Hasta La Ideas

Yves Behar on the stylishly subtle accessory that just might add a few years to your life

Today at TED Global 2011 Jawbone introduced the UP, an electronic bracelet clearly born of the company’s design DNA. About the size of a Livestrong band, the UP serves users 24/7, using sophisticated sensors to track movement and sleeping patterns. This data will then be relayed to an app, accessible on phones, tablets and computers, in which users can type in the nutritional data of their diet. Serving as a diary of your daily activity, the app becomes a life coach of sorts, providing helpful suggestions tailored to your diet, exercise and sleeping patterns.

Labeled as functional jewelry, the UP’s pioneering achievement is its subtlety. Jawbone’s VP of Product Management, Travis Bogard tells CH, “There are other devices but they are bulky and unattractive and people aren’t comfortable wearing them. So we made one that you don’t really notice. We’ve gotten used to people wearing things that blend in. It’s one of the biggest breakthroughs. It’s much smaller than most of the existing devices and truly the intersection between wearability and design and solves a technical problem.”

As a company, Jawbone first tackled the wireless audio market with a unique design philosophy: how to best reach people on multiple levels with their products. They revolutionized the bluetooth headset market with the original Jawbone product, first using style, simplicity, and comfort to establish the standard of excellence and incorporating innovative features like environmental noise cancellation. The strength of their super successful Jambox portable speaker hinged not only on its ease-of-use and sleek design but on its powerful bass and the charming voice used when setting it. They also made it very easy to change and update those voices whenever the mood hits.

With 68% of Americans either overweight or obese, and the growing rate of lifestyle disease surpassing that of communicable disease, tracking one’s health has become more important than ever. While devices like the Fitbit seek to address this issue, the UP is the first to combine practicality with style. It is this understanding of how best to connect these devices to people that has propelled Jawbone’s success.”It’s about the next frontier of computing, about wearable products and we’re one of the few companies geared up to do that,” Bogard says.

We asked Jawbone’s designer Yves Behar about the role of design at the company.

How does UP fit into Jawbone’s design vocabulary?

“My role for the last few years now has been to envision unique and authentic creative that spans a product, it’s packaging, it’s UI and UX, it’s communication and much more.  I call it “inescapable engagement”, every part of the encounter between a person and the Jawbone brand/product follows a story that fulfils un-met desires: simplicity of form, tactile delight in materials and textures, expressive differentiation.

Solving the macro and the micro, removing the friction that technology often adds to human experiences, communicating genuinely, surprising at every step…all are part of the challenges we tackle at the design level, but also at the management level with the CEO Hosain Rahman.”

What was the a-ha moment when you knew you had the design nailed?

“I am never quite sure we have nailed it! So, we keep working at it, trying more detail variations, playing with 0.1mm subtleties on the design till we are right, and till we are wrong.  It’s only then that we “know” for sure.

When prototypes arrive in the studio, and that’s often a daily occurrence, we can start wearing the products, feeling the subtle tactile changes…and so, when I saw the wave texture reflecting the light just right, and the bracelet felt at home on my wrist, and the metal detail was brushed right, and one of the designers said “when can I get one of those to wear? It’s ok if the battery is not charged I just want to wear it”, then the a-ha moment came!”

The Jawbone UP is due to be released later this year.

A new documentary on the world’s first zero-emissions motorcycle grand prix

Following the bold dreams of a handful of racing teams through the trials and tribulations of first and second zero emissions grand prix motorcycle races held on the Isle of Man is Charge, a recently released documentary by Mark Neale. Adding to the tremendous weight of the historical first race is the fact that the Isle of Man TT also happens to be the toughest and most unforgiving race track in the world which has claimed the lives of over 200 racers.

While Charge was seemingly produced on a shoestring, it’s rich in content. The uniquely intriguing stories of the teams involved and contrasting design and development processes of both heavily budgeted student run and corporate backed teams offer an insightful look into the young and still developing world of electric motorcycle racing.

Central to electric motorcycle engineering—and film—is Cedric Lynch, who may just be the most eccentric personality in racing. After dropping out of school at age 12 this self-taught, barefoot, electrical pioneer went on to invent the Lynch motor. Now used in majority of the competitors’ bikes the renamed and updated Agni motor can propel a bike upwards of 130mph while running at 93% efficiency, as compared to an average 30% on standard petrol burning motorcycles.

