DESIGN01: Watches in the Wild

Interview

Environmentalist in Northside Berkeley

• Last time you struggled with a phone: Working and talking to someone with a phone in pocket; Driving; Camping and no signal while waiting for a job update.
• Would this have been solved with a watch interface: No to all scenarios except driving -- if there was a speaker functionality so that you could talk into and hear from the watch itself.
• What would you want to use a watch for: A GPS, especially out camping "would be pretty useful." Speaker functionalities so that you could talk into or hear from the watch. A concern was "though it would look weird to hold your wrist up to here [near mouth] and talk into it." Being alerted for email or social media, since "I'm almost always on my phone."
• Learnt: Heavily outdoors due to job and hobby. Being outdoors with a phone can be a hassle, especially with camping or hiking or rockclimbing. She wasn't as familiar with the term of "smart watch" but understood easily when described.

Software Engineer on a walk in North-side Berkeley

• Last time you struggled with a phone: Phone was in bag and having to deal with digging through items in bag to find phone. Another incident was phone was misplaced in apartment and wasn't able to get to phone in time.
• Would this have been solved with a watch interface: It would help, especially if you could pick up a call and speak through the watch.
• What would you want to use a watch for: General news flash as "I like skimming through news and reading articles." But not "constant flashing notifications" and "like Twitter" succinct since reading something on a screen that small wouldn't be helpful.
• Learnt: A casual outdoor person but sees use of smart watch. Mostly focused on how a smart-watch could help out in everyday activities in the home (reading/social media updates, finding phone quickly) rather than outdoor activity use cases. As a software engineer, also had suggestions that built upon the idea of Internet of Things. Seemed to be indifferent to the idea of a smart-watch

Engineer on a walk in North-side Berkeley

• Last time you struggled with a phone: Going out of the country on vacation and did not take up the phone. Other then that, I "usually have my phone near by when I want it to be."
• Would this have been solved with a watch interface: No, not in this case. "I don't particularly want email or social app notifications. I don't really use them and would rather not be notified constantly about them."
• What would you want to use a watch for: Take a picture of a building, "similar[ly] to the yelp app or something," or hold it up in the direction of the building and then be told what it is, reviews of the place, etc.  "Here's an idea: A synched timer for laundry machines since I remember when I was in the dorms in college, I would always have set a timer on my watch. And even now, I still do that since my laundry machine doesn't have a timer on it" (paraphrased).
• Learnt: Moderate outdoors person - more geared toward casual traveling. With engineering background, easily suggested ideas toward the idea of Internet of Things. Was also familiar with smart-watches; he owned a Pebble. He wished that the Pebble could be more versatile in real life -- used predominantly for time and weather.

Conclusions

• Interviewees struggled with their phones with an outdoor/traveling activity readily.
• Interviewees familiar and used watches in their life, all displayed similar motions when asked what kind of motion do they use to look at their watch (inside in wrist, a rolling upward motion to align wrist with face)
• Interviewees easily suggested ideas / problems they would encounter when being outside or away form "home." 

Brainstorming

After talking to interviewees, a target group appeared in my mind – people doing outdoor activities. Ranging from a casual walk to hiking to extreme-sporting, a smart watch app could be appealing for its mobility compared to a phone. Also, being out in the environment, there are a lot of health factors such as air quality or weather that could be easily accessible through a wristwatch that might need instant/constant notifications.

1. Compass: While out hiking or some other outdoor walking event, program a location and have an app that points in a direction to the destination along with the distance left to travel. Similar to the idea of checking your orientation with a map and a compass to check if you’re traveling in the correct direction
2. Health Reminder: While outside, sensors on watch detect light and sweat and can remind you to put on sun block or rehydrate/rest
3. SOS: Send out an SOS or alert to local authorities through watch -- in case if phone is lost or out of reach during an accident.
4. Outdoor Conditions: Check the conditions of the day for favorite destinations that you go to often – camp sites, surf sites, park, etc. Alerts would include icons for weather, dangerous conditions, etc.
5. Picture on the Go: Camera on the phone or based on GPS location mapped onto something like Google maps so that point or holding the watch in the direction of a location will tell you quick facts about the place (Name, business, contact info, etc)
6. Survivalist: Imagining that there are sensors in the watch where you could take a picture of or insert a piece of something found outdoors. App would analyze the picture / physical evidence and tell you if it was safe or not. Specifically thinking testing water or checking if a plant was safe to eat
7. Type Extension: It sort of requires 2 “watches” on each wrist but with a sensor over the wrist to detect muscle movements of fingers to do typing. Sort of like the Twiddler example in class but based on wrist watch sensors to prevent wrist problems for people who work long term with a computer. Or typing on the go.
8. Metro Map: Metro app that changes based on location to make traveling while traveling easier.
9. SmartHome: Building off an interviewee’s suggestion, creating an app that builds off the Internet of Things concept.For example, be able to change the temperature or raise the blinds or lock the door of your house all from your smartwatch.
10. Elevation Mapper: For the outdoor go-er, record elevation to correlate work done in walking up hill or exercising. Like a fitness app that tracks your movement in everyday life or on a mountain or activity like rockclimbing.
11.  Air Check (AKA the Pollinator): Chemicals/air particles can differ between countries so with a sensor or getting updates from quality checkers, have an alert to check the air quality of the day (which could lead to a notification of the cause such as a wild-fire, excessive pollen season or a dedicated day of pesticide spraying)
12. Tracker App: Attach a sensor to items or pets so that when out and about, you can find your item/pet.

Prototyping

Favorite idea was the Compass for its simplicity as a more simplistic way to get directions to a destination and practicality in everyday life.

Feedback

• Icon wasn’t understandable: The icon I was using to display a “you've have arrived” didn’t convey anything to testers. Also, another one that was intended to show current location and the path confused testers – they didn’t know if icon was for current location or destination.
• The direction and distance screen made sense. A tester suggested that be visible on the map-like screen.
• A tester suggested still being able to see time since it still should act like a watch
• The prototype watch style was “too large” and “bulky” and made it hard for the testers to react to the post-it screens. Switched to having just the post-it screens on the wrist.
• Testers agreed size was good, easily visible yet still fitting on the wrist.
• Initially home screen (list of places) wasn’t clear to users at either. Once they saw the map screen and the direction/distance screen did they realize it was more like a “GPS watch”

Revisions & Insights

• Re-develop icons and/or add text to clarify to be more user intuitive
• More multi-use functionality, to be “more like google maps.” Look into creating a more familiar interface – step by step directions, color highlights, arrows, etc.
• Make a more user-friendly watch interface. 
• Create more streamline screens so user can try out a work flow (current prototype only shows example screens and different views vs the step by step process of choosing and following a destination)