Part 1: Interviews and Market Research
Interviewee #1: Professor (on sabbatical)
My first interviewee was a professor on sabbatical from another university. Interestingly, she already knew about smart watches and the basic functionality associated with them. However, as a professor, she was very concerned about the design and aesthetic as she needed to maintain a professional appearance. Throughout our conversation, I learned that she was very aware of how limited the functionality was due to the form factor and the limited battery life which influenced the answers she gave. In general, she usually always has her phone handy, whether on hand, in her pocket, or in her purse. This allows her to access most of the functions she needed which included directions, text, phone, email and notes. In terms of these functions, the ones that would have the most benefit of being always available were the ability to answer the phone with a simple tap on the watch and being able to verbally record memos without the hassle of taking out her phone. This stemmed from one occasion when she was talking to a student and wanted to take down a memo on a book recommendation. Since she was in the middle of a conversation, she was unable to pull out her phone inconspicuously and in this situation, have a watch to subtly say “take memo: book title” would have been very useful.
Throughout the interview, she repeatedly mentioned the inconvenience of current smart watches which greatly limited her opinion on the subject. When asked about her phone usage, most of the answers were the basic functions of calling, texting, and emailing. However, when she mentioned the story about wanting to take a verbal memo, we talked in depth about the situations where this could be used. The ones mentioned included making reminders, shopping lists, and notes. In general, this seemed to be a general feature that could be used in many different situations if designed correctly. I got the impression that she was a very practical person from the focus on basic applications that could be used across a wide variety of situations. Additionally, she was very cognizant about the limitations which greatly limited her opinions. Overall, the main important features were aesthetics, convenience, and the ability to perform simple functions elegantly.
Interviewee #2: Construction Worker
My second interviewee was a construction worker working on the construction site behind Soda Hall. Similar to the first interview, he usually always had his phone on hand in his pocket which meant it was almost always convenient to access. However, his usage habits greatly differed in that he rarely used his phone during the day and work. Instead, he usually used it after work, and even then, it was mainly to check the traffic for his commute home. This is in addition to the standard functions of email, text and phone but when I mentioned a smart watch had a small screen, he was concerned about the small form factor limiting usability. When asked about the last time he needed to use his phone, he was working with something that needed two hands but wanted to check how traffic in order to plan his commute back home. This was something I felt could be easily implemented on the smart watch.
Building on my experiences from the first interview, I was a bit more focused on trying to figure out what kinds of functions would be useful. I chose to talk to someone from a different profession in order to find the commonalities between different professionals. He was a very pragmatic individual who minimized his interaction with his smartphone. Additionally, he did not usually wear a watch so he felt that he would be very skeptical of a smart watches uses. He also mentioned that if he needed to have a smart phone in order to use the smart watch, it would usually be easier to just take out the phone and use it for the necessary task. Through this, I learned how important it was to find and focus on the applications that truly take advantage of the watch’s always-on and handy attributes.
Summary of Interview Experience
In summary, there were a few main ideas I learned. First, the aesthetic of the watch is very important as it is always visible and representative of who a person is. Secondly, the utility of the watch is limited by the small form factor and the usually available smartphone so functions should be focused on those that take advantage of the watches convenience. Lastly, the simple functions were the most valuable, except that they needed to be simple and efficient to use as the alternative of using a smart phone is already very easy.
Part 2: Brainstorm and Prototype
Brainstorm
1. Audio Memo Recorder - Record memos by taping the screen and then saying the memo. Provides an easy way to quickly record notes/memos on the go.
2. Traffic Update - Based on daily travel routes, automatically gives a traffic update at the appropriate time. Learns based on behavior so that routine actions looking up traffic are slowly automatically done.
3. Dictionary - Quickly lookup a word by saying it and having the definition appear across the screen
4. Venmo Interface - Pay a friend by tapping your watch to his or her smartphone (NFC)
5. Package Tracking - Provide alerts whenever deliveries are made to prevent packages from being stolen
6. Dragonboat/Crew Assistant - Using the watch accelerometer, measure the change in acceleration to figure out how effective each stroke is.
7. Food Locator - Based on location, randomly show a nearby restaurant for people who are indecisive
8. Fitness Tracker - Functions as a pedometer and overall activity calculator. Can input calories eaten, or other kinds of exercise
9. Warning System - Provides alerts for emergency warnings (tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, etc)
10. Car key - Similar to how new car keys are by location, functions as a way of unlocking the car instead of having to carry around a separate key
11. Pocket Astronomy - Provides information based on location on the moon cycle and any astronomy events visible in the area such as meteor showers or eclipses.
