Hi Friends! I’m excited to share this week’s “Designing Near Future” Newsletter with you. If this email landed in your promotions folder, you know what to do. Welcome to the 10 new members that joined last week.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s in store today

⭐ 1 Shift: Webcams Used to Be Ugly, Look at Them Now

⚡ 1 Tip: Design for the outliers, not the average

💊 3 Resources: Secret Creative Resources That Pros Use

Reading time: 3 minutes

⭐ Shift

Webcams Used to Be Ugly, Look at Them Now

The productivity and work from home industry boomed during the pandemic, but 2 years later we are still seeing the productivity space booming with extremely well thought-out and well designed products. Historically very ugly and bulky, cameras are now having a make over as players like Opal and Logitech look to challenge the status quo. Here are 3 stories that point towards interesting opportunities in the productivity cameras space:

1. Tadpole by Opal (Hottest looking webcam on the market)

Famously backed by Casey Neistat and MKBHD, Opal recently launched one of the smallest webcams on the market, Tadpole. I personally also feel the industrial design of the camera is just beautiful. It features a mute button on the USB plug (a feature that I haven’t seen in any other cameras, yet) and is designed for portability. The reason this is interesting to me is because prior to this, Opal was known for using a lot of AI and real time learning to correctly focus and simulate background blur in a video call. Their software also allows for easily tracking how well you perform in video calls. Now with this new webcam, you can tell that a lot of the heavy lifting is done on the software side, as it only uses a tiny Sony sensor.

At this point, the camera company has raised 17M in Series A investment from Founders Fund, Kindred Ventures, and YouTube stars like MKBHD and Casey Neistat.

2. Logitech Reach (A webcam for a unique use case)

Reach camera by Logitech is designed for show and tell type scenarios. So think, education, youtube top down views, live demos, etc. Simply put, this camera is like an articulating lamp, but with a webcam in place of the lamp head. In their marketing material, Logitech is focusing on the education sector where participants would want to share non digital content like physical prototypes, art and craft demonstrations, or cooking. To be fair, Reach isn’t the first camera of its kind as articulating arms have existed for decades - but they are the first ones to not only package it right but do so in style. Here is a video walkthrough of what the big deal is about.

3. iContact Camera (Horrible name, solid product)

The third story comes from Kickstarter. A small company has come up with an interesting solution to the eye contact problem (i.e. you lose personal connection in video calls if you don’t maintain eye contact). It’s called the iContact Camera 🙄. They have an articulating arm that drops the camera sensor down to the eye level. Pretty cool. Their goal is to make a webcam “for more engaging, effective, and memorable video calls”. (hmm.. okay). Now while this is a neat solution (and it’s raised 250K+ on kickstarter so far), I don’t particularly think this will last long. The solution they are offering is the mechanical equivalent of a software solution that NVIDIA is playing with. This video demonstrates how software AI can tweak where your eyes are looking in real time. Is this a hit or a miss for iContact Camera?

Where are we headed?

The thrill of witnessing a decade-old product, long stagnant in innovation, suddenly become a hotbed for experimental redesign is unparalleled. As I highlighted in an earlier piece this year, the productivity industry is currently experiencing a renaissance of sorts. Webcams, in particular, are at the forefront of this transformation, boasting designs that are more sophisticated, yet user friendly than ever before. I am excited to see what a complete reimagination of our workspaces from the ground up would look like.

Hey real quick, I put a lot of effort into sharing only the best for my subscribers. Share this newsletter with a friend and join 1560+ creatives Designing the Near Future, Here is a link.

⚡ Tip

Design for the outliers, not the average

A key message in Rory Sutherland’s book Alchemy talks about the idea of not moving away from creating solutions and designs that target a hypothetical, average consumer. This, rather popular approach, often leads to predictable and uninspiring designs that may not resonate deeply with any particular group.

Instead, by focusing on specific, even extreme user needs or preferences, designers can create more innovative, creative and impactful solutions. Although he didn’t say it, but the tip here is to design for extremes, the outliers, the weird ones.

Rory illustrates this concept with the example of the sandwich. The sandwich, a simple yet ingenious culinary creation, was not designed for the average eater. Its origin traces back to the Earl of Sandwich, an obsessive gambler who needed a way to eat without leaving the gambling table. The solution was straightforward yet radical for its time: placing filling between slices of bread, eliminating the need for utensils and allowing for continuous gameplay.

Another example is Airbnb. Airbnb, now a globally recognized platform for booking unique accommodations, did not arise from a focus on the average traveler's needs as defined by the conventional hotel industry. It wasn't designed for the average traveler seeking conventional hotel accommodations but for those looking for more unique, local, and personal travel experiences.

There are a lot more examples here like the iPhone, Thaely shoes, Dyson Vacuum cleaners, etc.

Happy designing :)

💊 Resources

3 links to boost your creativity.

• ShaderGradient is a new tool to make animated gradients for web and figma

• Krea.ai is a new AI tool that renders images based on real time adjustments to reference images. Be sure to enroll in their waitlist

• How to start a clothing brand that people love is an insightful video talking about strategic and tactical advice to build culturally relevant brands