It’s been over a month since we first announced the challenge to create a set of glasses that display closed-captioning for a movie, and the results have been overwhelming! All twenty-eight entries we received were amazing, and when it came time to pick ten finalists, we chose them based on creativity, design, and the use of an app (powered by WiFi/Bluetooth technology) to transmit captions to the glasses.
We’ve now ranked these ten finalists based on which are most parallel to our vision, and we’re now thrilled to announce the challenge winners!
1) Ccglasses by Anirban Ghosh
In first place is Anirban Ghosh’s prototype, the one we’ll be manufacturing! We really loved the aesthetic aspects of Ghosh’s design -- the bridge separating the lenses of the glasses is clear, which will, in hindsight, make it easier to read captioning, and the button on the side of the frames to turn captioning on and off was really along the lines of what we’d envisioned originally -- and we really loved the way Ghosh incorporated the app aspect of the challenge. Congratulations, Anirban!
2) Ccglasses by OmarX
In second place is OmarX’s prototype! We really liked Omar’s incorporation of challenge elements, such as making the glasses out of a “film mirror” material, and connecting the captioning to a smartphone/tablet device, but we felt he could have gone more into the specifics of how this would be done in his description. Congrats, Omar!
3) Gc cinema text by Mark A
In third place is Mark A’s prototype! Again, we loved the incorporation of the app aspect of the challenge, and we thought the idea of a touch screen on the actual glasses was incredibly creative, but we felt the design of the glasses themselves was a bit jumbled and confusing, and we were looking for a design without headphones. Congratulations, Mark!
4) Cc glasses (retractable glasses) - ultimate version by Andrès Iborra Lòpez
In fourth place is Andrès Iborra Lòpez’s prototype! We thought the idea of retractable lenses was incredibly smart and creative (Lòpez brought up some safety concerns in the case of children that we’d overlooked), and we liked the fact that the glasses would be made cheaply, but the connection of Bluetooth to the glasses -- through headphones -- wasn’t really along the lines of what we’re trying to do. Congrats, Andrès!
5) “eye” can hear: cc glasses by Tommy Mueller
In fifth place is Tommy Mueller’s prototype! We liked the consideration of current modern technology that could be used to build the glasses (Mueller listed micro-projectors, optics, and 3D printing specifically), but we were looking more for an idea of how the prototype would actually work, and we thought some of the aspects of the prototype were unnecessary (such as the two nubs on the sides of the frames). Congratulations, Tommy!
6) Eyes to hear with by William
In sixth place is William’s prototype! We really like some parts of the design, such as the button on the sides of the frames to activate the WiFi connection between the app and the glasses, but we felt William’s description was lacking when it came to describing how the glasses would actually work, and we felt the prototype itself needed to be expanded. Congrats, William!
7) Cc glasses-1 by reza
In seventh place is reza’ prototype! We liked some aspects of reza’s design, such as a green light to indicate whether the glasses are connected to the app or not, but we felt reza’s description of the glasses’ functionality was lacking, and we felt the headphones and wires connected to the glasses made the design a little confusing. Congratulations, reza!
8) Cc glasses-2 by reza
In eighth place is another prototype by reza! We definitely liked some parts of reza’s design, but felt it was significantly undeveloped and confusing -- we felt the headphones took up a significant portion of the design with no real function, and we felt that all the wires in the design were unnecessary. Congrats, reza!
9) Hearing aid 3d glasses by Naseem Mangat
In ninth place is Naseem Mangat’s prototype! We felt Mangat did a great job of exploring how the app would connect to the glasses, but we felt the design itself was a bit clunky, with no real purpose for the large headphones on the sides of the glasses. Congratulations, Naseem!
10) “eyes to hear with” by buffalo TBR
In tenth place is buffalo TBR’s prototype! We loved the incorporation of microphones and camera into the design, and we liked the button on the side of the glasses to turn captioning on and off, but we thought the incorporation of a third lens to display captioning was confusing and unnecessary, and we thought the design overall was a bit awkward. Congrats, buffalo!
Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the challenge! We loved all your designs and hope to incorporate many of their aspects into the final prototype.
