Instaglasses is a new product concept by German designer Markus Gerke. Influenced by Google's Project Glass, Gerke decided to combine the idea of a camera-capable pair of glasses with the various filters of the Instagram photo-sharing mobile app.
Instagram is an immensely popular photo-editing and sharing social network for smartphones. Its main feature is the ability to apply filters to photographs, many of which give the shots an aged, retro feel. After building a sizable userbase among users of iPhones and other iOS devices, Instagram arrived on Android. More than one million people downloaded the app over the next three days, and Facebook promptly decided Instagram was worth paying US$1 billion to acquire.
With this in mind, Instagram can rightly be classified as a phenomenon, with a large and committed (some would say addicted) userbase and a new rich owner. It's not surprising, then, that Instagram inspires unofficial spin-offs such as the Socialmatic camera, and now Gerke's Instaglasses.
The concept Gerke posted to Behance suggests a pair of Instagram-branded sunglasses with a 5-megapixel camera embedded in the frame. One eye views the world as it really is, while the other views the world through the filter selected by the wearer. If the wearer spots a scene worth shooting through the selected filter then they can take a photo right there and then with the single click of a button. Aside from the 5-MP pinhole camera Gerke's suggested specs include Wi-Fi and 4G connectivity, 2-GB of internal memory, and up to 7 hours of battery life.
Like recent versions of Instagram, Gerke suggests that the glasses will allow users to add filters while the shot is still being lined up, rather than simply applying filters retrospectively.
Gerke has been quick to point out this isn't a real product and he won't be heading to Kickstarter in order to fund a production run. "It's only a design concept. I will not produce it and I don't want to make money with it. I only want to show, how it could look," he insists. As the designer that's Gerke's privilege, of course, but the amount of interest the Instaglasses concept is garnering could change his mind.
Judging by a statement posted on his personal site, Gerke has been inundated with requests to explore the concept in more depth. "I’m overwhelmed with the feedback I get for my design concept, he said" but went on to reiterate "It’s fictional only."
Sources: Behance, Markus Gerke via Digital Trends
