Using voice recognition software and powerful noise-cancellation technology, UmeVoice had developed a mobile headset for use on the busy Wall Street trading floor. Now, it was time to harness that same technology for the benefit of the general public. frog was approached to create a unique, comfortable, and compelling design for this new mobile headset, theBoom, giving average users the power of on-the-go communications – no matter how loud their surroundings.
By speaking directly with theBoom’s target audience, frog was able to gain insight into users’ expectations and frustrations about mobile headsets. Many cited a distant, submarine voice quality, the weight and discomfort of the earpiece itself, and a sense of social pressure, the fear that a headset would “make me look like a nerd.” These considerations were as integral to our work as the technological details, and led us to take our visual cues from jewelry design, rather than electronics. We pursued a refined form factor, using high-end materials to create a stylish, elegant new product.
The product design allows a close, comfortable, and adjustable fit. Over-molded rubber creates soft, slip-free contact with skin. The unique two-point stability configuration holds the microphone securely positioned in front of the user’s lips while also keeping contact points away from sensitive areas around the ear. Both microphone boom and speaker are held on by a powerful magnet and can be quickly detached, leaving the earpiece frame in place; this allows for fast, one-handed deployment by the user, requiring none of the usual fiddling and fumbling to answer a call.
As a result of these careful design considerations, the headset can be worn for extended periods without causing discomfort. A modular and symmetrical design allows theBoom to be worn on either the left or the right side of the head.
frog’s design team also took into consideration the social situations of a mobile headset user. Our goal was to create a headset for use not in a vacuum, but in this, the real world. To ensure that passersby in a public space are aware a user is taking a call, we ensured that the microphone, whose form subtly references that of human lips, sits almost directly in front of the mouth. This unique structural figure embodies UmeVoice’s proprietary technology and serves as a distinguishing brand attribute for future products and co-branded ventures. The color palette, too, is subtle yet distinctive, striking an ideal balance between branding and discretion.
theBoom allows any mobile phone user to take advantage of powerful noise-canceling technology in everyday situations. The UmeClarity proprietary technology, built to function within the cacophony of the trading floor, is ideal for users wishing to have a private conversation even while buffeted by traffic, crowds, and other street noise. No matter how loud their surroundings, users need only whisper to be heard.
theBoom’s innovative, stylish design – one that eliminates the compromises once inherent to the mobile headset experience – was recognized at the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where it was named a CES 2003 Innovations honoree.
