The Beginning
I initially had to decide who I thought might be in need of a smart watch. I knew I wanted to find out about times when people did not have their smart phones readily available, so I tried to imagine what type of person would find themselves in this situation. As I was out at coffee taking a homework break with a friend, I was slightly frustrated that I had to wait so long to get my coffee! But I realized that the 3 baristas at the shop were working as fast as they could to get everyone their coffee. I then realized that they would be perfect to interview. With all the craziness they had to deal with at work, I thought they surely would have some sort of use for a smart watch. So I went back later that night when they were not as busy and interviewed two of the young women working that night.
The Coffee Shop Interviews
24 year old female – I have a smart phone. I can’t really remember a time when my phone was not accessible because I am horrible about using my phone. I don’t even really have it on my self all that often, and people know it is not a good way to get in touch with me. I think a smart watch would be super trendy, but again because I don’t use my phone a lot I am not sure if it would help me out that much. I think it could help people out like if they are driving and they need directions. That would be cool.
23 year old female – I have a smart phone. My phone has been in the other room at the coffee shop at times when I have wanted to take silly pictures of my co workers. I think that one of the main things I actually use my phone for is to check the time. Funny how things change. A regular watch would probably eliminate 50% of the usefulness of my phone, I just never really got one because that’s what I have my phone for. The other uses of my phone are mostly pictures and texting, I don’t really do social media. If the watch had a camera, that would be sweet! I would like to use it as sneaky and quick way to get some pictures. I think I would look super cool just having one of those watches. Could I talk into it like James Bond?
After these two interviews, I re-evaluated who I was interviewing. The two people I had interviewed did not really use their phones much, and did not have the need for the smart watch that I was searching for. I decided I wanted people who actually used their smart phones because their interactions with their phones would be more useful for brainstorming. I decided that my new method of finding people to talk to would be searching for people who already have their phones out.
Outside the RSF Interviews
I interviewed a couple people as they were exiting the gym. Both of them already had their smart phones out when they were leaving so I thought they would be good candidates for an interview.
23 year old female– I have a hard time accessing my phone when I am working out. I use it to listen to my music. Sometimes I want to change the song but then I have to get it out of the cup holder of the machine if I am at the gym or out of my pocket if I am out on a run. I already use Bluetooth headphones so that isn’t an issue. A watch would be cool if I could change the song from it. I was at a concert and I wanted to video tape a song but I didn’t want my phone to get in the way of my dancing. Maybe a watch with a camera could be useful for that because you are already wearing it, and it doesn’t really get in the way.
45 Year old Male– The last time I remember my phone not being accessible I was riding my bike and my phone was in my backpack. I don’t have a drivers license. I pretty much bike everywhere. I wanted to answer a call. A smart watch could be advantageous in this situation. I don’t need it to function as a second smart phone but I would like to have a more hands free way to answer my calls in this kind of situation. It could also be useful for getting directions because right now I have to memorize them, or stop to check my phone.
After these interviews I felt like I had more of a direction to go in. Although the cases these people seemed to need phones in were not similar, they both needed their phones at times where they were doing another activity where using a smart phone would get in the way of their activity. I thought this was very useful to start brainstorming. I wanted to make sure that I had a little more input before I decided to pick an application to prototype so I decided that I was going to interview a few people at the Cal game on Saturday to get a few more ideas. I also picked these people out because they were walking around using their Smart phones.
Cal Game Interviews
40ish Year old female (I did not want to be rude and ask for her age) – The last time my phone wasn’t easily accessible it was in the bathroom. I leave my phone to charge in the bathroom every night because there is not an open outlet near my bed. At the time, I wanted to send a text message. It also would be nice to know when I get messages without going all the way to the bathroom. I always seem to miss a lot of messages at night time because of this. A smart watch would be great for this. Well unless it was also in the bathroom charging while I slept, then I would have the same issue. I normally keep my phone in my purse, so I think a smart watch might be nice because then I don’t have to go and get my phone out every time I think I have a message or want to check the time. I do not wear a watch. I used to but then it broke and my phone replaced the need for one. But it does get kind of annoying to check the time on my phone because then I have to go unzip my purse, rummage around until I find it and then grab my phone out just to look at it for 2.5 seconds and then put it back away.
