CMF Design & Prototyping
9 months
Levi’s x Google
The Challenge
Levi’s and Google turned to Ideo to imagine the jacket’s user experience and its language of touch-based interactions - a challenge, since nonverbal communication is nuanced and Levi’s and Google wanted to make sure the touch gestures used to “talk” to Jacquard wouldn’t carry different meanings to different people across cultures. The Jacquard Jacket had to be universal.
The Outcome
Google Creative Labs London was the height of fashion in the Cannes Lions Product Design competition, winning the Grand Prix for a jean jacket—the Jacquard—that it developed with Levi's. The garment uses a touch-sensitive cuff and conductive thread to connect users to their Android phones. By tapping the jacket's wrist, wearers can access information and functions. For example, while riding a bicycle, they can receive estimated arrival times for various destinations via an earpiece, and also choose to accept or dismiss incoming calls and change music playlists. Of course, this arrangement lets riders keep their eyes on the road at all times.
The snap-tag - the gesture touch zone on the cuff - enables this new behavior and new interaction paradigm to exist. At Ideo we made over 150 prototypes before arriving at the final form. Consumer electronics are typically rigid and atomically firm–batteries, antennae, etc.–and generally sits in slabs. Embedding this onto a garment, was an interesting technical challenge.
Users communicate with the jacket through four gestures: Brushing the interactive patch downward, brushing it upward, double tapping it, and covering it. Creating a ritual as you go about your daily commute, whether that’s walking or cycling.
