Glance - Smart Sunglasses
Italia Independent + Fitbit
Italia Independent and Fitbit partner to present Glance,
a line of smart sunglasses that can track eye movement and store data (blinks, sight progression, light exposure, screen staring tracking), and also can change the tint color of the lenses to match the user’s tastes and preferences.
Project Brief: To find the best collaboration strategy for Italia Independent and build a collection.
Part of a workshop between Domus Academy and Italia Independent.
Visual Designer - Monica Calmet
Art Director - Monica Calmet
Interaction Designer - Monica Calmet
Product Designer - Marisa Tsai
Business Designers - Parvathy Bhojan, Manasi Burande
Team Leader - Monica Calmet
The Research
Italia Independent is a creative and stylish Italian brand that seeks to be the driving force of innovative ideas that inspires people by blending fashion/design with tradition and innovation.
As a team we began by understanding the company's use of technology, brand philosophy as well as their strengths and weaknesses to identify the best collaboration for Italia Independent.
We realized Italia Independent needed to raise awareness worldwide and enter a different target market. Fitbit is currently collaborating with fashion brands to expand their market and make their designs become the user’s everyday wear. The best strategic outcome was to partner with Fitbit and thus enter the US market to increase sales and target women millennials.
By partnering with Fitbit, Italia Independent penetrates the trending wearable tech segment and collaborates with the top leader in this sector to emphasize the importance of health and fitness. Both company’s strengths are synergetic and therefore we could build a collection incorporating features from both brands.
The Concept
The Glance sunglass collection is designed for everyday wear that combines design excellency and technology innovation of both Italia Independent and Fitbit.
The sunglasses can track movement eye movement and store data of the eyes as well as change the tint color of the lenses shades to the user’s tastes and preferences.
Our aim for the design of the line was inspired by fashion and jewelry. We also wanted these sunglasses to be a mix & match collection, so we also designed Fitbit arm bands that combine with the sunglass designs.
Technology & Packaging
To make the sunglasses become "smart", we began by researching into Fitbit and Italia Independent's technologies as well as identifying worldwide technology trends. Our team merged Fitbit's general technologies with a new technology concept named "Electrochromic Shades", which allows the shade of the sunglasses to change tint color.
We identified that we needed the following technology to be included in our designs:
A Motherboard (micro controller, NFC antenna, Bluetooth connectivity, 3D accelerometer), a magnetic battery, a photo sensor, a small switch (to change shades if not done through the app), fiber optic film and internal wires.
All sunglass designs considered the technology within its framework as well as materials. We researched and considered materials that would be beneficial for our technology and design.
For the packaging, we decided to include a magnetic charger for both the sunglasses and the Fitbit so both can be charged by one charging device.
Glance App
We created a couple of screens to show how the Glance eye data would be visualized as well as the user's preference to change the tint shade within the Fitbit app.
This project was created within four weeks: two for researching and concepting, one for design and one for the final presentation). Due to this, there was no time for prototyping.
This project was created within four weeks (two of research and concepting, one of design and a final presentation week), therefore there was no time for prototyping.