IXI wants to make glasses intelligent without making them look intelligent
Glasses sit in the middle of the face all day and shape how others read us before we have said hello. Finland's IXI is building adaptive optics into the lenses — and now faces the harder task: making advanced technology look like pure style.
Smart glasses have spent years suffering from an irritating habit: looking like smart glasses. The technology has been the protagonist, and the person expected to wear the product has occasionally had to accept looking like a test subject for the next science fiction film. Finland's IXI, named by Wired UK as one of Europe's hottest startups, is trying to solve the problem from the opposite direction.
The company is developing glasses in which the optical properties of the lenses change automatically depending on what the wearer is looking at. The idea is that people who today use progressive or bifocal lenses should get the right focus without having to hunt for the right part of the glass themselves.
Where healthtech meets fashion
Technically the product is advanced, but glasses are also one of the most personal things we wear. They sit in the middle of the face all day and influence how other people read us before we have said a word.
IXI therefore needs to function as much as a design and lifestyle brand as a technology company. Anyone who needs vision correction obviously wants to see better, but very few customers want to signal that they are wearing a piece of medical equipment.
It is a brand question that several wearables companies still underestimate.
BBMB's recommendation: let the technology disappear
In BBMB's view, IXI should build its premium position around the opposite of a technology demonstration. The product can be extremely advanced on the inside, while the outward experience is about design, comfort, freedom and personal style.
This is where collaborations with international eyewear designers, fashion houses and optical retailers could become genuinely valuable. Ideally, a customer should want the IXI frames before she has heard how the technology works — because that is the moment the company moves from medical device to desirable consumer product.
BBMB works with brands where image, design and strategic positioning have to be built into the product rather than added afterwards. For IXI that matters even more than usual, since the technology literally sits on the customer's face.
A good product shouldn't require a lecture
The company's communication should therefore pitch its technical explanations at the right level. Investors and opticians need to understand the systems in detail; the customer mainly needs to understand what becomes easier in her daily life.
If IXI manages to make advanced adaptive optics feel as unremarkable as ordinary glasses, the company holds a very strong position. And the customer is spared looking as though she is awaiting instructions from the space station.