Wearables = Form + Function
The recent launch of Spectacles by Snapchat makes me think about wearables — their design, promotion and messaging.
When you are building a wearable, it is often easy to forget that your product is not only solving a few key use cases, but also competing for the real estate on the body — space also targeted by things like jewelry. The more prominent the placement (e.g. on face, on wrist etc), more critical are the looks & aesthetics. People must feel good about themselves using it.
Google Glass
There are many explanations for why Google Glass failed (like this one by BGR), but one key aspect was the looks (or aesthetics) part. Even early #GoogleGlass promo videos were designed from the wearer’s perspective, not how the wearer himself or herself looked wearing those. The focus was on what you can do with the product (function), now how you look while using it (form). In fact, the look was decidedly not mainstream — so much so that it got mostly negative publicity as a very geeky product (even giving rise to new derogatory terms).
Contrast these images from their respective launch materials:
Spectacles
On the other hand, Snapchat has clearly learned from that experience at Google. #Spectacles is decidedly reversing that — at least looking at their promotional materials…
