Acheul envisions a world beyond our phones—where we move from looking down at small screens to looking ahead, engaging with expansive AR displays.
As the sole designer on an early-stage team of 6, I shaped Acheul’s core product vision, prototyped a new way of experiencing media outdoors through full-FOV AR, and defined the the core system UX including device controls and the app launcher. My work brought the founder’s vision to life and helped position Acheul as a category-defining outdoor AR wearable.
Blending digital and real space for a new kind of experience
The goal wasn’t to make floating screens. It was to make AR feel cinematic, immersive, and ambient - without blocking the real world.
Using blending modes, I discovered a visual system where the brightest parts of a video remain vivid, while darker areas fade into the environment. It unlocked the entire field of view - creating rich, reactive visuals that felt like part of your surroundings.
This same approach shaped how we imagined watching content outdoors - like Netflix on the subway - with immersive visual environments that adapt to the story but stay transparent enough to maintain awareness of your surroundings.
And to make it usable, I designed the entire interface system: notifications, quick settings, and media controls - all navigated from a phone touchpad, built for eyes-forward interaction.
Designing Acheul: Creating the first prototype to build from
When I joined, there were no mockups, no visual artifacts - just the founder’s belief that media belonged in space. I was the first designer on the team, and the first person to turn that vision into something people could see, critique, and build.
We started with music.
Today, we only listen to music outdoors. I asked: what does it mean to make music visible while you move through a city?
The early AR prototypes were familiar - rectangles, floating in the air which we needed to break away from. By blending music video content into the space around you, I unlocked a something new: full-FOV (field of view) visuals that didn’t obstruct visibility. This was a turning point because it positioned us as an outdoor-first AR wearable with visuals that expand to our whole space- no other AR glasses do this.
Creating the system's foundation
With the visual system taking shape, I turned to interface logic. Where does the time go? How do notifications show up without stealing focus? What gestures on a phone translate to controls in space?
I mapped out the foundational interactions and designed device controls that our engineers began to build.
These early demos anchored the product’s interaction model - from casual use cases like changing volume, to launching AR experiences.
Shaping the story and product positioning
As the blending mode prototype evolved, so did our internal language.
Acheul wasn’t just "AR glasses for media." It became “full-FOV outdoor AR,” a positioning that came with immediate questions - mostly about safety.
Would people wear immersive visuals outside? What about cars, people, sidewalks?
We looked to cultural shifts like the Sony Walkman. Headphones were once considered rude, unsafe, even dangerous. Now, AirPods are everywhere. We didn't want to ignore risk and it was important to design for it.
I introduced use-case-specific transparency settings. Visuals automatically dim when someone approaches, or when the system detects speech nearby. Just like noise-canceling headphones have ambient modes, AR can too.
Pre-Launch Outcomes
Realized Acheul’s core product vision as the sole designer
Designed foundational system: device controls, notifications, quick settings, and gesture logic
Positioned Acheul as a category-defining full-FOV outdoor AR wearable
