Audio
Envisioning a future where all-day earphones are as essential as smartphones.
It was 2016, before AirPods were even a rumor. “Truly wireless” earbuds were techy and sporty and had enough charge to last two hours. Our client came to us with significant expertise in hearing aids. They could make earphones comfortable to wear all day, and they had the battery life. They wanted to explore non-medical consumer product applications.
We saw a world of opportunity. This could mean all-day audio. With a personal speaker always at the ready, digital sounds could become a part of everything. A key information interface. A more human future, less reliant on smartphones and text notifications. I shaped these ideas into a creative brief that became the north star of the project, aligning the client and all our design teams. It answered the why of the project, and kept our end user at the forefront.
My role
Project kickoff workshop
Competitive landscape audit
UX concept scenarios
Positioning + design principles
Audience persona
Feature definition + tech requirements
4-year product roadmap
Animatics to explain features
Support for industrial design
Brand and product naming
Qualitative research + analysis
Recruiting + protocol + interviewing
Analysis of market segmentation
Out of box + packaging UX
As our industrial designers concepted, I worked closely with the client’s R&D department to understand what technology was consumer-ready. I got nerdy about binaural and allocentric audio, the capabilities of in-ear electrodes, and non-vocal inputs like eye gaze and nodding. We figured out exactly what features should launch in the coming year, and what to roadmap into the future.
Finally, we had a product ready to go. To step out of our bubble, we took it into the world for in-person concept testing. I recruited 36 people across NYC, LA, and Portland — using Facebook ad filters to pinpoint the we wanted to talk with. Those interviews gave us a chance to see how a young, style-conscious audience would react to both the fashion and function of our product. To assess more technical human factors, we had everyone try on an array of 3D printed prototypes.
It was our first foray into the real world, and an exciting one at that. People loved them. And we got valuable insight to finalize decisions on form factor, CMF, fit, and features.
In the end, engineering shifted and the product never made it to market. But while our earphones may not exist as we saw them, I can’t help but think it might still be a future to come. The technology is almost there. AirPods are everywhere. And one day they might help us hear more than our music and podcasts and phone calls…
