For Wearables, Design Leads Tech | Molly Wood | The New York Times

Wearables are leading a revolution to combine design with ingenuity to make new products. During development of Nike’s Fuelband, for example, many details, from material to font, came from designers.

Produced by: Molly Wood, Rebekah Fergusson and Vanessa Perez

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For Wearables, Design Leads Tech | Molly Wood | The New York Times
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheNewYorkTimes

(Journalist) Design is not just
about how things look,

it's about how they act,

how you experience them

and whether you
love them enough

to keep using them.

And that's
increasingly true

when it comes to tech.

Astro Studios
in San Francisco,

has brought great design

to lots
of consumer products.

Its biggest hit though

is the gadget
that arguably

launched the wearables
category,

the Nike FuelBand.

(Brett Lovelady) Design is, you know
-- we're the translators,

you know, we really are
the people that take the conversation,

and turn it
into tangible vision

and then that tangible
vision,

commercialise it.

So as we sat there (check)
on the fuel band,

we'd spent a lot
of time with Nike,

exploring how do you
motivate people to be active.

We used
a lot of design skills,

models, prototyping,
illustrations,

story-boarding.

Early on, for example,

we might do something
that's more experimental.

This happens to be a
hard 3D printed product.

We went and looked at this
and say ok,

how am I going to interact
with this differently,

than with, say, something that is more,
you know, sleek and small.

What's the tradeoff?

In this case, we made room to put
in the hard pieces

with the soft pieces
that are more plieable.

Then they started to take
on more form, over time

to eventually start to look and feel
like the real thing.

We designed the clock
for example, you know,

like how many different kinds of
communication go into it.

You might mark it like a Fuel aesthetic,
(check)

for example, like little fuel gauge.

And there was a whole bunch of things
we wanted this product to do.

Through dialogue and experimentation
and prototyping,

We whittled it down to being
just a few things really well.

Over all, I think the Fuel Band
captured one of things

that's great about
successful products.

It's a blend of
technology information,

fashion and personality. ////

Out of that,
a lot of people

came in and said,
Hey you know what;

the differentiator
is design,

the perspective on who it
is we're designing for.

As design
gets more important,

it has to be part
of any new company

from the ground up.

In Silicon Valley,
that means

a venture capital fund

where the tech
isn't everything.

Designer Fund is
dedicated to helping

businesses
grow with design

at their core.

One of the growing trends
that we observed

is the number of billion
dollar companies,

co-foundered by designers
within the last 10 years,

including AirBNB,

Interests, Instagram,

Square, Kick Starter.

I think there's something
really special

when,

design including
technology in business

all come together.

Every little touch point

is an opportunity
to delight someone,

to bring joy
into their lives,

to enrich the families
of friends.

So companies
that understand how to do that,

will continue
to really innovate

and grow in ways that

we haven't seen other
companies before.

I've always believed
that design should be

leading the conversation.

When you've got a lot
of the same wires

and bits and plastics

and whatever the physical
and tangible materials are,

design is what's going
to put them

into a unique context
that will either be

perfect
for a certain user,

demographic, use

or brand.

Wearables are probably

the current best example
of how physical design,

combined with a great
experience,

can inspire loyalty

and even love.

And the companies,

who get that balance
right, are the ones,

who are going to win. (
Music in background)

Watches and wearables

are moving
to that same space

of shoes and purses
and hats.

Not a lot of people
have integrated

that with technology,

so I think we're
a going to learn a lot

in the next few years,
as to what really sticks

and what the churn
of replacement

might be in this space.