14 DAY TRIAL // Ivy Ross, designer and jewelry artist, is the new chief of Google Glass. She will start off at Google on Monday, May 19.
“With your help, I look forward to answering the seemingly simple, but truly audacious questions Glass poses: Can technology be something that frees us up and keeps us in the moment, rather than taking us out of it? Can it help us look up and out at the world around us, and the people who share it with us?” she starts off a letter to Glass Explorers.
She explains that she’s spent her career at Calvin Klein, Swatch, Coach, Mattel, Bausch & Lomb, Gap and, most recently, Art.com, somewhere between designing and helping out with the marketing efforts, trying to answer questions like the ones above in different ways, for different products.
“Glass is especially cool, as no one has really tried to answer them with a product like this before. That’s our job, Explorers!” she states.
Ross will fill out the position held by Babak Parviz as the chief of Google Glass and will work under the Google X department and Google Co-Founder Sergei Brin.
It’s going to be interesting to see where she’ll take the Google Glass design and if she’ll be allowed to make major changes to the already established design. Of course, she’s known for some great designs so far, including for eyewear, while her titanium jewelry are in the Smithsonian permanent collection.
While Glass already looks nice and slim, the popular opinion is that it still needs a lot more work before it becomes something that people could wear on a daily basis without standing out like a sore thumb. On the other hand, she won’t be able to make Glass too inconspicuous as privacy concerns would spike instantly. After all, if no one can tell you’re wearing Glass, they’ll believe you’re spying on them at all times, taking pictures and recording their activities.
The design of Google Glass is one important part of the issue, but there are many more for her to tackle. One of these is the anger that people have over the feeling that Glass Explorers are violating their privacy. The many incidents that this anger has caused, where Explorers got their devices stolen or broken, should really concern Google especially since the company is planning a mass release of the device later this year.
Earlier this week, Google has opened up its beta program to anyone in America, without the need of an invitation.
