The large range of applications for wearable devices provides numerous opportunities for these technologies in diverse domains. However, the dynamic changes in the context of use during the user interaction, summed with the heterogeneity of users’ profiles, challenges the design of effective interfaces and interactive solutions for wearable technologies. In addition to that, wearables often have limited resources: their computational power, processing capabilities, screen dimensions and modalities are often constrained. Finally, the novelty in this market is characterized by limited guidance to effectively aid developers and designers to ensure high usability levels and to promote a great user experience in the design of the wearable interaction. To provide a high quality user experience, the context of use where the user interaction takes place needs to be thoroughly investigated and understood, accommodating its dynamic changes, as well as the specific needs and requirements of diverse users’ profiles in the design of interfaces and interaction. In this talk, you will learn about how context impacts the design of wearables, especially concerning wrist-worn devices, such as fitness trackers and smartwatches. More specifically, you will gain knowledge about: (1) a set of contextual factors that impact the wrist-worn interaction, ranging from environment, to platform and user profile, and (2) how those factors must be considered in the design of the user interaction for wearables, benefiting multimodal interactive solutions as well as multidisciplinary application domains.

1. UX Design for Wrist-Worn Wearables –
how contextual dynamics influence
interac=on
Vivian Genaro MoB
vmo%@gmu.edu
Washington DC
April 15th, 2017

2. Outline
• What is a wrist-worn wearable?
• Current soluDons
• Drawbacks
• Methods
• Key findings
• Design ImplicaDons
• Discussion

3. Wrist Worn Wearables

4. ExisDng SoluDons

5. Smartwatches
- Miniaturized
computers that
serve as a
wearable
accessory for
smartphones
- NoDficaDons of
calls, messages,
and events
Apple Watch
Samsung
Galaxy Gear
and Gear 2
Sony SWR50
Fitness Trackers
- Bracelets that
sense
informaDon
about the users
- Number of
steps, sleep
hours, and
heart rate; daily
habits and
lifestyles
Fitbit (Charge /
Alta / Blaze)
Garmin (VivoFit /
VivoSmart)
Samsung Gear Fit
Misfit Shine
Nike Fuel Band
Wrist Worn Wearables

6. Large PotenDal and Use

8. Abandonment Rate

9. Users’ Engagement
• More than half of U.S. consumers who have owned an acDvity
tracker no longer use it
• A third of U.S. consumers who have owned one stopped using the
device within 6 months of receiving it
[Ledger, D., & McCaffrey, D. (2014).
Inside Wearables: How the Science of
Human Behavior Change Offers
the Secret to Long-Term Engagement]

10. Why?
• Low wearability
– sensor, bahery and on-body hardware size tends to be too bulky
[Pantelopoulos, A., & Bourbakis, N. (2008).
A Survey on Wearable Biosensor Systems
for Health Monitoring, 4887–4890.]
• Limited capabiliDes
• Commercial pressures

11. • Simply shrinking down compuDng tools from the desktop paradigm
to a more portable scale only makes them into mini PC’s
• It does not take advantage of the opportuniDes presented by a
whole new context of use
• It does not regard the human body as a context
[Gemperle, F., et al. (1998).
Design for wearability.
2nd ISWC]
ParadigmaDc Shil

12. ExisDng SoluDons
• Cross-device InteracDon
– Challenges, Duet
• Wrist Worn InteracDon
– Shimmering Smartwatches: Exploring the
Smartwatch Design Space

13. Cross-Device InteracDon
[Houben, S., Brudy, F., and Marquardt, N. 2015
Challenges in Watch-Centric Cross-Device ApplicaDons.
Mobile Co-Located InteracDons Workshop. CHI’2015. 1–4.]

14. Gesture-Based InteracDon
[Bernaerts et al. 2014. The office smartwatch: development and design of a
smartwatch app to digitally augment interacDons in an office environment. In DIS'14.
ACM, New York, NY, USA, 41-44.]

15. EdgeTouch
[Oakley, I. and Lee, D. InteracDon on
the Edge: Offset Sensing for Small
Devices. CHI ’14, (2014), 169–178.]

16. Facet
[Lyons, K., Nguyen, D., Ashbrook, D., and
White, S.Facet: A MulD-Segment Wrist Worn

17. Shimmering SmartWatches
[Xu, C., Lyons, K., and Ave, F.
Shimmering Smartwatches :
Exploring the Smartwatch

18. WatchIt
• Gestures
• Hands free interacDon
[Simon T. Perrault, Eric Lecolinet, James Eagan, and Yves Guiard. 2013. Watchit: simple gestures and eyes-free interacDon
for wristwatches and bracelets. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in CompuDng Systems (CHI
'13). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1451-1460. DOI=10.1145/2470654.2466192 ]

20. • Moving
• MulDtasking
• Unplanned InteracDon
– One hand
– Short Dme
– Outdoor and indoor
Wrist Worn Wearable Users

21. Shortcomings
• ConDnuous usage

22. Shortcomings
• Close contact to the human body

23. Shortcomings
• Lack of design guidance
– Best pracDces, guidelines or standards

24. Open QuesDons
• What are the problems that users face when
interacDng with wrist-worn wearables?
• How to consider context in the design of
wrist-worn technologies and improve UX?

