DESIGN 01: Watches In the Wild

Part 1: Observations and Interviews

I sought out people who work extensively with their hands because it is hard for them to get to their phones at work. I talked to a line cook and a professional racket stringer. Interviewees are renamed for anonymity.

"Mel", a 23-year-old line cook at Qualcomm Cafe

Mel is like a lot of college students. He uses his smart phone for calling, texting, social media, and games. Every time he gets a notification, he wants to look at it. However, unlike a lot of us, he is not allowed to look at his smart phone whenever he wants. Looking at his phone would appear unprofessional and detract from the quality of customer service that he provides. Further, as a line cook, he touches the food to prepare it, and touching his phone would make his hand(s) unsanitary. The last time Mel wanted to access his phone but could not was when his mother tried to reach him for a family emergency. Since he was at work, he had to let his phone continue ringing and call his mother back on his break. Mel thinks a smart watch could be useful for discreetly identifying calls--the watch could show who is calling, and allow the user to send a predetermined text in response or simply silence the ringing. Aside from this, Mel does not think a smart watch would be very useful for him. Mel thinks texting would be impractical on such a small screen because not only would it be hard to type, but you would have to carefully double check. He also does not think calls would work well unless you use headphones because without headphones, everyone around you can hear your conversation. And he also can't image playing games on such a small screen.

"Eric", a 42-year-old professional badminton racket stringer

Badminton racket stringing is a very hands-on job. Like Mel, Eric uses his hands a lot at work. However, unlike Mel, not only is Eric allowed to use his phone at work, it is vital to his business. Eric is always using his phone for business as it is the primary means for customers to call him. Eric is obsessed with giving his customers "110%", so when he gets a call, he stops everything he is doing and focuses solely on the call. He does not like to use the speakerphone functionality because he believes it detracts from the experience. He does not like the idea of using a smart watch for making calls as it detracts even further. As Eric works for and by himself, he is not concerned with the social implications of looking at his phone on the job. Most of the time that Eric wants to access his smart phone but is not able to it is because his battery has died. Adding a smart watch to his personal technology stack would be another thing to remember to charge. When Eric is not working, he likes to use his smart phone for watching movies and listening to music. It seems like Eric does not like the idea of smart watches. He says at his age, bigger is better--he does not want to squint to try to read the screen or figure out how to maneuver the screen. Simply putting a bigger screen on his wrist would not work either because it would be uncomfortable. However, Eric did mention one use case where he thinks the wrist might be useful. It is very similar to Google Now. Eric wants a way to see (or hear) information that matters to him, like tennis scores or the weather, without so much clutter.

Analysis

By talking with Mel and Eric, I learned that a pleasurable experience on a smart watch will probably have to be a novel one--not simply a shrunken version of a smart phone experience. A lot of the experiences on the smart phone are great because they are on a smart phone. For example, the relatively large screen and portability makes entertainment on the go very easy. Private calls would be awkward to make without headphones and even with headphones, they would require the wearer to hold an uncomfortable position for an extended period of time. Both Mel and Eric highlighted how hard it would be to input data into the smart watch, and voiced their concerns about interacting with such a small screen.

Part 2: Prototype and Evaluation

Ideas

1. Activity tracker - use the IMU on the watch to track movement and infer what movement the wearer is performing.

2. Payment device - touch the watch to a scanner for quick payments.
3. Directions (biking and walking) - turn-by-turn navigation when traveling by foot. Not for driving because a smart phone is better suited for in the car.
4. Lost phone finder - warn the wearer if their smart phone is a certain distance away from them.
5. Audio recorder - quickly and discreetly record audio.
6. Translator - a mode does not require the user to do anything. It would continuously listen, detect the spoken language, and translate when it feels it is appropriate (longer pauses in speech).
7. Reminders - set reminders on the paired smart phone, then view them on the smart watch.
8. Emergency warnings/alerts - similar to the emergency warnings that we already receive as texts, but now easier to get to.
9. Crime rate notifier - use the GPS location to discreetly alert the wearer that they are headed into an area with high crime rates.
10. Heart rate monitor - put some sensors in the wristband to monitor heart rate.
11. Incoming call notifier - show the caller ID of the incoming call and provide options for how to deal with the call.
12. Relevant information stream - information that the smart watch thinks the user might want in addition to information that the user can request for by speech.

My favorite idea is the relevant information stream (#12) because it provides useful information, requires minimal interaction, and has the capability of learning over time.

Prototype

I sought to reinvent the wheel as little as possible. The prototype is a cardboard attachment for an existing watch with a view that allows for quickly swapping out screens. Note the buttons on the side of the "watch". The side buttons are mapped to predefined actions: next, previous, dismiss, and more information. In addition they can be overridden by other actions as you can see in the Mom calling screen. I drew inspiration from the digital watch interface because it is an interface that people already know and are comfortable with, and it does not occlude the screen.

Testing

I asked "Greg", a busy yet active student to try my prototype. I started Greg off on the weather screen. He immediately noticed the buttons on the side of the prototype. He pushed the "more info" button (bottom left), then the "back" button. Greg then wanted to interact with the screen by tapping on it, swiping, and zooming--all of which did nothing. After that he was a bit lost and needed some direction for what to do next. I pointed him to the next and previous buttons (right side). He had quite a bit of fun going back and forth, watching me change out the cards. Then, I asked him what else he wanted to do. He started speaking directly to the smart watch, asking it questions like what restaurants are open and nearby. I quickly sketched a screen for that and swapped it in. Greg made the observation that this is a lot like Siri or Google Now and suggested a button to tell the smart watch you are about to ask it something. Then, Greg asked the smart watch for the time. I had to laugh at myself for totally forgetting about that. Again, I quickly sketched a screen and swapped it in. Finally, I swapped in the Mom calling screen. Greg pressed the "CLASS" button and sent a text to his Mom to tell him he was in class.

Insights

After watching the prototype being used, I'm pretty happy with the side button interface. Greg picked it up quickly, though he did need some prompting to discover the next and previous buttons. Perhaps those could have permanent markings on the watch. I think the smart watch experience could benefit greatly from onboarding with other existing, established interfaces. Also a persistent display of the date and time could be nice as it is a smart watch after all. The main takeaway for me is the value of reusing existing interactions and providing visual cues when designing a new interface.