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Designers: Afshin Mehin, Levi Joo, Jean Louis Iaconis, Max Hodak, and DJ Seo, WOKE Studio, San Francisco, California, USA
Manufacturer: Neuralink Corporation, San Francisco, California, USA

Elon Musk wanted to reveal Neuralink to the world in July 2019. In order to prepare for the launch, we worked with the Neuralink team to productize their neural engineering technology. That means developing the world's first in-brain wearable device that would allow people with paralysis to control assistive technologies with only the power of their thoughts. To get there, we did a deep dive into the physiology of the human brain, unearthed a lot of new learning about neural wearables and built numerous prototypes to land on the ideal design.

The Neuralink system
The team at Neuralink had engineered an innovative technology for implanting their neural threads and pills. Our job was to design the N1 Wearable device, which was the part of the system that a person would wear outside of their head. This part of the system also was likely to be the main indicator that someone was using the Neuralink system, so it was really important we achieved the right design.

Everyone is unique
We've done enough body-worn products to know that everyone's body is different. With Neuralink, we created a database of ear shapes that would allow us to see the commonalities and differences between ear shapes. With this information we were able to approach the design process in a more strategic way to come up with a shape and location that would achieve a few things: 1) the device would fit different heads comfortably, 2) wearing the device wouldn't require shaving parts of the head 3) the device would discretely tuck in behind the ear on most head shapes.

The Design Process for Neuralink
In addition to gathering ergonomic data, we began to build iterations of different prototypes that allowed us to better understand how users wear the device as well as what they look like when the devices are worn. We worked closely with the Neuralink team to refine the product's form to find the perfect balance between comfort and visual appeal. Through constant sketching, building prototypes, and testing with users, we were able to come up with a final design that balances between comfort, discreteness, and ease of use.