CS160 Design01
Watches in the Wild
Interview Observations
I interviewed with recruiters from my internship last summer. Here is the profile of the two interviewees:
P1 - Female, age range: early 30s works at A9 as head of University relations.
P2 - Female, age range: mid 20s works at A9 as a University recruiter.
Q1: Where do you usually keep your phone?
A: My subjects who both indicated that their phone was usually in their bags or in their hands when traveling. At work the phone was placed on the table for easy access.
Q2: What are your typical activities on the phone?
A: P1 told me that she mainly uses her phone as a means of communication with her coworkers. P2 mainly uses social media on her phone and texts frequently.
Q3: In terms of accessing your phone do you feel frustration or anxiety when your phone is in the bag?
A: P1 told me it is a relief that she isn’t hit with notifications every two seconds, so she’s relieved that her phone is put away in a handbag and harder to access. It gives her a peace of mind. P2 expressed something similar. Although both expressed, when navigating, (walking) it’s frustrating to constantly check their phone for directions, P2 even indicated that she has a scooter and there is nowhere to put her phone for navigation.
Q4: If you could use a smart-watch to accomplish tasks would you be less frustrated?
A: Both indicated it would probably be annoying for messages or social media, but for navigation it would be useful, but P1 did say if she is anticipating a call or if her boss calls her it would be better to be notified by watch, so she won’t miss important calls. P1 even indicated the desire to add certain contacts as a “favorite” on her watch, or have an ability for the watch to know when the user is anticipating calls.
Brainstorming
Here are my twelve ideas:
Automatic call anticipation app, by looking at calendar events and their contacts
Navigation app that only tells you when to turn right or left: NO MAPS
Ability to talk to your watch to add people on favorite for specific times
Watch should be able to automatically tell if a text or a phone call is urgent depending on the user who called.
A full map and current location
A street view of current location, and the camera will pointed towards the direction you should be moving
A direction list instead of left/right/or even maps
No visual display, just verbal directions.
Once you get in the vehicle, automatically predicts destination based on timeframe
Ability to stop phone notification from your smart watches for certain time period
A screenshot of the direction you should be moving
Series of screenshots of the entire trip, getting from point A to point B
Prototyping
I have decided to try the screenshot of the next direction. For navigational purposes, I believe the world that we see is a lot more helpful than abstract directions.
My prototype is made from a cardboard box, and the screen is made from post-its.
Here are more photos:
The smart watch screen will simply show the screenshot of the direction you're supposed to walk to next.
User-testing feedback
After having my friend use the prototype she told there should be an arrow indicating where in the screenshot one should move towards. In general she thought it was a fun way to walk around.
My observations as a list:
I noticed she was confused what she was looking at, I think there's a challenge to somehow indicate to the user that the screenshot is the direction that the user should follow
I also noticed that she was skeptical at first whether she could find in the physical world the screenshot on the watch. There's a challenge how much of the resolution of the screenshot and how much the screenshot should be zoomed in.
It might actually just be simpler to use an arrow that follows a navigational app directions.
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