In my first interview, I spoke with a guy who was recently promoted to a managerial position at a large bar and grill restaurant. He told me about the various technologies their restaurant uses to relay order information from the waiters to four different kitchen stations, one for main courses, one for salads, etc. There is also a system that keeps track of all the money flow as well as computing data for what deals are good when. I learned that in a restaurant, technology is used to both facilitate good communication as well as to track and improve sales. My interviewee said that as a manager, he has to go back to the computer in the restaurant's office to check how the restaurant is doing throughout the night, an action that he would appreciate being more accessible to him wherever he is.
In the next interview, I spoke with a friend of a friend (my friend on left, her friend on right) who works as a photographer at a startup called Photojojo. Her main interactions with her iPhone were to use the map application to find the spot where she needed to go for a certain shot, and a list application that allows her to see the day's or week's objectives and shots needed as a photographer. For her, there are many moments where both arms and hands are full of camera bags, purses, etc. and it is sometimes difficult to pull her phone out to see where she is going or what she's doing next. My friend also spoke up and described the moments where she was biking and wished she could easily see her phone's map application, but it was stowed away in her backpack. Many of the following ideas regarding cycling apps actually came from the conversation between the three of us during this time.
Ideas:
1) Cyclist: list of directions that automatically updates per location
-distance to next turn automatically updated as cyclist moves forward
-swipe one direction to see the map, all processes done on phone
-shake to turn on screen in power saving mode
2) Cyclist: most efficient gear calculator
-records distances, speeds, elevation on phone through google maps
-after inputting skill level and gear ratios of bike, app generates most efficient gear you should switch to in light of next change of elevation
-shake to turn on screen
3) Cyclist: night time turn signals
-mount lights on handlebars and both sides of rear hub as well as possibly on a backpack
-based on the usual hand signals tracked by , flash lights to signal pending right or left turn
4) Photographer: to do list with mapping functionality built in
-to do list includes both locations as well as needed shots
-functionality to scroll through and go to map directly in the app
-wrist interface crucial because of all the gear one must carry around
5) Photographer: wireless remote for phone camera
-adjusting flash, exposure, timer, zoom, video start/stop
-best used in conjuction with smart phone tripod mount
6) Photographer: exposure and effect selection
-based on the brightness of the light outside, change the exposure of the onboard camera or an external camera
-apply default digital effects such as brightness, saturation, hue, color levels, based on whether the user is indoors or outdoors
-interactions with camera done through wrist interface
7) Restaurant: taking orders with spoken interface
-short codes = numbers rather than names of menu items
-display entire order to repeat to customers after taking order
-order goes straight through web-api to the kitchen
8) Restaurant: wrist notifications for existing functions
-table notification button mapped to wrist notification via rest api or text messages
-changes in orders mapped to wrist notifications of cooks and chefs, confirmations relayed back to manager
9) Swimming app:
-records laps as well as stroke count per lap and corresponding pace/speed
10) Boxing app:
-tracks left jab speed when working jabs as well as combo speed when working combos
-calculating the reach of each punch in comparison with others to see consistency
-calculate how much time is spent moving/not moving/punching to improve mobility
11) Apartment door opener app:
-When phone recognizes that we are near apartment, smart watch calls and with one click of the button, the corresponding number is punched in to unlock the door
12) Video Games Extensions:
-classic 2d shooter games tracking right left movement and wrist tap for shooting
-shake or flip for special functions such as grenades, etc.
Prototype:
The idea that intrigued and excited me the most was the turn-by-turn directions app targeting bicyclists. I have named this app Diadromi, Greek for "route." It is an app that I would actually use and believe that it is closest to a list of analog list of directions, which is a safe, effective way of finding one's way without taking out a phone, risking dropping it and taking a hand off of the handlebars.
Map and directions processing would be done on the phone through Google's Map api and fed to the smartwatch. At any moment in time during your journey, the watch screen will show two directions: the upcoming one and the one after. The distance to the next turn will be dynamically updated as you bike along, and the screen will flash to alert you when the next turn is coming up (after the closest street right before the next turn.) As you make a turn, the screen will automatically shift the bottom direction to the top and bring up the new next turn.
Swiping to the right will allow you to see the map visually if you want to see a portion or the entire route. The starting screen describes the distance to destination, the time needed to bike there, and the total elevation traversed in the journey, along with the current temperature and weather conditions.
Getting Feedback:
I first asked my roommate what he thought about my prototype because he bikes very frequently. He commented that usually, cyclists bike where they already know routes, and that his major concerns were gps reliability and power consumption. The second person I interviewed commented that he thought having thet map as the default would still be more effective and intuitive to use. Both users appreciated the fact that the list updated dynamically, decreasing the necessary interaction between the user and the smart watch, thus decreasing the frequency of removing hands from handlebars.
Through the feedback, I realized that this app would be used for a very specific application of walking or biking somewhere unfamiliar, so the swiping to the map function would be very important to visually establish one's surroundings. At the same time, for very long bike rides (think centuries or cross country), a list interface would save power; perhaps a non dynamic version of the app would be useful here. A swipe left could activate the phone's Google maps api, allowing the program to rediscover the user's current location and update the list of directions. During the bike ride, the user can swipe down to indicate a successful turn.
All in all, I'm excited to continue to receieve feedback and continue down this path, mainly because I know it'll be very useful for me as a cyclist seeking adventure through sites of interest and food locations.
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