The Premise. There’s nothing like getting outside into the sun. The only problem is that risk of overexposure to the sun is high. It’s difficult to gauge when you’ve had enough and are about to get burned.
The Product. Violet is a small device worn on your clothing or on a wristband when outside. It syncs up with your smartphone to help determine your UV and vitamin D levels. With the accompanying app, Violet-wearers can customize the device’s data, letting it know their skin type and the SPF of the sunscreen they’re wearing, along with when it was applied. This allows Violet to let you know when you need to reapply sunscreen or when you’re going to burn. It also lets you know when you’ve received the recommended daily amount of vitamin D. Violet is small and silver and uses sleek lights as indicators to the wearer. The app shows you your sun exposure data throughout the month and even lets you keep track of multiple users all at once.
The Pitch. Violet’s campaign video is a bit commercial-y, but does a great job of showing off the product’s various features. It really emphasizes the importance of vitamin D without including too many scary skin cancer facts. The rest of the campaign goes through the prototyping process along with different screen captures of the app in action. Violet needs a whopping $100,000 on Kickstarter in order to reach its goal.
The Perks. Early-bird tiers offer Violet at $69 and $79 for delivery in April 2015. At its regular price, Violet goes for $105 with delivery also in April 2015. Reward tiers reach up to $2,000.
The Potential. There are too many fitness monitoring devices out there to count, but few monitors that actually look at how the sun affects one’s personal health. CliMate measure multiple environmental conditions including the UV index. Similar to Violet, it acts as a remind to reapply sunscreen, but doesn’t only focus on the sun like Violet does. The campaign focuses a little too heavily on how great vitamin D is and not at how harmful UV rays can be, but the product does measure both. As seen in the campaign, the app and product both look sophisticated and have the added appeal of being able to monitor multiple users, which is perfect for children. While the campaign goal is quite steep, Violet seems like the perfect way to enjoy the sun without having to worry about over-exposure.
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