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.
Bringing VR-level immersion to AR
The most popular AR glasses for everyday use available today is Xreal Air. They do 2D projections onto the real world. So, it's like having YouTube, Chrome, and Slack windows in your space. Great for work but doesn't capture the immersion that VR offers for entertainment. Acheul aims to bring VR-level immersion to AR, utilizing our full field of view while making sure to not block our visibility as we move around the real world.
I needed to find a way to overlay music videos onto the real world and make it look bold and exciting, not chaotic. I learned of a computer graphics technique called blending modes that determines how the colors of two overlapping image layers interact and combine with each other. I found that when the brightest parts of an overlaid video remain vivid, and the darker areas fade into the real world, it feels like we're surrounded by AR visuals all around us while keeping the real world clearly visible. It unlocked the entire field of view, bringing the immersion of VR to AR.
This same approach shaped how I imagined watching TV shows and movies in AR. The area surrounding the main panel adapts to the story but stays transparent enough to maintain awareness of our surroundings.
To make the AR glasses usable, I designed the foundational system: notifications, quick settings, and media controls - all navigated from a phone touchpad, built for eyes-forward interaction.
The beginning of Acheul: Positioning ourselves as a category-defining full field of view outdoor AR wearable
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 - panels floating in the air which we needed to break away from. By blending music video content into the space around you, I unlocked 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.
Adaptive transparency settings allow users to be immersed in AR and also aware of the real world
Would people wear immersive visuals outside? What about cars, people, sidewalks?
We looked to cultural shifts like the Sony Walkman. Headphones outdoors were once considered unsafe. Now, AirPods are commonplace, and have settings like noise cancelling, transparency, and adaptive.
I designed for the risk, bringing transparency settings to AR. Parts of visuals automatically dim when someone approaches, when there's an obstacle or when someone speaks to the user.
Creating the system's foundation: the app launcher, notifications, device controls
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.
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
