Originally posted here:
#TechTuesday: Why Do We Need More Women Leaders in the Wearable Industry? | Women 2.0
Original at http://women2.com/2014/08/05/techtuesday-need-women-leaders-wearable-industry/#lbB4t6xkGMDgPKr4.99
#TechTuesday: Why Do We Need More Women Leaders in the Wearable Industry? | Women 2.0
The
founder of a new tech bracelet touches on why women are needed in the
wearable tech industry to make products more appealing for women.
By Jing Zhou (Founder, Elemoon)
In 2010, I
moved back to China from New York to launch my first tech startup. Since
then I have built and sold one of China’s first rich-media mobile ad
companies, and developed a tamagotchi-like social app for young women to
communicate with their best friends. I had two epiphanies while doing
these projects.
The first happened while I was running the mobile ad company. I reconfirmed that the majority of digital consumers are women,
yet far too few products are tailored to them. This motivated my team
and I to create a more emotional digital experience for women, spawning
the social app, elepon.
We saw a lot of
smiles when girls were playing with elepon, but we also realized that
there were limitations in the app experience. Our users wanted something
tactile, something that they could touch and smell—something physical.
We started brainstorming how we might marry the app with consumer
products.
A year ago, the
emergence of wearable technology captured our imagination, but none of
the products on the market truly inspired us. We instantly knew this was
a huge opportunity. So there came the second epiphany: the utilitarian
and fashion value that hardware could bring is limitless.
We decided to
combine software and hardware to evoke a truly emotional experience and
make technology a bigger part of people’s lives.
Wearables made by men for men can be a problem.
Since most of our team members are women, it’s always quite easy for us to recognize products made by Silicon Valley men for Silicon
Valley men. The first time we wandered around the wearable section at
an Apple Store in New York, we saw a lot of group-think. Almost all of
the products were in the health and fitness category, and there was an
unrelenting hype for smart-watches. But most of these products focused
on function while ignoring form. They lacked personality, sex appeal and
just weren’t pretty! A wearable is something we incorporate into our lifestyle—it’s not enough that something works, it also needs to be attractive and reflect our taste. One month into the design and development of our product, we saw the media calling for more fashionable wearables.
Here’s an awesome quote from Wired Magazine’s cover story Why Wearable Tech Will Be as Big as the Smartphone.
“Wearable devices—technology that people will want to display on their
bodies, for all to see—represent a new threshold in aesthetics.
The techcompanies that mastered design will now need to conquer the
entirely different realm of fashion. And that could require
technologists to unlearn a great deal of what they think they know.”
What can women bring to the wearable world?
By being “superficial.”
As Wired
magazine pointed out, wearables have to look good first. When we started
rethinking wearables, we made sure to think untech: Whatever we ended
up making had to be beautiful even when not activated. We decided to
stay away from things that have little emotional attachment for us, such
as watches. We also didn’t want to waste effort on making things that
smartphones can already handle well, like step-tracking.
Everyone on our
team is obsessed with color and Native American jewelry. We have an
eclectic taste in fashion and love wearing accessories, but all we were
seeing in the market were these bland rubber wristbands.
So we asked
ourselves: What if we could have a bracelet that changes color and
pattern to match whatever we wear? We all liked that idea, and tried to
recreate the sensation of traditional jewelry with new material and
interactive features. The first thing we nixed was an electronic
screen.
Thinking untech encouraged us to avoid too many features and simplify the user interaction.
We didn’t want to overwhelm the user. We paid attention to how people
naturally interact with a designer bracelet. Nothing beyond tapping,
rubbing or shaking.
However, our
thinking untech approach also created some major technical challenges.
Smart jewelry really set the standard high for design and engineering.
As creative thinker Matthew E. May articulates, “Elegance is simplicity
found on the far side of complexity.” Even though our hardware team had
10 years of experience in making smart devices, we found ourselves in
uncharted territory. After we made our working prototype in June, our
male collaborators were psyched about its tech capacity and wanted us to
unlock more features. We said no.
Innovation is
born out of diversity. Engaging talent with different culture
backgrounds while giving an equal voice to women is crucial—especially
in such an interdisciplinary field as wearable tech. And beyond the
fitness and health niche, there’s something broader called lifestyle.
This is a trend particularly driven by female consumers who are willing
to spend more money for something that truly speaks to them. But the
only way to speak to them is to make sure that their voice is integrated
into the product, from concept through completion.
What wearable tech would you like to see in the future?
Photo via Elemoon Facebook.Original at http://women2.com/2014/08/05/techtuesday-need-women-leaders-wearable-industry/#lbB4t6xkGMDgPKr4.99
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