And so the shoe company ,with the help of Dell, laid out an “aggressive” vision for the future of design that serves to create a digital canvas for immersive creativity and increase the speed in which it happens.
With the new Dell Canvas, a combination of an interactive pen and off-hand “totem” device, the future could bring Nike an environment for designing products for athletes using virtual reality, augmented reality, voice control and haptic technology.
Nike is already using that technology and has been exploring the idea that it can all be brought together by combining voice control with AR/VR headsets, Dell EVP and CMO Jeremy Burton said at Dell EMC World on Tuesday while wearing a pair of Nikes.
“They’re using this incredible haptic technology which allows them to create a holographic image of what they’re designing and feel the texture of the fabrics as they’re designing,” Burton said. “That gives them a more natural process, and it gives them faster time to market.”
Burton summed up the vision as “wild stuff.”
“The opportunities that this opens up with that evolution towards a more experiential process with the augmented reality using the Meta glasses and the haptics that were displayed in this video using the Ultrahaptics technology really takes you so much closer to a physical product that’s still in a digital environment before you ever get to the production stage,” said Sarah Burkhart, product manager for Dell Canvas.
Ken Black, Nike VP of Digital Design Transformation, indicated that for the company’s 1,000 designers, the tools can empower them to innovate. He said the company has designers that look at solutions for five years out for the 2022 World Cup and seven years out at a 2024 Summer Olympic Games that hasn’t yet named a site.
“So the fact that we are designing into that future means we need tools here today and now that enable our designers to actually realize what’s in their imagination to get there,” Black said of a process he hopes will lead to ideas being realized more beautifully and seamlessly.
“There’s a generation who is already working like this, and there is a generation coming who will work and create like this as if it’s how they breathe. So we are aggressive on pursuing the environment in which they can create, and I will say this: We have the best designers, best athletes, best data. We’re going to use technology like this to enable us to go faster and we quite frankly embrace those like you and others who are creating the tools that are going to help unleash the imagination of our creators and the potential of athletes.”
Those athletes — especially those with signature shoes — have a say in the design process. They too could benefit from being able to see an idea go from inside their head to almost being able to feel it come alive with natural touch.
“What we love about being able to work in 2D and see it in 3D is as we work with our athletes, which is critical, being able to co-create with someone like LeBron or KD as they see an idea taking form becoming that 3D shape really we think will change the game,” Black said.
