What is Jacquard?
Jacquard™ is Google’s electronic textiles and wearable technology platform. While mobile computing has come a long way, our experience of it is still tied to glass rectangles and cold interfaces. Jacquard brings computing and our digital experiences to more comfortable, organic, and livable contexts like apparel and accessories. In short, this platform aims to give “dumb” products some intelligence while respecting their ubiquity in our lives.
NOTE: This project is still under development in Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group. Much of it is still under NDA. Below are some products that have launched.
AWARDS
Paris Design Awards Gold (2020)
from Product to Platform
In 2017, Google made a splash in the wearable technology space with its Levi’s partnership (the Levi’s Commuter Trucker jacket, see video on right). But the vision here is not to make a single product nor to work with a single brand at a time. Instead, Jacquard aims to create a unified platform by which multiple garments, accessories, and soft goods can be made intelligent. This involves considering cost, scalability, brand agnosticism, subtlety, and consistency across products.
The first Levi’s jacket had brand-specific Jacquard hardware — great for a first product, but not conducive to building a multi-partner platform. My focus was to create brand-agnostic hardware that can be integrated into a variety of products.
The Jacquard Tag
The Jacquard Tag is the brain and power behind the Jacquard ecosystem. This tiny device connects to your phone using Bluetooth and includes a rechargeable battery, a motion sensor, I/O contact pads, and an on-board microprocessor to read and process inputs. A dead-front indicator LED is visible when needed and invisible when not.
Contributions
Industrial design of Jacquard Tag, receptacles, and other brand-agnostic hardware
CMF spec, golden sample selection and management for all Jacquard hardware
Working closely with PDEs to make hardware reliable and manufacturable
Assisting in QA and tooling bring-up overseas
Designing layout of regulatory markings
Concept development for new soft goods technologies
Developing tech integration strategies for good reliability and usability
Storyboarding UX flows
Process
Here is a selection of sketches direct from my sketchbook exploring Jacquard Tag form detailing, receptacle concepts, and light pipe design.
After extensive design exploration, we decided to move forward with a dead-front indicator light. This required an exhaustive exploration of PC/ABS polymer formulation to get just the right translucency when the indicator light turns on but appear opaque otherwise.
PC/ABS pellets used for housings
Pigmented PC/ABS used for housings
5-part top housing cavity. Included a removable insert for different in-mold branding options (Adidas variant shown here) without requiring building multiple tools.
Bottom housing tooling with insert-molded copper I/O pins.
Testing various pigment formulations for internal light pipe. We tested over 20 formulations in total.
Testing different combinations of internal light pipe (“boot”) pigment formulations with different top housing (“shell”) pigment formulations. Each measurement listed is amount of grams of pigmented plastic per kilogram of clear plastic (i.e. 0.63g black per 1kg clear). The goal was to maximize light output in daylight while obscuring the internals. This was the final comparison after hundreds of combinations.
Checking parts for cosmetic blemishes in class AA glossy surfaces. You can see some blemishes on the left side of the logo. I worked with our CM to diagnose the issue and get it fixed by changing heat and pressure parameters in the injection molding machine.
Regulatory markings, laser-etched, designed to be as unobtrusive as possible while complying with international standards.
Levi’s Trucker Jacket
The second-generation Levi’s + Google partnership, the Levi’s Trucker Jacket is the classic you know and love, now with a subtle connected twist. Timeless, comfortable, machine washable, connected.
The Jacquard Tag inserts into a port in the smart cuff. The cuff has a touch-sensitive sensor that understands gestures.
Perform gestures (brush in, brush out, double tap, cover) on the cuff to control your music, podcasts, navigation, counters, etc.
A subtle dead-front LED and haptic vibration alert you of important notifications, texts, or phone calls.
Yves Saint-Laurent Cit-E Backpack
A high-end luxury backpack with Jacquard technology built in.
The Jacquard Tag lives in the main pocket of the backpack, hiding the tech and prioritizing fashion.
The strap features a rivet with a built-in light pipe to communicate notifications.
The sensor strap is wrapped in handcrafted, stamp-textured leather and provides a beautiful affordance for touch sensitivity.
Adidas GMR Insole
A departure from the other Jacquard products, this product tracks your running, passing, and shooting performance as you play soccer. It integrates into the EA Sports FIFA Mobile app allowing users to compete with their friends and earn points that can be used for in-game unlockables.
User inserts the Jacquard Tag into a protective sleeve on the underside of the GMR insole.
The insole inserts into the user’s favorite soccer cleats. The Tag’s careful placement ensures you’ll never feel it.
As the user practices their skills, their performance is tracked. They’re rewarded within the FIFA Mobile app.
Samsonite Konnect-i Backpack
Samsonite’s first partnership with Google, the Konnect-i Backpack is a tech-forward version of Samsonite’s robust and modern backpacks that comes in two different styles.
The Jacquard Tag inserts directly into the strap under the interaction area, which has a printed texture. Although the receptacle holds the Tag firmly on its own, an additional elastic covering provides peace of mind that it’s not going anywhere.
As a tech-forward product, this backpack features prominent Jacquard by Google branding.