12. Motion Capture System - Used to capture wrist movement either for games played on the computer or phone to further enhance gameplay. Can also function as a way of inputting text by writing the letter in the air.
13. Music Identification - Identify the song currently playing, a shazam application on the watch to catch any song even when in a hurry.
Idea Choice
I decided on idea #1: Audio Memo Recorder for a number of reasons. During my conversation with the professor, I realized how often I go through the same motions of taking out my phone to make a note that is often only 3 or 4 words. While it is still convenient, this is a daily action that could greatly benefit from the ease of access an always available smart watch could provide. I also felt that the application is general enough to be useful for everyone.
Prototype Creation
I constructed the watch prototype out of cardboard from an Amazon shipping box, a rubber band and some post-its. I decided on a rounded rectangle because I felt it provided more usable space than a full circle while looking more natural than a straight square. This seemed like a reasonable compromise between a very sleek looking circular watch and a heavy larger rectangular one. In order to provide a realistic interaction with the prototype, I used a rubber band in combination with notches on the cardboard strap to create a clip that allowed users to physically wear the watch.
In my design of the audio memo application, I wanted to focus on three main ideas: simple, intuitive, and quick. The goal was to create something that would seamlessly allow note taking without extraneous clicks or movements. Towards this, the workflow shown above is very minimalistic and simple. It contains what I felt like were the essential functions of a note taking application while avoiding clutter that would take extra taps or clicks.
The workflow is as follows:
1) Tap on time to open up the home screen which has the available applications.
2) Tap on the notes application to open up the 4 option main screen: home, record, archive, and back.
3) Tap on the record quadrant or on the watch button (not created) to start recording
4) Recording now.. screen gives a 1 second delay before it starts recording
5) Microphone screen shows while the watch is recording the audio memo or note
6) Tap the microphone to stop recording and show the archive screen which contains all the recorded notes in chronological order (prototype screen shows the date the note was recorded)
7) Upon tapping on a specific note to hear, the 4 option menu shows with share, delete, rename and back as options. This is shown as the note is playing.
8a) Tapping the back returns the user to the archive screen
8b) Tapping share shows the next screen which is a scrollable list of possible places to share the note (gmail, dropbox, text, etc...)
Testing the Prototype
I interviewed my neighbors to test my prototype. In general, I wanted to target everyone by making a daily use application that was agnostic of the situation by being applicable to every situation.
User 1:
The first tester was able to get through a majority of the entire application, up until he needed to navigate through the archive screen. Here he was confused and took a while to figure out how to get home and how to interact with the individual recording. Overall, his response was positive about the utility of the application. A problem with the design was redundancy in function. Some of the buttons led to the same screen which meant that it could be further streamlined. Also, when to click to proceed or to find further options was not always clear. This was evident in tapping the microphone to stop the recording and tapping on a specific note to open up the note specific option menu.
User 2:
The second tester was able to navigate throughout the entire application. She felt that it was very useful because it made it very easy to take an audio note. However, there was a lack of additional functions which would further enhance the application such as reminders and a speech-to-text functionality. Overall, it seemed easy to use because of the limited amount of function and lack of embellishment. She liked the share feature and found it an effective way to spread notes across all devices such as her phone and computer. However, it was hard to navigate through past notes because of the limited screen size and the inability to search for a specific note.
Insight
I felt that the prototype was able to convey my goal of a very streamlined experience of taking a verbal note. However, in my attempt to make it very simple, I left out many useful features such as speech-to-text, navigating the past notes, and setting reminders for the note. These could be added without cluttering the application which would maintain the efficient flow seen in the prototype. In addition to learning about features that would enhance the application, there were a number of design shortcomings. The buttons to navigate throughout the application could be more intuitively located and explained as the screen showing which button to press did not indicate that pressing the watch button would also work. Also, visual effects such as a pulsating microphone would provide a visual cue to tap the screen to stop the recording.
Overall, the application seemed to be useful, however it needs improvement on both the function side and the design side. In terms of function, I should clearly show what functions are available for use. Additionally, I should make sure not to sacrifice function haphazardly in an attempt to present a streamlined experience. In terms of design, I need to make it clear how to navigate throughout the application. I also need to think about how a first-time user would see each screen and imagine the visual cues necessary to direct the flow towards the next screen. Lastly, I should avoid redundancy since it confuses the user along with taking up valuable screen space.
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