If you think Google Glass looks a little weird now, take a look at how it got its start.
During a Fireside chat at Google I/O Thursday Senior Industrial Designer at Google on the Glass team Isabelle Olsson showed off how Glass looked originally: a scuba mask with a computer board attached to it.
She also spoke about the development process for Glass, and what went in to creating the model that we’re seeing on the street today.
“We took a reductionist approach. We removed everything that wasn’t absolutely essential,” says Olsson. That meant taking a lot away from that original clunky prototype.
“We are obsessed with weight. If it's not light, you’re not going to want to wear it for more than 10 minutes.”
Olson says lightness is very important in Glass’ design -- visually as well as physically. Most of the electronics for Glass are actually hidden behind your ear, so it’s not intruding on your face.
“We made Glass modular,” she says. "What this means you can remove the frame from the main board." The colored portion of Glass can be unscrewed from the frame, and then placed on another frame.
Olson offered this example: a Google prototype of Glass on prescription glasses.
The prescription frames are only the beginning of the possibilities, she said: “We’re excited about Glass as a hardware platform and a software platform as well.”