Surface Texture - Issue 37
🌬 flying on the ground | 🩸 Apple wants to read your blood | 🚴 hamster wheel+
Welcome to Surface Texture, the weekly newsletter covering product design trends and innovations for hardware designers, engineers, strategists, and entrepreneurs.
A few developments from previous issues:
iFixit gave the Microsoft Duo a teardown showing a much more detailed look at the hinge and how it works — Issue 36
Herman Miller released their Aeron in a “gamer” edition (read: black) — Issue 30
Some leaked images of the speckled Google Pixel 5s — Issue 31
The products of Surface Texture, Issue 37:
🌬 Lucid unveiled the production design of the Air electric sedan, filling a gap in the market of luxury EV interiors
🩸 Apple announced the Watch Series 6 with integrated blood oximeter sensor and new colors and bands
🚴 Peloton released a new premium version of their popular stationary bike called the Bike+, which incorporates a tilting display to improve visibility for floor exercises
Lucid Air Interior
This week, Lucid unveiled the production design version of the Air, an all-electric sedan aimed at disrupting the luxury EV pecking order — namely, filling the void created by the dated aesthetics of the Tesla Model S. Since it’s launch in 2012, the Model S has been left largely unchanged aesthetically, with interiors falling short of expectations, but has the “luxury electric vehicle” segment cornered due to lack of competition. Only recently have more established automakers ventured into the luxury space — like the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron, and Jaguar I-PACE — but it’s more that these vehicles need to market themselves as luxury vehicles due to their high price points, even though they’re more comparable performance-wise to other compact EV crossovers like the Model Y (i.e. the e-tron and I-PACE fall behind the Model Y in terms of performance but are both nearly twice as expensive; it’s almost a requirement to position as luxury EVs in order to compete with the Model Y and justify their higher price).
The Air is pushing ahead of the pack and aiming to be the EV equivalent of the Mercedes S Class, offering a business-class interior that elevates the sedan over similarly priced, performance-oriented EVs. Check it out:
It’s clear that the Air was heavily inspired by the Model X’s sweeping, structure-less windshield. Interestingly, the Air opted to add sun visors glued directly to the glass, while the Model X sun visors flip out from the A-pillar. This Tesla patent explains why the Air had to take another approach to the visors.
The Air features two touchscreen displays, the first an extension of the main 34” curved screen behind the wheel. The cluster uniquely extends into the center of the dashboard where applications can be swiped between the upper and lower displays. The lower, center console tablet can be stowed into the dashboard to reveal a small storage space.
The Air is set to launch in 2021 with a standard bench seat in back, but Lucid also announced its intention to release an “Executive Rear Seating Package” in 2022, with rear seats capable of up to 45° recline.
The interior design is noticeably focused on replicating premium flying experiences —
Inspired by a private jet, Lucid Air’s front cabin is carefully crafted, its darker colors placing emphasis on piloting the vehicle. The rear cabin, by contrast, offers a lighter palette reflecting the spirit of lounging and relaxation. It’s an environment designed to help you, driver or passenger alike, to savor time in Lucid Air as time well spent.
The link to flying is a theme throughout the car (it is called the Air) and is something to pay attention to long-term in the automotive industry. We’ve seen concept cars like the Volvo 360c push this narrative that we’ll eat, work, and sleep in the self-driving cars of the future (even likening this type of travel to flying), but the Lucid Air seems to be the first production intent EV incorporating and emphasizing the luxuriousness of premium air travel.
Apple Watch Series 6
A few hours ago… Apple announced the Series 6 version of their Apple Watch with a focus on health and fitness, introducing a new service alongside the launch in Fitness+.
Not much has changed from the Series 5 in terms of case size or shape, but it’s now available in four new colors/materials: Blue Aluminum, (PRODUCT)RED Aluminum, Gold Stainless Steel, and Graphite Stainless Steel.
The Series 6 now includes a blood oxygen level sensor as a means of measuring overall fitness and wellness. Here’s how it works:
…the Blood Oxygen sensor employs four clusters of green, red, and infrared LEDs, along with the four photodiodes on the back crystal of Apple Watch, to measure light reflected back from blood. Apple Watch then uses an advanced custom algorithm built into the Blood Oxygen app, which is designed to measure blood oxygen between 70 percent and 100 percent.
Pulse oximeters have been flying off the shelves with the news of low oxygen levels correlating to COVID-19 symptoms.
Included in the keynote event were two new watch band styles without clasps or adjustment features, the Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop. Their are nine fixed length loops available for the “Solo” style to ensure you get the right fit. The workflow for determining band fit is tedious and involves printing out a ruler and measuring the circumference of your wrist (to 1/16 of an inch). Its much like ring sizing, much better done in-person or with a tool, but it’s a good way to get people to go to an Apple store, pandemic-permitting.
The Pink Citrus and Deep Navy/Atlantic Blue colorways are featured prominently. It wouldn’t be too surprising to see these make their way to an iPhone in some form later this year. The braided loops with coarse, yarn-like fibers are a perfect balance of craft and simplicity — we want to get our hands on one.
The past month has seen a number of smartwatches released from the Amazon Halo to the Fitbit Sense, the latter including a blood oxygen sensor like the Series 6, but these competitive designs already seem dated compared to the type of integrations with new Apple services like Fitness+ (more on that below).
Peloton Bike+
Peloton began taking orders for a new upgraded version of their stationary exercise bike this week called the Bike+. The Bike+ features some improvements from the previous generation, like automatic resistance adjustments made in the training session (no need to manually dial in the resistance when your virtual spin class is about to ride up that “mountain”), but most notable is the addition of a pivot to allow the display to swing over to the side for floor workouts.
The pivot is canted to swing from the slightly tilted viewing angle when on the bike to a vertical position, more suitable to yoga or core exercises. These are sensible ergonomic improvements that seem rare in the product design world, but also uniquely function as a product multiplier — it’s not only an exercise bike, but also a pared down Mirror.
The launch is timely as competition heats up with Apple entering fitness with the new service, Fitness+. The paid subscription service gives access to weekly workouts ranging from biking to dance workouts, not unlike Peloton’s digital-only app. In addition, the Apple Watch can beam vitals and other health metrics to whatever screen you’re watching (e.g. iPad, Apple TV, etc.). It’s unlikely Apple will start making exercise equipment, but with the supply chain delays (partially attributed to high demand for home exercise equipment) consumers may not want to wait — why commit to a Bike+ that will get here in a few weeks when I can buy a new Apple Watch, a new iPad, and use Fitness+ for the same price?
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