Through the two races in 2009 and 2010 the viewer is taken through the design and production of some of the first and finest electric grand prix capable motorcycles in the world. And after a few unfortunate tragedies we witness the first time ever an American-built and ridden machine has won a professional TT, helping turn the previously apprehensive locals onto the quieter side of the daredevil sport. Charge grabs your attention and keeps it for its entire 90min run time.

To see the trailer and pick up a copy for yourself directly through Charge’s online store where it goes for $20, although unfortunately only available in the United States and Canada only for the moment.

Create animated gifs with ease using this new iPhone app

For those curious iPhone users out there looking to add a spark of life to their stagnant snapshots look no further than Gif Shop. Launching today, the iPhone app makes creating, editing and sharing animated gifs less tedious and more fun. We’ve been playing with in the office for a while now and will definitely vouch that although its not the first of its kind it may very well be the most fun. The simplistic design and user friendly interface make creating and sending these little gems a breeze. Plus its capable of sharing across multiple social networks without file size limitations or hosting needs.

Born out of collaboration between idea man Daniel Savage and technical designer Matthew Archer, the intuitive app was originally inspired by a disappointing attempt to document an especially hilarious Halloween costume.

Click on over to iTunes App Store where Gif Shop is now available for $1.99 in the Photography section. Then check online for plenty of great videos and user uploaded content. But be warned, Savage claims it’s “easy enough for your mom to use.” So watch out for an influx of more misspelled check up texts full of even funnier animated images from home.

The next-generation PEN camera makes a huge leap forward

As a long-time fan of Olympus’ PEN series of micro-four-thirds cameras, I was ecstatic to have a chance to spend the last week testing their brand new E-P3. The new shooter, at the top of the line of their just-expanded family of cameras, is loaded up with incredible new features and has an updated body that maintains its classic compact design. Maintaining the lines of the original design was so important that the flash was intentionally nested below the surface of the camera.

The micro four-thirds format is a combination of a large sensor (for a relatively small camera), compact mirrorless body and interchangeable lens system. For the E-P3, that sensor maintains its 12.3-megapixel capacity while upgrading image processing to capture a better light and color range. The processor upgrade also affords extremely fast image playback without compromising the camera’s lightning fast shutter response or ability to focus—faster than ever.

On the back of the camera, the screen has been upgraded to a crisp, bright, three-inch OLED touch display which goes beyond simply accessing the (also refreshed) menus and swiping between photos during playback. One shooting mode allows you to touch anywhere on the screen to set that as the point to focus on, much like the familiar iPhone camera; another mode allows you to touch anywhere on the screen to snap a picture—convenient for shooting from the hip or at awkward angles.

Manipulating settings for taking pictures is a fluid combination of on-screen menu items and conveniently placed dials. Beyond the freedom of setting your own aperture, shutter speed, ISO and much more, PEN cameras incorporate a variety of art filters to render images in even more creative ways. New to the E-P3 is the ability to bracket these filters so that all options are presented at once.

Beyond this new top-of-the-line model, Olympus expanded the family to include the E-PL3 “lite” and the E-PM1 “mini” bodies to offer greater portability options and a broader range of features for different levels of photographers. Of course, they’re all still PENs so they use the same lenses and have the same oversized sensor.

Rounding out a huge day of new product, Olympus also just announced two new single focal length M. Zuiko lenses— a 12mm f2.0 (24mm equivalent) and 45mm f1.8 (90mm equivalent). I tested the 12mm, a perfect street shooter. The bright, bold wide-angle is complimented by a subtle focal ring that pulls back to switch from automatic to manual mode.

The E-P3 will be available in black, white or silver starting this August for $900 as a kit with either a 14-24mm zoom loens or a 17mm fast prime lens. Check out some sample photos taken this week on The High Line in the gallery after the jump.

Digitally-enhanced tabletop speakers integrate seamlessly with wireless devices

As fans of the big speaker sound engineered into Audyssey’s compact Audio Dock, the launch of their new Lower East Side Media Speaker is even more tech-enhanced music to our ears. The LES produces precision sound with low bass, warm mids and clear highs using the same type of digital acoustics that the brand uses when they design sound for IMAX theaters and Jaguars.

To take advantage of all the “Smart” electronics inside, the speakers include an optical input that plugs directly into Apple TV, giving you the freedom of AirPlay-enabled audio in a speaker small enough to fit next to your computer. With its clean, simple lines it won’t add to the clutter on your desk, and, inspired by the music scene in the NYC neighborhood from which it takes its name, Audyssey’s LES speaker just begs for late-night jam sessions at the office.

The pair sells for $200, check Audyssey online for more info and purchasing details.