Boost mode was a distinctive feature of earlier Hyper devices. How did you decide that it needed a redesign?

Jonathon Lister: In the earlier iterations, Boost mode was activated by holding the button for five seconds, which wasn’t intuitive. Most users didn’t even know the feature existed. That’s a failure of communication through design. So in Hyper Pro, we developed the TasteSelect dial and used the screen to visually reinforce the interaction. It was about making a valuable feature visible and accessible, not buried in hidden gestures.

2Firsts: The design of Glo Hyper Pro won several awards. What exactly did the juries recognize?

Jonathon Lister: The Glo Hyper Pro was recognized for user-centric innovation, including features like the AMOLED EasyView display and the TasteSelect dial, which made the experience intuitive and visually engaging. It was also awarded for its aesthetic and functional design—the slim form factor, lightweight aluminum body, matte finishes and precise detailing contributed to a sense of quality and ergonomic comfort. It’s rewarding to see how those small design decisions, made across many teams and stages, came together into something that resonates with both juries and users.

2Firsts: Aside from Glo, what in your view is the best-designed HNB product on the market, and why?

Jonathon Lister: IQOS remains a benchmark in the category, particularly in how it defined the original product architecture and user journey for heated tobacco. Its design has evolved thoughtfully over time—refining ergonomics, improving charging systems, and simplifying the user experience while maintaining a strong brand identity. The integration between device and consumable feels intentional, and the industrial design strikes a good balance between precision and approachability. While there are always trade-offs, IQOS consistently demonstrates the value of long-term design investment and iteration—something that’s still relatively rare in the category.

Pushing Against the Limits — Designing Nicotine Devices Under Regulation

2Firsts: To what extent does regulation limit your design freedom? Can you give an example of something you wanted to do but couldn’t because of compliance requirements?

Jonathon Lister: Regulation significantly limits design freedom in NGPs. Unlike many consumer categories, almost every design decision—from proprietary heater technology to physical user interfaces—must adhere. One example was the iris door mechanism applied on our first design (Hyper X2), utilizing a three-blade iris door. We had to re-engineer this part to comply.

2Firsts: What ethical considerations do you weigh when designing a device for a nicotine product?

Jonathon Lister: Designing for nicotine products carries a serious ethical responsibility. The first priority is ensuring the product is intended strictly for adult smokers or nicotine users—never for youth or non-smokers. That means we avoid design cues, materials, or experiences that could be seen as playful, trendy, or youth-targeted. There’s also a duty to design with transparency and honesty—making sure the device clearly communicates status, usage, and potential risks, without misleading users. We work closely with regulatory and legal teams to ensure the product is compliant, but we go beyond that by asking ourselves whether the design promotes responsible use and harm reduction. Ultimately, I believe design should empower adult consumers to make informed choices, and that includes designing products that are intuitive, safe, and not overly engineered to drive compulsive behavior.

2Firsts: How do you make sure your product communicates clearly with the user, without misleading them?

Jonathon Lister: We focus on designing with transparency and intention. That means using clear signals for device status, battery life, and usage feedback—so the user is never unsure about what the product is doing. We also avoid manipulative behaviors, such as overemphasizing effects or adding gamified features that can lead to compulsive use. It’s about honest communication at every level of the user experience.

2Firsts: Were there any design objectives that you weren’t able to accomplish due to regulatory, technical, or partnership constraints?

Jonathon Lister: There is one UX objective that unfortunately I cannot go into detail on. But it was hampered by being unable to get a partnership in place to develop a piece of technology.

Designing at the Edge — Lessons, Limits, and Localisation

2Firsts: How is designing next-generation tobacco products different from designing other consumer products? What are the biggest constraints?

Jonathon Lister: While the core design principles—putting the consumer first, validating ideas through research, and obsessing over user experience—are consistent across industries, NGPs present unique challenges. The biggest differences lie in strict regulatory constraints, material limitations, and safety standards that must be met across multiple markets.

There’s also heightened scrutiny on form factor, emissions, and usability—what seems intuitive to a designer might not be to the user, so ongoing consumer testing is essential. Balancing innovation with compliance and responsible design adds an extra layer of complexity not always present in other sectors.

2Firsts: Do cultural and regulatory differences require you to design different versions of the same product for different markets?

Jonathon Lister: Indeed, we have tested our designs in different regions (in relaxed settings) with users. We are able to collect very interesting insights on user behaviours, interpretations, and product requirements. This can be a range of data points from acceptable size, product requirements, daily usage patterns, etc. From this we can see what is universally accepted and what brings unique opportunities for those regions.

