DES01 : the better for wear

Part A:

I talked to three people in my initial design interviews. They were as follows:

1. A mid-40 mother of three, teacher (A)

2. A 15-year-old high school student who attends a boarding school (B)

3. The 15-year-old student’s twin who also attends a boarding school (C)

Their responses are below, but first, some summarized insights (A)(B)(C):

· All tend to lose their phones very often

· None of them see the benefit of a smartwatch

· Lots of social media usage for the younger generation

· People are really lazy

Ask them to recall the last time they remember not having their phone readily available (i.e., in their hand) and wanted to perform some task on it (call someone, look at the BART schedule, find a restaurant, play Angry Birds, etc.).

A: Last night – when I woke up and wanted to check the time at 4:00am, I didn’t have it because it was in my purse

B: 4 hours ago, I wanted to check Snapchat, but I had momentarily lost my phone, so I spent 30 minutes looking for it

C: This morning when I woke up, I was facing the wall and I was too lazy to turn over and grab my phone off the nightstand. Before that, I lost it yesterday.

Where do they usually keep their phone (pocket, book bag, purse)?

A: In my purse, and my purse is usually by the front door when I go home

B: I usually have it in my hand or in my pocket but recently I’ve started holding it less. I don’t have many friends here because my friends are at a different school, so I don’t need to have it on my to ask them where they are

C: I usually keep my phone in my hand. And if it’s not in my hand I’ve probably lost it or don’t need it. It does not impair me to have it in my hand, and honestly it’s probably better than having it in my pocket, impairment wise.

What was the task they wanted to perform? Have them describe specifically the action they wanted to do (for example, “call my mom”, “RSVP to an event”, “get directions to Cheeseboard”).

A: I wanted to check the time B: I wanted to check Snapchat C: This morning, I was trying to check the time. Whenever I need to check the time, I use my phone

Ask them to imagine a performing the same task using a wrist worn interface touchscreen.

A: I couldn’t replace my phone with a watch – I’m not used to wearing a watch, it’s a habit thing, and I’m also getting older so my eyes are not as good. I’m a simple person, so anything complicated (with a learning curve, lots of buttons) isn’t something I am interested in. I used to feel this way about a phone, but the phone is so smart and convenient that I just sucked it up and learned to use it. I would only use a watch that was just as smart and simple.

B: I can’t imagine doing the phone things on a watch – most of the stuff I do is social media and that just doesn’t work as well on a watch.

C: What I usually do on my phone ranges, its usually texting or calling if its for family, and I check social media a lot, and play a lot of games to pass the time. I can’t imagine playing games on my watch because the screen would be hard to see and I don’t know how you would alter games to work on a watch.

I can only imagine doing a few things on a smart watch – checking the time, checking the weather, things that aren’t for pleasure (traffic report, Siri).

I think smart watches are cool, I just don’t think they’re for children, or anyone except the “modern businessman”.

Pictures with the participants:

Part B:

Brainstorms

Find My Stuff

Ping stuff you can connect to via Bluetooth (laptop, phone, headphones, etc)

Presentation Pal

Presentation clicker and mouse all in one for teachers and presenters

Mobile Mouse

Everything you can do with a trackpad, on your watch. Touch to move around the screen, drag to scroll.

TV Remote

Can’t find your remote? No problem. Everything you can do with a TV Remote, on your watch

Universal Remote

Everything you can do with a mouse/remote/keyboard, on your phone

Wii Controller

No more losing those pesky Wii controllers. Also no worry that your controller will break your TV.

Walkie Talkie

Fun for all ages! Talk to people across the room and down the hall without shouting.

Charades Game

Like HeadsUp but you look dumber. Just hold your inner wrist up to your forehead to display prompts on your watch.

Hand Shaking App

Whenever you shake hands with someone, you’ll get their contact info

Tamagotchi

You can play games on your watch too! Just your standard Tamagotchi pets, living in your watch.

Literally a Watch (joke)

Because apparently people are too lazy to check the time on their phones

Elevation/Hydration

As you hike and increase elevation, your watch will tell you how much water you need to drink

Local News For Travelers

When you’re travelling and want updates of what’s going on in the country around you

NFC Downloads

Download a friend’s song by fistbumping

Snapfast

Snapchat but more instant, so you don’t miss those moments that all your friends need to see. Requires a camera on the side of the watch.

L8M8

Instantly text boss when running late

Traffic

Send real time traffic alerts as you’re about to head home

Selected Idea: Presentation Pal

I wanted to present a new and innovative of interacting with the watch that plays to the strengths of the layout. Because watches are so small and attached to your body, this app can free up your hands when you are presenting, allowing for a more expressive presentation. I also liked the idea of using the watch to control bigger screens, because this mitigates the downside of having such a small screen.

Prototype:

Trial Run:

1. A 26-year-old program coordinator for a scholarship program at Berkeley (D)

Feedback (D):

Initially, (D) was confused by the layout and UX design of the application. She kept looking down at the watch and mentioned “I keep feeling like the screen in down here, so I keep looking, even though the presentation is happening on the monitor”. It took her a while to get into the flow of pretending to move things around on the screen, and at the end, she still said that she would prefer a physical clicker.

However, she did like the idea of swiping forward to switch slides, and found this movement to be quite natural.

Insights (D):

I think that (D) would have had a better time with the UX had she been able to actually see the mouse move on the screen through touch. It was difficult to emulate this through the prototype, and I think this contributed to the discomfort of the interaction.

(D) also placed her watch on her right hand, which struck me because I had been prototyping it for the left hand the whole time. Because I wear my watch on the left, it was more intuitive for me to swipe right->left, but (D) preferred swiping left->right.