Fashion – The Imaginative Universal

Not to derail us, but how should MR devs dress?

My feeling is we shouldn’t be wearing the standard enterprise / consultant software dev uniform of a golf shirt and khaki pants with dog walker shoes. That isn’t really who we are. ORMs are not the highlight of our day and our job doesn’t end when the code compiles. We actually care how it works and even if everything works we care if it is easy for the user to understand our app. We even occasionally open up Photoshop and Cinema4D.

We aren’t web devs. Hoodie, jeans and Converse aren’t appropriate either. We don’t chase after the latest javascript framework every six weeks. We worry pathologically about memory allocation and performance. Our world isn’t obsessively flat. It’s obsessively three dimensional. Our uniform should reflect this, also.

This is the hard part, but here’s the start of a suggestion of the general style (subdued expensive) for men (because I have no clue about women’s fashion): faded black polo shirt buttoned to the top, slightly linty black velveteen jacket, black jeans, Hermès pocket square, leather dress shoes. It signals concern with UI but not excessive concern. Comfort is also important (UX) as is the quality of the materials (the underlying code and software architecture).

Finally, MR/VR/AR/XR development is premium work and deserves premium rates. The clothes we wear should reflect this fundamental rate, indicating that if what we are paid doesn’t support our clothing habit (real or imagined), we will walk away (the ability to walk away from a contract being the biggest determiner of pricing).

Black, of course, suggests the underlying 70’s punk mentality that drives innovation. MR devs are definitely not grunge rockers. The pocket handkerchief suggests flair.

[This post was excerpted from a discussion on the Microsoft MVP Mixed Reality list.]

microsoft-executives-testing-the-hololens

While Google Glass certainly had its problems as an augmented reality device – among other things not really being an augmented reality device as GA Tech professor Blair MacIntyre pointed out – it did demonstrate two remarkable things. First, that people are willing to shell out $1500 for new technology. In the debates over the next year concerning the correct price point for VR and AR head mounted displays, this number will play a large role. Second, it demonstrated the importance of a sense of style when designing technology. Google glass, for many reasons, was a brilliant fashion accessory.

If a lesson can be drawn from these two data points, it might be that new — even Project Glass-level iffy — technology can charge a lot if it manages to be fashionable as well as functional.

When you look at the actual HoloLens device, you may, like me, be thinking “I don’t know if I’d wear that out in public.” In that regard, I’d like to nudge your intuitions a bit.

Obviously there is time to do some tweaking with the HL design. I recently found some nostalgic pictures online that made me start to think that with modifications, I could rock this look.

It all revolves around one of the first animes imported to the United States in the 70s called Battle of the Planets. It sounded like this:

Battle of the Planets! G-Force! Princess! Tiny! Keyop! Mark! Jason! And watching over them from Center Neptune, their computerized coordinator, 7-Zark-7! Watching, warning against surprise attacks by alien galaxies beyond space. G-Force! Fearless young orphans, protecting Earth’s entire galaxy. Always five, acting as one. Dedicated! Inseparable! Invincible!

And it looked AMAZING. I think this look could work for HoloLens. I think I could pull it off. The capes and tights, of course, are purely optional.

Tag: Fashion

Is there a mixed-reality dress code?

HoloLens Fashionista