Part 1: Interviews
Person 1: Retired Man in his Mid-50's
Interview Summary:
When I asked this man about the last time he needed to use his phone but could not easily access it, he told me that he often needs to use it when he is driving, but he can’t pick up the phone because it is in his pocket. He said that he usually uses it to pick up a call, but he sometimes also wants to make calls without the hassle of having to get it out of his pocket then drive without getting distracted. With his smartphone, he just wanted to answer the call like he would normally, but he said the fact that he was driving severely limited his ability to properly access the phone and then drive safely. Because his problem was more about answering his calls then making them, he suggested that the smart watch be able to display an incoming call with something like a vibrate or ring tone and then answer the call by first lifting it to his mouth, signaling that he wants to answer the call, and then talking into it as if it had both a microphone and a speaker like a regular smartphone. Also, he suggested that the watch had orientation switching, similar to that of a smartphone, using a gyroscope to always get the best angle when viewing the screen.
Summary of Lessons:
After talking to this man, I learned that he envisioned smart watches behaving very similarly to smartphones but ultimately being able to access data with much more ease. He wanted to answer calls, talk to people, check his messages, and maybe surf the internet all through his watch alone while keeping his phone in pocket. Additionally, he believed that smart watches were definitely the future of technology because they would be “much easier to access” and would be a logical step forward for today’s industry.
Person 2: Man Who Works for Berkeley Student Housing in his Mid-40's
Interview Summary:
At first when I asked him about a time when he said that he needed to use his phone but he did not have it, he said that he did not really ever encounter a time in which that had happened. He said that because he was given the smartphone for work, he did not really have to deal with this issue because it was on him when necessary and unused when off work. However, more questions eventually led him to say that he did often want to make or answer a phone call when driving but could not do so. He said that he always pulled over to do this while driving. Also, he said that during meetings he wanted to check his phone, but because of the nature of the setting he could not see messages or check sports updates on his phone. Like the other man I interviewed, he also almost always kept his phone in his pocket, and when in settings in which he could not get his phone from his pocket he wanted to be able to answer/send calls, see if he had any new text messages, and see the updates on his favorite teams from services like ESPN. After asking him how he envisioned doing these actions on a smart watch, he said that he saw himself speaking into the smart watch and hearing the other person just like a smartphone. For reading text messages and checking sports updates he said that the watch should have an app to open just like on a smart phone, but it should display the text fairly big so “old people like himself” can read it. Additionally, he volunteered his own ideas for smart watches including a list of “updates” on his contacts indicating their “status” as in busy/at home/etc. and be able to set his status so that if he is, for example, “busy” then phone calls are automatically rejected and the other person receives a message saying he is busy. He then said that he wanted to see these notifications and swipe to see them one at a time.
Summary of Lessons:
I learned from him that he also wanted the watch to be able to use many of the same services that the phone does but more inconspicuously. He wanted to check his messages and other social updates without the negative stigma often given when checking one’s phone. Additionally, I learned that he wanted to be able to more easily know what others are doing without having to check social media outlets like Facebook or Twitter.
Common Patterns in the Interviews:
Between the two interviews I conducted, there came about many similar ideas for how they envisioned smart watches to work. They both wanted the watch to be able to make/answer calls directly from the watch without using the phone at all. Secondly, both thought that the watch would be much more useful in mobile settings like when driving a car if the interface was simple and easy to navigate. They both believed that the watch should include a gyroscope so that the screen would flip when necessary, and they thought that the text would have to be fairly large because the screen size was so much smaller.
Part 2: Implementation
Brainstorm Ideas:
1) ESPN/Sports app - Show updates of scores tailored for interests (specific teams/sports/swipe to see more information)
2) Status Updates - Show if you're busy/sleeping/at home/etc, then also look at contacts for their status
3) Walkie Talkie - If watch has built in mic/speaker then use it like a walkie talkie on construction sites/other places
4) Illuminator - Use high-resolution screen of watch to brighten up surroundings like a flashlight
5) Distance Tracker - If the watch has GPS then automatically drop points along your way (to limit GPS usage) and calculate distance traveled/walked
6) Music Chooser - If the watch is tethered to phone / using bluetooth on another system then sync up watch to be able to choose song and scroll on watch to choose
7) Voice Log - Assuming speaker/mic present then press button on watch to start recording and keep logs of many files with their descriptions
8) Alarm Clock - Tell alarm to go off at certain time and when it needs to the built in watch vibrates /shakes your hand
9) Battery Usage - If tethered to phone it notifies you about phone battery availability and usage (% left, what used most, what kills battery most, etc.)
