Time to read: 8 min<\/p>\n
We live in a world replete with devices. Tablets, smartphones, desktops, laptops, smart watches, cars, TVs, thermostats, door locks. Probably toasters soon, too. Surely we don\u2019t need another \u201cthing.\u201d Surely, if we want to do something as simple as browse through our photos, we can just pull up our tablets, smartphones, or plug our camera straight into our smart TV.<\/p>\n
But the people at Loop would beg to differ. Sometimes, you do need a separate device\u2014one dedicated solely and completely to one thing, and to doing that one thing extremely well.<\/p>\n
In this Spotlight, co-founder and head of design Ethan Ballweber shares with us the company\u2019s thinking behind Loop, a personal image-sharing device for all generations.<\/p>\n
Remember the digital picture frame? That horrid-looking black plastic frame with a really poor quality screen? Enter Loop, a stand-alone interactive display for photos and videos. Its design and functionality are light years beyond that first plastic frame.<\/p>\n
Ever since the advent of digital cameras, which exploded everyone\u2019s capacity to produce images, the problem has always been glut and obscurity: we all have way too much photography on our hard drives\/mobile devices\/clouds; we don\u2019t have the time to edit and organize the images and videos, and there\u2019s no easy way to display or share them. Sure, you can set up Instagram and Flickr accounts, but then anyone else you want to see them (say, your older relatives) has to have access to a computer or mobile device. You can email them, but then they either don\u2019t get opened up, or they\u2019re viewed a whopping one time before they drown in the relentless stream of email. You can print them, but\u2026 no need to go into what that entails.<\/p>\n
As Ethan explains, \u201cWe wanted to create a device for displaying images that fits within people\u2019s lifestyle. For some people, all the technology out there is just too much work. They don\u2019t want to have to download the images and then attach them to an email or upload to a website. So we asked ourselves, how can we connect people with their photos in a way that works for them, that makes it easy for them. You can\u2019t just stream them directly into the device because that would create the same backlog of photos.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contrary to what some might think, Loop isn\u2019t about disrupting yet another industry\u2014in this case, the multi-billion-dollar digital frame industry (we\u2019re not kidding about the billions). It\u2019s actually about soothing the consumer in a hyper-evolved tech environment. Yes, it is a new physical device, but its function and its very reason for being are about dialing down the multi-tasking, attention-splintering functionality that\u2019s all around us all the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question we always asked,\u201d says Ethan, \u201cwas how can we simplify [our device], how do we wrap it up in a framework to make it a different experience from the tablet. The tablet is about rich interaction and versatility\u2014but for solo use, since you\u2019re holding it in your hands. Loop is a hands-free device for more passive or lightweight consumption that you can share with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the beginning, Loop\u2019s founder Brian Gannon applied to the Highway1 accelerator. The original product that came out of that accelerator was, in Ethan\u2019s words, \u201cmuch more minimalist\u201d than their current product. It had an aluminum enclosure with a walnut base, and was heavily furniture-inspired: \u201cwe chose premium materials and based our design inspiration on mid-century modern furniture.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was what Ethan calls Concept Zero.<\/p>\n
The team ran into their first challenge immediately. \u201cConcept Zero got respect,\u201d Ethan explains. \u201cIt was well made, but it wasn\u2019t necessarily for everyone\u2014it wasn\u2019t \u2018friendly,\u2019 and didn\u2019t let people express their personality. It appealed more to designers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another issue was sourcing the materials. \u201cWalnut is difficult to find, and that makes it hard to manufacture on any sort of scale. One of our advisors challenged us to do something better. Something great. To make [Loop] more friendly, approachable and iconic.\u201d<\/p>\n
So for two weeks, they put everything else on hold and focused exclusively on design. They took everything into consideration, including the 1950s and 60s televisions and radios from their own original inspiration boards.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe produced seven new prototypes in those two weeks,\u201d Ethan tells us. \u201cAnd that\u2019s how we came up with our current version, Concept Three.\u201d<\/p>\n
The knob introduced in this new concept solved not only a user interface problem, but also a content management problem\u2014that of organizing all of the images and videos on the device. The answer was channels. Just like on the good old TV set.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople thought we were crazy,\u201d laughs Ethan. \u201cEveryone else in the world was chasing Apple to make things as thin a possible, and we went the other way and made a product with substance. Ironically, over time as it got more and more refined, people began to fall in love with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
To 3D print their prototypes, Loop \u201cworked with Fictiv the whole time. We did about six studies of the enclosure itself, with several deep-dive studies, and we used that to judge size, proportion, thickness, and ergonomics.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the process, Ethan and the team realized that works of art do not necessarily translate to a great user experience, or to manufacturing at scale. \u201cDesign and materials are closely related: sometimes it\u2019s about the material and sometimes it\u2019s about the form. Concept Zero was about the material, and Concept Three is about the form.\u201d<\/p>\n
