Nimo
Client
Nimo Planet
Year
2017 - 2020
Category
Industrial design
Type of Work
Industrial Design
UX Design
Strategic Design
Behind the Scenes at Nimo Planet: Crafting the Future of AR Glasses:
Welcome to the Journey
When I first embarked on the Nimo Planet project, the goal was clear yet ambitious: design AR glasses that weren't just a step forward in technology but a leap towards integrating innovation with everyday life. Let me walk you through the adventure that was bringing these AR glasses from concept to reality.
A Deep Dive into Design Thinking
"Understanding before creating," became our mantra. The quest began with peeling back layers of user needs and market gaps. Imagine endless brainstorming sessions, coffee-fueled discussions, and the thrill of that 'eureka' moment. It was about asking, "What do users truly desire from AR technology?" This led to a design that prioritizes comfort, immersion, and simplicity.
Sculpting the Vision: CAD and Prototyping
Bringing this vision to life meant diving deep into Solidworks, crafting 3D models that were as much about function as they were about form. Picture this: prototypes lined up, each iteration a step closer to ergonomic perfection. Rapid 3D printing allowed us to explore and refine with the agility of a startup yet the precision of seasoned engineers.
Telling the Story
How do you share a vision that's still taking shape? Through visual storytelling. Crafting narratives that showcased not just the glasses but the lifestyle they enabled. It was about painting a picture of the future, where our AR glasses were a seamless extension of the user's day-to-day life.
Collaboration is Key
No product is an island, and the AR glasses were no exception. Imagine a symphony of ideas, with engineers, UX designers, and marketers each playing their part. This was where the magic happened: in the confluence of diverse expertise, driving the project to heights no one discipline could reach alone.
Strategically Speaking
Every design decision was a strategic one, from aligning with Nimo Planet's business goals to navigating the competitive landscape of consumer electronics. It was a delicate balance, ensuring the product was not just viable but positioned to redefine the market.
Sustainability Meets Manufacturability
In the world of design, creating responsibly is as important as creating innovatively. We chose materials and designs that were kind to our planet while ensuring the glasses could be brought to life in the real world, efficiently and at scale. It was about being mindful of our environmental footprint, every step of the way.



To create a consumer-friendly AR glasses that seamlessly integrate into the daily life and as such is comfortable and stylish to wear. The focus is to blend fashion-forward design with technological innovation,with the goal of supplementing mobile phones and PC’s in daily life.
Design Brief
Competition study
No product is born in isolation, even novel ideas face competition, and competition despite intuition points to the richness of the market and growth in future. To thrive and outperfom in such a market place, you must know where you wish to stand in respect to your competition and what key differentiators and attractors you bring to the customer.
To better understand and visualise the competition space, a breakdown of the top competitors is created by listing in simple words their negatives and positive attributes.






Identifying the opportunity in the market requires understanding the gap in what the market offers and customers' desires. When the offerings were evaluated across a map, the opportunity spaces were revealed where improvements in the market could be made. the map provided an instant visualisation of the market and the gaps in it. Populating this map further with user personas further helped align the product to the aspirations of the customer.
Triggers are intangible features that a product offers that add to the value of the product. By identifying and categorising them across a rational/emotional spectrum, the importance of each trigger with respect to another can be visualised. Understanding which triggers are most important to the customers helps define areas to focus on in the design stage.
Design Journey
Concept Designs

Prototyping with additive manufacturing.

Prototyping higher fidelity models with CNC and Injection moulding.


We had to make sure that while the experience was completely novel, it felt familiar and intuitive to use. The phone’s touch surface is used to navigate through the digital screen,and the ability to host multiple screens gives you a digital work space that meets all your demands anywhere, anytime.


MVP
In our pursuit to make a device so new yet so familiar, we have created a completely wireless and sleek device made to work with the touch interface of any ordinary smartphone, combining the novelty of augmented reality with the familiarity of smartphone interface. Nimo was showcased in CES 2020, and was one of the smallest AR eyewear in its segment.
