Introduction
I love food, so for this project, I decided to focus on interviewing people in the food service industry. I wanted to see if there were ways in which smartwatches could make their lives easier, and also ways in which smartwatches can make finding food easier.
Part 1: Interviews
Interview 1
For my first interview, I interviewed Sean Robinson, a sandwich artist at The Sandwich Spot in Berkeley and a freelance artist. Sean said that he normally has his phone on him all the time, and that he rarely has instances where he wants to use the phone but it isn't near him. I asked him if it was on him now, and he said that it was in his front pocket. When he is at work, there are times when he can't use his phone, and he would like to because as a maker of freelance artwork he communicates often with his clients via email. However, even at work he keeps his phone nearby leaning on a stand of paper towel rolls. He tried to think of times when he wanted to use his phone but wasn't able to for some reason. He suggested the movie theater (sometimes he would like to check if there is an extra scene after the credits) and while in the shower (he always wanted to get a shower radio). I told him about the watch and he thinks of it mostly as a pager for when you get something on your phone.
Interview 2
For my second interview I interviewed Ben Avery, a 30-year-old restaurant server at a high-end Italian restaurant in SF, who lives in Berkeley. Ben described multiple instances in which he wanted to use his phone but didn't think it would be good for some reason. The main reasons for not wanting to take out the phone were:
- Safety (not wanting the phone to get stolen in a dangerous neighborhood such as Oakland)
- Disrespect (he considered it disrespectful to take out his phone while in a conversation with someone, or while in class)
- Etiquette (he does not take out his phone at work)
- Convenience (while on the BART, he keeps his phone in his pocket while listening to music -- sometimes he wants to change the song without taking out his phone), and
- Not having the phone nearby (e.g. while in the kitchen at home, or while working out at the gym, as the phone weighs down his shorts).
Notes
From the interviews, I concluded that the main reasons these two people want to have the phone nearby are:
- Phone vibrated. Want to check for message, possible phone call.
- To play music.
- Check email: as freelance artist constantly in communication with clients.
- Check text messages.
- Check when bus is arriving (dangerous to take out phone in Oakland!)
- Look up information (on movies, questions such as whether eggs go bad)
Another interesting thing was that while these two people have quite different phone habits (Sean is almost constantly on his phone, while Ben likes to only take it out for music and when it vibrates), both of them kept their phones on them pretty much all the time, in their front pockets.
App Ideas
App ideas from the interviewees:
- Quick translator. Sometimes people come in to the restaurant, and they don't speak a word of english, and Ben has no idea what they're trying to say.
- Chromecast: Sean suggests using a watch instead of phone as remote control for TV.
- Sean likes to bike. Directions for cyclists - either with arrows, voice, or both. GPS / accelerometer on phone might be sufficient to guess direction of travel, since both phone and watch usually stay in the same orientation while biking, and you're traveling fairly fast.
- Store music on watch, play in shower via speaker or while jogging / at the gym via headphones.
App ideas from talking with the interviewees:
- Show when next bus in area will come.
- Remote control for phone music player.
- Question-answering system via voice, or some other very portable input system.
- Check text messages / show incoming ones.
- Get information about movie (must open app before entering theater).
- Check email, but only from certain people such as important clients.
Other app ideas:
- App that quickly opens other apps, e.g. by voice.
- App that allows certain alerts, e.g. waiting for text messages from sig. other (don't alert for anything else).
- Show random cute food place in the area.
App ideas that did not work out:
- Ben doesn't think ideas such as being alerted when dishes are ready, or when people want him, would be a good idea. He says that would definitely not work for him, as he believes in good service but wants to work according to his own time. (And since he has so much to do / is constantly moving already, having alerts would be the opposite of helpful.)
Prototype
My prototype was quite simple: a piece of tape taped in on itself, with the end sticky. This made for easy attachment and fit to multiple wrist sizes. I then stuck post-it notes in the wrist attachment, like so:
Prototype Testing
I decided to test the idea of finding cute food places nearby. The target user is a casual walker, in a relatively new area, who wants to find a cute place to eat without too much trouble. Taking out the phone can disrupt the experience of simply being 'around town', so I wanted to find a way to keep the user in that mood of being in a new place and experiencing the joy of exploring it, while not feeling completely lost.
For the user testing, I just decided to have fun with it and go with whatever came along, changing the app based on whatever feedback I got (super rapid prototyping!). Because of the extra space on my post-its, as I went along I wrote notes on the feedback I got.
The app first asks: "What food?" (Asking for a type of food.)
Tester: "Anything. Good food."
App: "Sandwich Spot"
Tester: "Where is it?"
App: "2 blocks away."
Tester: "How do I get there?"
App: "Go north."
Tester: "Which way is north? Then you have to figure out which way is north."
App: *arrow pointing down*
Tester: "Would this arrow change depending on which I was pointing?" (Yes) "I don't like it. I want a map."
App: *shows map with user's location, plus arrow in the corner pointing in the direction of restaurant* (I was thinking about the small screen size.)
Tester: "Then I would get my phone out to get a real map out. I like to be able to see the place on the map and plan how to get there myself."
App: *shows a zoomed out map*
I asked the tester what he would do if he didn't want to go to the Sandwich Spot.
"No."
"Panda Bear Cuddles"
"Ok. Where is it?"
"Walk towards the BART."
Tester says that he would walk there. He wants a new direction before he gets there.
"Keep walking in that direction."
"When do I need to turn?"
"Turn left when you get to the pizza store at the corner."
"I want a street name."
"Turn left at Montgomery." Me: "What's wrong with the pizza store?"
"I would think that it thought I was stupid. I would do it since it's just a watch, but I wouldn't like it."
"Ok, turn left at the Dominoes on the corner."
...
etc.
Insights
From the testing, I determined that, as other user studies have shown, users want a similar experience from the watch as the phone, and they expect it to behave in similar ways. This is probably similar to the earlier transition from the computer to the mobile phone. Clearly the watch has quite different attributes from the phone, namely its smaller screen space, while being even more closely attached to the user. I think that just as users learned different ways of interacting with the phone compared to the computer, users will eventually learn novel ways of interacting with the watch.
Another thing I learned was that the user wants to interact with the watch mostly via voice. The user expects to be able to talk to it and receive a speedy response in return. My tester never felt inclined to click anything, or drag anything.
I also noticed that perhaps men have a different experience from women in looking for directions. I'm not very good with maps, so I might prefer an arrow, or a direction like "Walk towards the BART", as opposed to having to find my own way with a map. On the other hand this is what my tester mostly wanted.
And I would want to find out more about why he thought being told to turn at the pizza store at the corner was stupid. Was it the pizza store? The corner? Or just the lack of a street name?
If I were to continue with this app, I might try playing with the idea of watch as tour guide. "if you go in this direction (*arrow shown*), you will find a cute bakery, an art studio and an Italian restaurant. If you go in this direction (*another arrow*), you will find ..." This would mimic the experience of a real tour guide giving the user choices -- on the other hand, a real tour guide would be able to elicit what is important to the user, know when new directions are needed, know when to stay quiet and when to talk, etc. Quite a lot to ask from a simple watch! But this just means that there's more to explore.
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