Design 01: Watches in the Wild

Design 01: Watches in the Wild – Part 1

Subject #1: 24-year old internal audit employee at a bank in San Francisco

Occupation: He is an employee in the internal audit division at a bank in San Francisco. He is responsible for ensuring that various departments in the bank comply with federal and state legislation. Therefore, he usually conducts many meetings per week with the different departments.

Last time he remembers not having his phone: He recently missed a meeting at work. He typically uses his phone’s calendar as a reminder system, and he noticed that this time he didn’t have his phone on him – he left it at his desk while he was doing other tasks – and then he forgot about his 11 AM meeting with a division in the bank.

Where does he usually keep his phone? Back pocket.

What was the task he wanted to perform? He wanted to be reminded of his meetings throughout the day.

Takeaway / Lessons Learned: He values his phone primarily because it helps him stay organized in his very busy and hectic job. He is constantly on the move at work – he meets with all the departments at the bank on a daily basis so he’s never in one place at a time. In addition, there’s usually very little free or break time between meetings, so he generally is required to prepare for the day’s meetings the night before because he doesn’t have much time to prepare in between meetings. His phone helps him get from meeting to meeting on time, and it helps him stay on a schedule. He believes that a smartwatch would be incredibly beneficial to him if it provided notification services. He kind of framed it as a form of “2-factor authentication.” For instance, both his phone and smartwatch should go off at the same time to alert him when a meeting is about to happen. That way, if he misses one, the other one acts as a failsafe. In addition, he says that a smartwatch with email notifications would assist him too since during meetings he often can’t look at his phone, but glancing at important subject lines or messages from important people would allow him to better organize and plan out his day in case of sudden changes.

Subject #2: 26-year old investment banker who loves to run

Hobby: His hobby is running. He goes on 2-mile runs at least three times a week. On a normal run, he typically carries his smartphone in a armband and listens to Spotify or Pandora.

Last time his phone was not readily available: During his runs, he usually does not have any access to his phone. His Apple Earpods allow him to adjust the volume of the music and answer phone calls. He is usually frustrated when he wants to check a text message that a friend sends him or when he wants to change the song that is currently playing. He can only do this when he is paused, waiting for a crosswalk to signal that he can pass.

Where does he usually keep his phone while running? In an armband on his right arm.

What was the task he wanted to perform? He wanted to change to the next song on his Spotify playlist.

Takeaway / Lessons Learned: He wishes there was a better way to use his smartphone during his runs, and the smartwatch helps do a better job of this. I believe that there are already a lot of wearables currently on the market that help with analyzing the “fitness” aspect of a run – ie. Mile tracker, calorie counter, run timer, etc. – but applications that can control the smartphone via a watch are yet to be found. He values the ability to easily check things on his smartwatch mid stride, without stopping to be a huge benefit of having a smartwatch. He claims that taking short breaks during the run breaks and ruins his momentum and causes him to have less energy to finish out a run. Therefore, a smartwatch would help alleviate this issue. He wants the ability to change the song that is currently being played easily as well as the ability to see what is being played. The smartwatch should display a GUI for the Spotify/Pandora/other music service. In addition, another key takeaway is having the smartwatch serve as a notification service. This is similar to subject #1 in the sense that he hopes to have a more convenient and subtle way of checking emails and text messages. He wants to be able to simply glance at who texted him or skim the subject line of an email to determine whether or not he needs to stop during his run to respond or not. Typically, he ignores all these messages because it requires him to remove his armband and remove the phone afterwards. He also says voice-activated commands would be great since he can simply speak into the watch during the run without even looking at the watch then.

Common patterns: The most common pattern is the ability to use the watch as a more accessible notification service. Both subjects agree that the watch is a very subtle and convenient way to view notifications and determine whether or not it is worth taking out the smartphone. I think this is a key takeaway because of the fact that the smartwatch is always present on the user where as the smartphone is generally kept in a location like the purse or pocket.

Brainstorm:

1) An application that connects with a music service on your phone and serves as a GUI for that music service

a. Can have one specifically for Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud, etc. if too difficult to do one for all

2) An application that shows all your push notifications that you get on your phone on your smartwatch

3) An email application that shows who an email is from as well as the subject on your smartwatch – you can then have the ability to mark as read, keep as unread, or do a quick reply with a voice command.

4) A calendar application that displays your schedule for the current day on your smartwatch in a scrolling list

5) A reminder application that syncs with notes, alarms, and calendar reminders on your phone and then vibrates whenever you have something coming up

6) An application that uses your GPS location to display when buses are arriving at the nearest stop to you – the time shows up on your watch!

