Can AR Glasses ever be aesthetically pleasing?
A recent article on Wired discusses the development of aesthetically pleasing Augmented Reality glasses. Although the main focus is on the use of smart glasses in the commercial sector, attractive technology is relevant to enterprise use as well in terms of investment and employee desire or reluctance to wear them.
The article claims that successful designs must incorporate a sense of fashion in addition to ergonomic understanding. Ari Grobman, CEO of Israeli see-through smart glasses display developer Lumus, is quoted to have said that major tech companies working on AR glasses should focus on reducing resistance to adoption. The difficulty lies with getting the balance right between functionality and “cool” design.
The “best” AR headsets need to consist of bulky hardware in order to provide a wide field of view and optimise resolution, according to the article. Slimmer displays (e.g. Google Glass) are more comfortable to wear but are less functional due to their position not being parallel to the user’s field of vision. Additional features, such as a decent camera and microphone, make it all the more difficult to increase comfort and style.
Nima Shams, VP of Headworn at Osterhout Design Group, is quoted to have said that their company aims to “design the next mobile computing platform”, and that smart glasses need to have every feature that smartphones do in order to become as essential. ODG have designed smart glasses for industrial use previously; Shams has said that customers working in the industry are more apathetic about the design of the product. Shams is also quoted to have said that advanced, high-tech smart glasses need to blend into fashionable devices to achieve mass adoption.
Intel launched their Vaunt Glasses in February this year; in creating these, Intel sacrificed a microphone, speaker, and camera in addition to other hardware to make way for a sleeker, more lightweight design. Francois Nguyen, industrial designer and creative director at design firm Frog, is quoted to have said that people are inclined to compromise better functionality for a more attractive-looking product.