19 year old female – The last time my phone wasn’t easily accessible it was in my pocket and my nails were drying. I wanted to answer it. It would be cool if there was a way of answering this from a watch so then I wouldn’t mess up my nails. I like to use my phone for texting too. If the watch could let me text that would be cool so then I don’t have to always get it out of my purse.
22 year old male – The last time my phone was inaccessible, it was across the room on my desk and I was watching TV on the couch. I know that is a pretty close distance, but when you are all comfortable watching TV it takes quite a bit of motivation for you to get up. I wanted to check my phone to see if I had missed any messages but I didn’t want to get up. It would be cool if a watch could tell you if you have any messages so I would know if I needed to actually get up. My girlfriend gets mad at me if I don’t respond within 30 minutes, so it is pretty important for me to check my phone frequently otherwise I will get in trouble. The problem is I always set it down randomly, so it always takes a while to see her messages. Sometimes I set it in the fridge, or in the bathroom or on my bed or on the desk or on the couch. There are tons of places. The watch could help so I would know if I actually have to go on the hunt for my phone, or maybe I could use the watch to respond?
What I learned from these final interviews was that people are pretty lazy. They all found ways that they could avoid having to go through the process of retrieving their phones from either their purses or a somewhat close location. These people could definitely use some type of easier access to some of their data from their phone through a wearable interface. I also thought it was really interesting that two of the seven people I talked to mentioned that they wanted an easier way to check the time, rather than pulling out their phone. Having the time always visible is something I definitely will have to factor into the design of the app I am going to prototype.
Part 2
I am designing this smart watch application for the user who: regularly uses their phone(not the baristas), is in some need of a shortcut to get around having to always retrieve their smart phone(the 'lazy' people), is often in situations where having to hold on to a smart phone would get in the way of their activity (the biker, the concert goer). Time is an invaluable resource and by saving these people a little time each time they don't have to grab out their smart phone to do small tasks I believe I can improve the quality of their lives.
Brainstorm 12 Ideas:
1. Directions – This application would give verbal as well as visual directions on the screen of the watch. This could be extremely useful for the biker. It also promotes hands free driving, which is not only safe but it also abides by the law.
2. Hands free calls – This app would have a hands free mode that automatically accepts calls on the watch when turned on. The app would also give the ability to choose to accept calls from the watch when the hands free mode was not on. There would need to be a microphone and speaker for this. The biker and nail salon girl could definitely benefit from this application.
3. Find your phone app – I thought of this app for the guy who doesn’t like leaving his couch. He mentioned setting his phone all around and I thought that if the phone was close enough to the watch, the watch could either cause the phone to buzz or ring so it could be easily located. The other option would be depending on how close the watch is to the phone(how strong the signal is) the watch could beep louder or softer depending on how close the user gets to the watch.
4. Notifications app – Get notified of any reminders, texts, calendar events from your watch. This will definitely help the lazy people avoid having to check their phones constantly.
5. Voice to text app – This helps out all the people that wanted to text from the watch. It would be an input method that could allow you to speak and then send the message once it is translated to text.
6. Photo/Video App – This app would require a camera. It would allow user to take pictures and videos from the watch. This could benefit the concert goers and even the barista who asked for a sneaky way to take silly pictures.
7. Song Identifying App – This app takes in input from the microphone and matches it to a song ( Like shazam). The concert goer could use this for new songs she may like!
8. Fitness app – For the people who gym frequently. This can help monitor physical activity like the fit bit does. This would require some hardware like a heart rate sensor.
9. Weather Application – Simply tells you the weather. But it is always useful to know what to wear, and you definitely don’t want to forget that umbrella!
10. Music app – Allows you to select and change songs from the watch interface.
11. Public transportation app – This app tells you when a bus or a bart is coming. I figured the biker might use an application for public transportation because he does not drive. In the Bay area this app could be quite useful.