7) A to-do list application that syncs with Evernote, Wunderlist, etc. and shows the things you have to do today

8) A GUI for Google Maps that shows you directions right on your smartwatch

9) Uber for your smartwatch, the ability to request an Uber right from your smartwatch

10) Using your smartwatch to as a wallet – pay by scanning your smartwatch

11) Push notifications for breaking news stories on your smartwatch – can subscribe to ESPN, Wall Street Journal, BBC, CNN, etc.

12) Phone finder for your smartwatch – ability to locate a connected phone via your smartwatch

a. Can show where the phone is located relative to you on the smartwatch

b. Tap smartwatch and phone will ring!

13) Unlocking your smartphone via smartwatch – tap your smartwatch and your phone unlocks

14) Redesign FourSquare / Yelp for easy checkin on the smartwatch – check-in with a click of a button

15) Open the yelp review on your smartphone for a restaurant by tapping on your smartwatch when Yelp is open on your smartphone

16) Can redesign ESPN to display the top scores of games on your smartwatch – can quickly swipe through different scores

Idea Chosen: An application that allows you to find the phone it is paired to. You can tap on the smartwatch, and the phone will ring if it is connected. I chose this idea because it solves a problem that many people are familiar with. Typically, people will usually ask their friends to call their phones in order to help find it, but in this case, you can do it on your own without the need of your friend. In addition, if your phone is set on vibrate mode, the phone will still ring, so you can actually hear where your phone is. You can also lock your phone in the event that you think it might be stolen or lost. This will cause the phone to freeze, and in order for a user to access it, they must unlock it via the smartwatch first.

Prototype

Test #1

Test 2

Feedback: For this idea, I spoke with four different users. Overall, the feedback was pretty positive in the sense that people liked the idea in theory. Two people stated that it was a solution to a problem that they wanted to solve. One was skeptical and didn’t see how it was more convenient then just asking a friend to call your phone. The final person stated that there were a lot of edge cases in which the application wouldn’t work as well and because of that she was not sure if it would be a viable application.

In terms of design, I learned quite a few things. First, depending on the form factor of the watch, two buttons might not fit on a watch screen. Users may suffer from the “fat finger” syndrome, which could be very troubling in the event a user accidentally “locks” their phone when trying to find it. If users mistype on their keyboards on a smartphone with a larger screen, there’s a good chance they may misclick on a smartwatch. Furthermore, I learned that having an intermittent screen that simply says “ringing” is a little confusing, and instead, the application should just go straight to the third screen. Three out of the four users were confused if the “ringing” screen was a loading screen or if the phone was actually being found. They found this screen unnecessary. All four thought that telling them how many feet away a phone is provided zero value – they much rather would have a map that guides them towards the location of the phone. Two of the users preferred voice activated commands, since they felt that would be much more convenient then clicking on their smartwatch. Others hoped they could embed some of the functionality into the physical buttons on a smartwatch versus a touch screen interaction. One user suggested a swipe gesture to make it very obvious what type of interaction was desired.

Finally, I learned a lot about the edge cases in which the application may fail. For instance, I need to do further research and see if it is possible to actually for a phone to ring even though it is on silent or vibrate. All four users preferred an application that could force a ring to occur, but they’re not sure if this is a possible feature to implement. Furthermore, users are concerned that they often have bad battery life with their mobile phones, and they’re not sure if keeping a constant Bluetooth connection is something they would want. This application currently fails without a Bluetooth connection to a phone. Also, three users asked about what happens if the smartwatch runs out of batteries – would the application still work after a recharge? This might be an extreme edge case, but it is worth noting.

Major Insights: Overall, I found that the application is something that could be useful for every smartwatch owner if some of the edge cases are flushed out more. It seems that users like the simplicity of the idea and the problem that it solves. However, they’re concerned with the UI and design of the application because of the potential troubles a “mistake” could cause. In addition, battery life is a concern for a smartphone user. Keeping a constant Bluetooth connection further depletes battery life, and users aren’t sure if they want to keep a constant connection with a smart watch at all times. The application currently only works when paired with a phone, and if a user doesn’t have Bluetooth enabled when they lose a phone, then the application provides no value. Users also prefer a map to guide them towards their phone. This makes finding their phone a lot easier as well. Ultimately, users will use the application if it is convenient to; however, it must be more simple than asking a friend to be effective. It also needs to be error-free (at least the majority of the time).