Watches in the wild

Design 01: Watches in the Wild

Jeremy Press

Part 1: Interviews

For the purpose of anonymity, I will use the alias Hector for my first interviewee, and Jake for my second.

Interview 1

Hector is a consultant from San Francisco. He told me that he always has his phone with him, and that he uses it primarily for checking the time, looking up directions, and responding to text messages. He and I agreed that checking the time on a watch is very straight forward. If you turn your wrist towards your face, it should show you the time and any notifications that you may have. For directions, his preferred interaction would be speaking to the watch and hearing directions, as well as a simple turn by turn UI. He mentioned that this would be difficult to accomplish on a smart watch. Finally, Hector expressed concerns with responding to messages on the watch. He is hesitant to trust voice recognition to relay his messages, and suggested something like a bluetooth keyboard or earbuds to improve the experience. I’m surprised that he would want another piece of hardware to accompany his watch, but until the technology is good enough I see his point.

Interview 2

Jake is an electrical engineer living in the South Bay. Similarly to Hector, he keeps his phone in his pockets at all times. Also like Hector, Jake mentioned that one of his most used interactions with his iPhone is maps. He brought up voice commands for traffic updates, as well as for turn by turn directions, as possible interactions with the watch. Next, Jake told me that he was concerned with eavesdropping and bringing too much attention to himself if he made calls with a watch. Jake is constantly in contact with clients and co workers via email. He thought it would be great if he could get email notifications with the subject line directly from the watch, so that he knows when there’s a work update. the biggest surprise I got from Jake’s interview was that for him to buy a smartwatch, he would want the freedom to not have to carry his phone around with him. He told me he doesn’t expect to be able to do this reliably for a year or two.

Part 2: Brainstorm, Prototype, and Feedback

Brainstorm ideas:

1. Earbuds that attach to the watch to pick up calls and listen to any and all sounds.
   
2. A maps app that prioritizes traffic (using red, orange, green) and the next step. This gives you a heads up on how bad the traffic is.
   
3. A ping app, that sends you an alert in addition to the sender and their location when you’re at work. Now you can easily track down people at your office!
   
4. A maps app for walking/indoors that just presents you with an arrow pointing you in the right direction and your distance to destination.
   
5. A redesign to messages that lets you draw on a pad that’s attached to the watch band to respond to messages.
   
6. Direction based vibrations for maps when walking. For example, 1 buzz is continue straight, 2 is turn left, 3 right, etc.
   
7. A mail app that allows you to mark messages, so when you open your phone they come in as new unread messages to be responded to.
   
8. A maps app where you request a location (drug store, Chinese food, etc.) then the watch lets you scroll through the closest locations with distances and a provided yelp review. You can then click on the location to start directions.
   
9. A foldable bluetooth keyboard that connects to the watch and allows you to respond to messages while the watch is on your wrist.
   
10. A touch sensing watch band that lets you navigate through the watch OS by swiping and pressing the band.
    
11. a redesigned phone dialer that replicates the old rotary phone style. This example of skeuomorphism is actually useful because of the small screen size.
12. A yelp type app that shows you reviews and ratings of restaurants as you walk near/by them.

Favorite Idea: I chose to prototype my first idea. I like this idea because it solves the tough problem of privacy when using a smartwatch. Also it looks like something a spy might use.

Testing! 

I tested the watch out in a large group dinner setting. I felt like this fit the use case where you're in a crowded room and need some privacy when you take a call. The earbuds also help with hearing issues that are evident in such a loud space. 

What I learned:

• The earbuds are small, what happens if one falls off while walking? If they were attached with a retractable string, they would be easier to keep track of.
  
• Follow up. Other people thought that connecting the earbuds would be annoying to deal with.
  
• It can be awkward to put the earbuds back onto your wrist one at a time.
  
• The earbuds might interfere with the clasp, the band could get pretty crowded.
  
• The earbuds could get knocked out if you hit your wrist on something.
  
• People found the idea to be very convenient overall.
  
• People were curious about how the voice input would work, either by bringing the watch towards your mouth, or adding a microphone to one of the earbuds somehow.