“Chris Pacione [...] cofounder of BodyMedia took a communication design course at an engineering school — Carnegie Mellon University — and fully expected to become a product designer. ‘But as soon as we started BodyMedia,’ says Pacione, ‘it became clear that our object was only one part of a bigger picture. We had to become service designers — and after that, business model designers — in order to survive.’ *

BodyMedia’s product is a hybrid of hard and soft features. What you see on Pacione’s arm is a wearable computer, with wireless capabilities. The company develops and sells wearable body monitors and software that collect, store, analyse, and display continuous and accurate physiological and lifestyle data, such as energy expenditure (calories burned), level of activity, sleep states, and other important physiological data — anytime, anywhere. A website shows wearers charts that their body’s performance to average or ideal charts, thus enabling them to see at a glance if they are getting enough exercise, sleeping too much or consuming too many calories. As well as object design — the industrial design of the object on your arm, its shape, weight, materials, engineering and so on — Pacione and his colleague had to design the appearance and organization of information on the website. They also had to design the ways people would buy the product and pay for it; they have had to adjust the company’s business model continuously. At first, they thought consumers might obtain the product free of charge and pay for a ‘wellness monitoring service,’ in much the same way as we sometimes get a satellite dish, or television set-top box, free and pay for programs through a monthly subscription. But the marketing costs of that business model were too high, so Bodymedia switched to selling the product to sportsmen, and -women as a high-tech training aid. This did not work — the unit price was too high — so now BodyMedia sells its hybrid product- service to insurance companies and health care providers in a business to business model. Says Pacione, ‘we never stop designing the object, the way it’s used, the way the information is presented, and the way people pay for it.’ * BodyMedia’s story is pragmatic of the way traditional ‘thing’ design is evolving.”

John Thackara, In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005). This book has been recommended to me by my dear friend Cati

! According to her, Bill… (Mitchell) says it is a must read :)

* Chris Pacione, “BodyMedia Case Study” (keynote address at Doors of Perception 6: Lightness, Amsterdam, November 11-13, 2000)