The average person probably doesn\u2019t think twice about what it took to design their favorite gadget. About the countless iterations, all the prototypes and features that failed. Great design is, as the pros say, invisible. If you notice a functionality (as opposed to using it intuitively), there\u2019s something wrong with the product.<\/p>\n
Smartphones and tablets don\u2019t have knobs and straps; they have a sleek, ergonomic profile and a virtually indestructible touch-screen. There\u2019s a reason for that: we use them literally hundreds of times a day; any knob or strap would likely fall off, break off, or be ripped off sooner or later. But a device like Loop is no smartphone or tablet, and interacting with it is not the same as holding either one. It has a heavier bottom, two knobs on the side to navigate through images and select channels, and a lever on the lower back that works like a light dimmer to control the brightness of the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that tapping an upright-standing device would knock it over, or at the very least it would feel flimsy. It just doesn\u2019t feel right,\u201d Ethan tells us. Of course any issue can be solved, but the team wanted to communicate that this really is a different product from the others. \u201cThe knob communicates that message visually,\u201d he says. \u201cSure, it\u2019s a more traditional mechanism, but newer design is not always \u2018better\u2019 design. Tapping and flipping through photos is not efficient. There\u2019s something fun about the tactile experience of actual knobs on devices.\u201d<\/p>\n
To carry that tactile experience all the way through, the team purposely synched the frame animation on Loop\u2019s screen with the knob so that when you turn it, the photos (or videos) slide up or down and seem to click into place. If the device is set to auto display, the transitions between images are cross-fade so it doesn\u2019t distract.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnlike other digital displays, we want the screen to mimic print,\u201d says Ethan. In fact, Loop can tell when the light (artificial or natural) in the room grows dim, and its screen dims accordingly\u2014largely to avoid that sense of yet another tech device in the house emitting light.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s the leather strap, an actual strap on the back of the device that enables people to carry it around. \u201cThe concept here is fun and delight and intrigue,\u201d explains Ethan. \u201cMakes you want to play with it, and tells you that Loop is approachable and friendly, not a fragile piece of high tech stuff you\u2019d worry about dropping and cracking.\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice tinged with genuine empathy for the older generations, Ethan shares that Loop is about both novelty and comfort. \u201cFor the younger generations, it\u2019s novelty, it\u2019s retro. For the older generations, it\u2019s about comfort, about not having to bend your brain every time a new piece of technology comes out. I\u2019m also starting to appreciate some of that old stuff that didn\u2019t feel like it went out of date every week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Creating a brand new device that appeals to all ages requires walking a bit of a tightrope. You want uniqueness and originality, fun and play and freshness of spirit (a rockin\u2019 UI). But you also want what we call \u201cextreme user friendliness\u201d\u2014a design whose functionality is so painfully obvious and familiar that even your grandmum can roll with it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ethan heartily agrees. \u201cEveryone is comfortable with knobs. People reach out naturally to turn the knob without the fear of breaking it like with a smartphone. It\u2019s a different object, which calls for a different psyche and mental construct.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to have little bits of our own character,\u201d he adds, \u201cbut we also need to take the accepted conventions for photo sharing into consideration and determine how we can best integrate that into Loop.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company has tested the product with their own families, and is seeing equal levels of comfort among all generations. \u201cThe recipient [of photos or videos sent] doesn\u2019t have to do anything, which they love,\u201d says Ethan, \u201cand the sender shares on their own terms.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similar to the concept of an album, users can organize their photos and videos into channels, which can be shared or made private. The channels are linked to dynamic sources like Instagram, Facebook, or Dropbox iOS Photos, which automatically update the channels with fresh images coming in from the user side, so there\u2019s more than one way to flow your photography into Loop.<\/p>\n
The question for Loop remains, will they keep the product devoted to photography and videos or will they succumb to the ever-present temptation of \u201cdoing more\u201d?<\/p>\n
Ethan laughs. \u201cEveryone always asks us, will Loop do more? Like, play music videos, or see online content, or someone else\u2019s photos the way you can on Flickr. The new design [of Concept Three] wraps it around the personal television concept, which lets you tune into things you want to see even if you\u2019re not paying explicit attention to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Okay, but will Loop ever multi-task?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t made up our minds yet what else, if anything, this device will do. Brian and I come from a background that focuses on nailing that one thing, and as a startup, you do have to stay focused. At the same time, we are running powerful hardware, and with that the walls that come with traditional, non-software products really break down. So we\u2019re curious about what has yet to come and what we can connect to in an elegant way.\u201d<\/p>\n