12. Notes application – Stores notes for later using voice as an input.
13. Heart attack Vs Panic attack App - Would you be interested in an app for your smartphone that could tell you whether you're just having a panic attack or an actual heart attack? Just kidding, I didn’t come up with this one. It is a Silicon Valley reference, but it’s still an idea.
14. Calculator app – Do some math on the go.
Application: Notification Manager
I decided to go ahead with the Notifications application. I didn’t want to do something very standard like a hands free call app because I wanted a chance to get somewhat creative but I also wanted to tailor the product to my intended users. Most people did mention the burden of grabbing out their phone, so I tried to make their lives a little easier.
The application that I have prototyped is a notification application. I named it Notification Manager for the purpose of giving it a name, however in the actual prototype I didn't include a name anywhere. I figured there is not enough space on the smart watch as it is, so I went with more of a picture driven design. The icon I used is an exclamation point inside of a speech bubble. I used this icon to convey the use of the application to the user. I also included a home button and back button, similar to many Android devices, to assist with navigation. This application assumes that the watch is a touch screen interface and it would need some way(Bluetooth?) to sync up with the user's smart phone.
So what exactly does this application do? It syncs with the calendar on your phone to tell you if it's Mom's birthday today. It allows you to input reminders on your phone that will pop up on your watch. Some reminders may pop up at certain times(Project due at 3:30!) and some may pop up depending on location(.25 miles from Walgreens - Remember to get Kleenex!). It will also notify you of any missed calls or messages you have received on your phone. It syncs up with your smart phone so no need for a crazy complicated interface on the smart watch, because all the data comes from the phone. I didn't want to get too complicated, so it does not have the ability to respond to these notifications, just simply view them. The purpose is to allow users to be aware of any notifications they may need to see without needing to grab out their phone and check it every so often. There is a settings menu that allows you to turn on the ringer and/or vibrate for notifications, or to have notifications silently pop up. I also made sure the time was clearly visible from each part of the application because as many of the interviewees stated that being able to see the time is quite helpful.
I tested the prototype out on some of my friends in my sorority as well as some floor mates I had from the dorms freshman year. I selected these people because I knew they would be willing to help me out and I also know them well enough to know which people actually use their phones.
Most of the interactions the test users had with the watch were verbal, so I did not get many pictures to illustrate their explanations of how they believed the workflow worked and their criticisms. They all figured out that it was a touch interface and were able to describe to me the workflow of the prototype I had set up. I did not explain to them what the application was for. I only answered questions that they asked from viewing my 'device'. People were able to easily figure out what was going on, although I did have to explain that the watch would sync up with the smart phone to get the data required by the application. My friends claimed that the interface was very simple making it easy to figure out what was going on. Then we went into questions, comments and concerns about the limitations of the application. Many of my friends commented on the fact that there was no way to reply to any of these notifications. Some suggested a keyboard, but after I pointed out that it may be hard to type on a keyboard many suggested a voice to text option. A couple people asked if they could also get emails and some people were interested in having Facebook notifications also pop up. I had a group discussion with four girls about the device during dinner one night and they also pointed out that it would be nice to have some sort of icon that shows up at the top near the battery percentage and time indicating if there were notifications and possibly what type of notifications they were.
Taking this feedback into consideration for another iteration of the design process, I don't think there is a way I could satisfy everyone. I do not want to overwhelm my user with too many features or buttons to click. Incorporating voice to text might be something I would consider adding. I might also consider allowing options to turn off different types of notifications along with possibly adding the capability to turn on Facebook notifications. Adding email might be tough because there is not enough screen space to read a long email, but I would consider displaying who the email is from and the Header of the email. I really think the idea of putting some small notification icons in the top of the screen next to the time would be really beneficial, so the user would be able to see they still have notifications while in other applications. Overall I think it is tough to find a happy medium between functionality and usability. I would definitely need to go through several more iterations of this process before I got something that I would even be slightly satisfied with.
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