10) Shopping list/Note taking - Allow for text entry and zoom in line by line so it's easy to read then when looking at whole document make text slightly smaller
11) Voice Search - Double tap screen to bring up Siri equivalent, look up something, and display very minimal things about it as search result
12) Photo Sharer - If it has a built in camera then open up camera after opening app, see what they want to see, press screen for shot and then send to friends
13) Nearby Dating - Someone in the vicinity shows up on phone, choose to be able to message them if you match with each other
14) Weather - Simple interface using GPS to display the current weather
Prototyping My Favorite Idea:
I wanted to prototype idea #6 because I felt that it would not only be very natural to choose music from a smart watch, but also it would be very time-conserving as well when choosing music to play through the phone on the go.
When developing my prototype, I developed with cardboard, paper, and a sharpie pen because I wanted to keep the layout simple and try to design a relatively intuitive application, which would be accentuated with fewer inputs. No hardware assumptions are made for my smart watch other than that it has a touch screen and is tethered to a smartphone.
Below are photos illustrating my app design:
Prototype Overview:
Tentatively titled "Music Chooser," my app aims to provide the music playing feature that virtually every smartphone has in a simple/elegant design without extra components that could be included just on the smartphone version. From the photos above, my app begins by unlocking the smart watch normally then clicking the music icon, initially displaying the app logo then allowing the user to choose the music's desired output, the phone or another bluetooth connected device (ex. a car). From there it randomly chooses a song from the library and allows the user to play it, move forward or backward in his library, star the song into favorites, or go to the song menu. When it goes into the song menu it defaults to the whole list of songs where the user can scroll up/down for more songs, but also allows the user to swipe the songs category to "playlists" or "artists" to view their music in those formats. Each of these categories eventually leads to a song that is played in the home menu, and then the cycle continues in which the user is never stuck. Additionally, the user can change the output sound level by clicking on the sound option in the bottom middle then sliding left or right for the output level.
Testing my Prototype:
To test my prototype, I enlisted the help of two UC Berkeley students and asked them to review my app without telling them how to use it or much about it other than that it is a music playing app.
Reviewer 1: Pat
After looking through my music playing app, Pat generally liked the simple design, but he felt that it could have been even simpler. For example, he thought that looking up by "artists" was unnecessary on the watch and that people would only look up songs by name or by playlists. Additionally, he thought that the choice for output was unnecessary because the watch was already tethered to a specific audio output device. Finally, he thought that the idea of "favorites" was not needed because people would only have songs they enjoy on their phones. However, he did like other parts more. He thought the size of the watch itself was very good because it was neither too big nor too small, and he thought the app would be extremely helpful when running or doing some other physical activity. Regarding modifications, he believed that the app should be able to change music on the lock screen, and he thought that the sound level should be controlled by volume rockers (if present) as well.
Reviewer 2: Leo
Leo, unlike Pat, was somewhat less critical of my music chooser and felt that it was pretty intuitive. He really enjoyed how every slide kept the notification bar present, so the user could always see important things like the time, battery percentage, and more. Also, he thought that the app itself was smart about not including too much information on a small screen and overloading the user with information. Some improvements he suggested included connecting to the default audio output instead of letting the user choose, showing the next category the user was swiping to (ex. playlists --> artists), and using something like volume rockers to affect the sound level.
List of Insights:
1) Users generally want the app to perform the function with the least clutter and in the most efficient way. Both testers valued the fact that my app was fairly stripped down and included the key music elements, but they both still wanted certain elements either erased or covered in another area like the sound control.
2) Don't include options for things that are already covered. Namely, it seems that I didn't need to include an option for audio output because that is already covered by the phone itself.
3) Certain elements on the phone should stick to just the phone. Pat was very much against having a "favorites" option on the watch because he felt that it was not needed on the watch, while Leo was somewhat indifferent towards it. However, both had a point in detailing that it may have been too niche of an action for something as general as a music player app on a small screen.
4) Actions that are already psychologically established should definitely be integrated. For example, both testers felt that changing the sound level was much more intuitive when using volume rockers rather than clicking a button then sliding.
5) Aesthetics are very important. They liked the symbols I used for most of the app because they were very familiar regardless of their smartphone backgrounds, and they thought that because they were prominent in the app's layout it because much easier to navigate. For example, having a large play button in the center with arrows to change songs was very natural for them to work with.
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