Wearable UIs
You are working at a design strategy consultancy and you have been asked by management to come up with some new concepts for wearable tech products. Your team is given the challenge of a system that combines a smart watch and a smart phone, and asked to develop a product concept that involves synchronization of data between the two smart devices.
Design
The Zoo4U app pairs smart watch and smart phone to make zoo adventures even more exciting for kids! Kids can navigate around the zoo to find their favorite animals or select an adventure that is based around a specific habitat. For example, going on a “Safari Adventure”. Parents can manage their kid’s adventure through their phone, and their kid(s) can explore it through the smartwatch. The smartwatch will provide the adventure and exploratory elements, while the smartphone will present additional information that cannot fit on the watch.
During the ideation phase, there were several goals kept in mind:
- Simple, so that kids or adults can use it easily
- Efficient, information is provided readily
- Educational, to provide extra information
Prototype
The prototype works by using the phone as a central hub. Adventures and animals are selected through the phone, and then a map of the zoo is displayed to show where the animal is located, and where the watch is located. Directions are then sent to the watch for a hands free adventure!
For the testing, the screens were drawn on strips of paper. There were two main phone screens. One for the map feature, and another for the list of biomes. From there, each strip of paper for the watch was for a specific task. The first was for exploring by animal, and the second was for going on a “Savannah Adventure”. These screens were supported shorter pieces of paper for the pop ups and small pieces for the GPS feature.
Some of the additional functionalities were:
- Collecting and friending animals you find
- Being able to see the animals within the exhibits
- Viewing additional animal information / facts
Some of the constraints were:
- Designing for children, without a child to test
- Testing in an alternative environment
Analysis
The user testing provided useful insights for future improvements. The most general, and overall would be designing the interactions further. For the purpose of the assignment, not all the features of the application were designed for. That said, there was an overall thought that the application was easy to use, but there were some areas that needed improvement.
What went well:
- The application was easy to use once users were aware of what could be interacted with
- Many users had fun the app and found it engaging; several people said they would like to use it, even as adults
What needed improvement:
- Making it clearer to users what can be interacted with
- Adding color and using a marker to outline the elements so that they stand out clearer
- More illustrations or images since this app is intended for children
What turned out to be effective design:
- The GPS feature! Since the GPS marker and dot could be moved around, it gave it a more accurate representation of the functionality, while still being static
Last Thoughts
This assignment was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed designing for a new audience (children). It provided some new challenges, such as keeping the interactions simple and finding the balance between phone and watch interaction. Most of the ‘fun’ elements are in the watch, so for future considerations, I would add in more user feedback. For example, the watch vibrating as they draw closer to the animal. This way, the child can be invested in the adventure, without having to look at the watch all the time.