2Firsts: What mistakes did you make during the design process, and what did you learn from them?

Jonathon Lister: One early mistake was underestimating how certain intuitive gestures or design cues could be misinterpreted by users unfamiliar with the category. For example, we explored a novel interaction to signal device readiness, but early testing revealed that users either missed it or misread its intent. It was a reminder that what feels “clear” to a designer isn’t always clear to a consumer—especially in a regulated, technical product space like NGPs.

Another learning came from pushing too hard on a specific CMF direction that, while beautiful, introduced unforeseen issues in durability testing. It taught us the importance of bringing technical and regulatory partners into the conversation even earlier, and not falling in love with form at the expense of function or feasibility.

Ultimately, those challenges helped reinforce the value of iteration, humility, and cross-functional collaboration—and made the final outcome stronger.

Design Is a Calling — Craft, Conviction, and the Products That Matter

2Firsts: What attracts you to the design profession?

Jonathon Lister: The creativity that is required in order to discover new opportunities and original ideas. The ability to influence the success of a company’s position whilst enriching the lives of its consumers. I believe making great products is one of the most important interfaces between a brand and the consumer. It helps form the relationship by trust and creating a bond that lives long.

2Firsts: Of all the things you’ve designed—whether in tobacco or other industries—which are you most proud of, and why?

Jonathon Lister: Great question. Often metrics are placed upon how successful a product is in the market in sales, which whilst important from a business perspective, may not fulfil the multi-faceted nature that designers will view a project. Here are a few examples.

Sales — Nokia 105 (2017), a low-cost feature phone for emerging markets, sold over 82 million units worldwide.

Strategic — Bowers & Wilkins / BMW. In-car audio solutions. While at Native Design, I worked with B&W on a pitch to BMW. We were in competition with Bang & Olufsen. My work contributed to BMW selecting B&W as their partner. This further unlocked opportunities with Volvo and expanded their reputation in the automotive space.

Team management — I am very proud of the design work we completed at BAT for Glo, but I often look back on these projects, less for the final output and more for the journey and experience of working with my team to arrive at the design. Lots of great discussions, teamwork to regularly solve problems (IP, cost, mechanical, etc.).

2Firsts: Which next-generation tobacco products have you worked on?

Jonathon Lister:

● Glo Hyper

● Glo Hyper Pro

● Glo Hyper Air

● Glo Hilo 1-piece

● Glo Hilo 2-piece

2Firsts: Beyond the products themselves, what do you hope to have left behind at BAT?

Jonathon Lister: I’d like to think my impact went beyond a specific device. What I really aimed to leave behind was a culture—one that treated design as a strategic asset, not an aesthetic layer. We created space for curiosity, for debate, for iteration. If that continues, then the work will keep evolving in meaningful ways.

2Firsts: How do you envision building a team at ELURA? Do you plan to grow beyond a solo practice?

Jonathon Lister: I see ELURA as a platform for agile collaboration rather than a traditional agency. I don’t plan to rush headcount, but I’ve built a network of talented partners—suppliers, engineers, designers—who I can call on depending on the scope and need. Growth will be organic and client-driven.

Design, Not Just Assembly: Can Shenzhen Lead the Future of NGPs?

2Firsts: Many international tobacco companies are relocating their product R&D to Shenzhen. Do you see Shenzhen becoming the next global design center for NGPs? What conditions would need to be in place for that to happen—and what challenges might get in the way?

Jonathon Lister: Shenzhen is an extraordinary hub for innovation—fast-paced, deeply networked, and unmatched in terms of supply chain access and manufacturing agility. It’s a powerful engine for turning ideas into products quickly, and I’ve seen firsthand how strong partnerships there can unlock significant opportunities in NGP development.

That said, I don’t believe design should be tied to one location. Great design is about relevance—understanding cultural nuances, user needs, and brand values, which often requires proximity to the company’s HQ or core markets. For a global product to succeed, design needs to be fluid and globally informed, not just driven by what’s efficient to manufacture.

Shenzhen could absolutely become a global center for NGP design, but only if it continues to invest in deeper consumer insight, brand thinking, and long-term design culture—not just execution speed. The biggest challenge is ensuring design leadership remains connected to strategy, not just supply chain. Without that balance, you risk creating products that are technically competent but emotionally disconnected.

For further inquiries or collaboration opportunities, Jonathon can be reached at jlister@elura.uk. Learn more about his work at www.elura.uk.