25. Methods
• Set of online sources
• Set of wrist worn wearables
– Commercially available + popular (2016)
• QualitaDve analysis
– Contextual factors
• User, environment, plaworm
– Severity levels
• CosmeDc, minor, major, catastrophic

26. Methods
• Online source: Amazon reviews (n=545)
• Wrist worn wearables
– Most popularly commented (n=10)
• QualitaDve analysis
– Contextual Factor
• User: individual preferences, personalizaDon
• Environment: light, sound, stability
• Plaworm: resources, technological soluDons
– Severity RaDng
• CosmeDc, minor, major, catastrophic

27. Wrist Worn Wearables

28. I&O InteracDon: MulDmodal
Graphic
Audio
TacDle/
HapDc

29. Contextual Factors

30. Environmental Factors
• Readability issues
– “...it is now impossible to see in the directly daylight at
all. If you are running outside, there's no way to see the
screen’ [P1, Fitbit Blaze user]”
• Design Considera=on
– Account for variability in light levels
• Design for indoor and outdoor acDviDes
• Enhance contrast

31. Environmental Factors
• Feedback
– “The concept of using the watch for phone calls when your
hands are busy is awesome, but the reality is you can't
hear unless you are in a noise-free zone’ [P4, Samsung
Galaxy Gear user]”
• Design Considera=on
– Combine audio noDficaDons with vibraDon alerts
– Test different volume se%ngs, speaker placements

32. User Experience
• Accessibility issues
– “Font can be difficulty to read if someone needs reading
glasses. Got band for my husband and he noted that the
font size for the noDficaDon was a bit too difficult.” [P9,
Garmin Vivo Smart user]”
• Design Considera=ons
– Allow for customizaDon of font sizes
– Enhance contrast
– Consider icons and audio notes

33. User Experience
• Learning curve
– “for me it's just a pain to log every cup of water I drink when I
already drink water all day long and know that I get
plenty” [P10, Fitbit user]”
• Design Considera=on
– Facilitate the adaptaDon process, automaDng the data
collecDon whenever possible (and accurate)
– Check the costs and efforts involved in the learning process

34. Plaworm Issues
• Speech recogni=on
– “The only thing more embarrassing than talking to your
watch ... is doing so and geBng no response. … There was
no way to change one word or fix punctuaDon on her Dny
face’ [P21, Apple Watch user]”
• Design Considera=ons
– Enable alternaDve input methods
– Consider spell checkers and predicDve text input methods

35. Plaworm Issues
• Feedback =ming
– ‘…the messages disappear quickly. If you don't catch
something the first Dme, it's gone. ... Since you don't have
an opportunity to review or try again, I have now disabled
that as a waste of bahery.’ [P25, Fitbit Alta user]
• Design Considera=ons
– Allow users to have access control to informaDon and
services: frequency and period
– Provide customizaDon opDons when needed

36. PlaRorm
• -
• 28,29,30
• 15, 16, 17, 19, 22, 26, 27
• 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 31
Environment
• 3
• -
• 2,4,5,6
• 1
User
• -
• 12,13
• 8,9,10
• 11,14

37. Severity Levels

38. Analysis
• Problems associated with the plaworm were the
most frequent in the user interacDon
– 75% of the problems idenDfied (n = 411)
• Most problems were classified as major (n = 14)
and catastrophic (n = 10)
– few problems were considered minor (n = 5)

39. ImplicaDons
• CustomizaDon, adaptaDon and personalizaDon
are essenDal in the UX design process for
wrist-worn wearables
– CalibraDon: number of steps, acDvity, distance
– Menu choices: items of preference, choices
– Feedback and responses: intensity, frequency

40. Take Away
• Designing for contextual changes and transient
requirement is challenging
– Know your audience
• Consider situaDonal awareness
– The analysis of the UX in the field aids to clarify how
context impacts the design of interacDon and
interfaces

41. Future Work
• Further explore the analysis of users’ feedback
through online sources
• Cross-validate the findings in the design and
evaluaDon of novel wearables
– Wrist worn devices

42. Acknowledgment
• This work has been done in collaboraDon with Prof. Kelly Caine at Clemson
University – Human-Centered CompuDng Division
• This material is based upon work supported by the NaDonal Science
FoundaDon under Grant No. 1314342. Any opinions, findings, and
conclusions or recommendaDons expressed in this material are those of
the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NaDonal
Science FoundaDon.

43. Q+A
• vmo%@gmu.edu