ONERING: WEARABLE REMINDERS

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1 ONERING: WEARABLE REMINDERS DECO7385 REFLECTIVE REPORT Jonny Lu From NORDZ 24 June 2014 ABSTRACT This report introduces a wearable reminder device called OneRing designed by team NORDZ the process of making it and the learnings from the experience. The team took on the theme of wearable technology and decided to design a piece of wearable technology that is truly useful to people s daily lives. After extensive background research and several brainstorming sessions, we concluded that one of the most important things people expect from wearable technology is improved productivity. To achieve this goal, the team went through several design iterations and evaluated prototypes with potential users. The final design was demonstrated at the 2014 Interaction Design Exhibition and was successfully recognised by the public its potential in improving productivity. In addition, several potential applications of the design in the health area were suggested by the testers at the exhibition.

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND PROBLEM SPACE WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY INSPIRATIONS 4 3. DESIGN PROCESS IDEATION DESIGN BUILDING COMMUNICATION 9 4. CONCLUSION REFERENCES DECO7385 REFLECTIVE REPORT ii

3 ONERING: WEARABLE REMINDERS ONERING: WEARABLE REMINDERS NORDZ Jonny Lu Physical Computing & Interaction Design Studio Reflective Report 24 June Introduction Wearable technology is widely seen as the next stage of personal computing. However, the usefulness of the existing technologies and their abilities fit into people s daily lives is still questionable. OneRing, developed by team NORDZ from the University of Queensland, is a wearable piece of technology that aims at improving users ability to manage their tasks at hand and their overall productivity. It attempts to achieve this by simplifying the process of setting up and receiving reminders and displaying these reminders on users wrists to have them available to the users without any effort from users to seek for them. The purpose of the design and development of OneRing, in the scope of this course, is to explore the field of wearable technology, and experiment with the types of information to display, the way it is displayed, and the interactions users can have with it, to ultimately reach a truly useful wearable technology design that effectively solves a critical problem in users daily lives. This report is a reflection on my contribution to the project to extract learnings from the experience, and an evaluation of the success of the project from personal perspective, and how the project fits into the big picture of wearable technology design. Firstly, a background research that reviews literature on wearable technology and target users will be presented to communicate the context this project fits in. Secondly, the design process of OneRing will be introduced, will the focus on my contribution to the project. Thirdly, Results of the project and learnings gained from building the project will be discussed. Finally, a conclusion that addresses the outcomes, the research question and successfulness of the project will wrap up the report. Jonny Lu 1

4 DECO7385 REFLECTIVE REPORT 2. Background 2.1 PROBLEM SPACE In the current world we live in, we are bombarded with information from our various devices, all of them clamouring for our divided attention, with their notifications accompanied by shrill beeps and buzzes. A recent report (Meeker, 2014), showed that people check their phones 150 times a day, either in response to a notification, or in the search of information. The problem with this is how much attention it tries to draw from the user, even causing them to check their phone, just to check about the existence of information. We envision a product that tries to keep this checking for information at an absolute minimum, having the information always there for the user to see and make decisions upon. We ve decided to tackle this problem in the realm of reminders, as a relatively common and crucial piece of information that people often seek is What do I need to do/what am I forgetting? Having easy access to reminders is also very important in many different fields, as it was found that giving ICU nurses midday reminders, managed to lower the average number of deficiencies per patient per day to only 1.02, when the control group scored 1.40 (Oniki, 2003). 2.2 WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY While many in the world of technology would agree that wearable technology and devices are the next stage of computing, it has not yet been fully embraced by the general public. As much as we like to chat about smart glasses, smart watches and smart rings, nobody has managed to breach the mainstream population and achieve any degree of ubiquity just yet. According to Canalys (2014), smart band shipments in the first quarter of 2014 failed to reach half a million worldwide. However, there are examples of wearable technologies being well received among certain user groups. For instance, Fitbit s fitness tracking devices was a clear success case among the fitness communities. In fact, they accounted for nearly 50 percent of world s 2.7 million wearable band shipments in the first quarter of 2014 (Tew, 2014, p1), Among the main reasons Fitbit was more success for other smart wearable devices were its clear purpose, minimal design, and specific target audience. Or as Trenholm (2014) described, a device that gives users seamless continuity with what we ve done before so we feel like we re building on past efforts (p1). 2

5 ONERING: WEARABLE REMINDERS As wearable technology is still in its infancy, analyst predictions are widely varied (Buetow, 2014). This affords companies the opportunity to shake up the market and develop a new class of product. However, there was a recent survey of 1000 adults, conducted by Wakefield Research and Citrix (2013) that showed consumers believe wearable technology will be as widely used as smart phones one day. Additionally, the research also showed the vast majority of consumers desired their wearable technology to be subtle and blend in with every day wear (Wakefield & Citrix, 2013). This gives valuable insights into consumers expectations for wearable technologies. Despite the fact that the concept of wearable technology is often viewed as futuristic, consumers do not necessary prefer such aesthetics in wearable technology design. For example, there was a time around 2005 when Bluetooth headsets were quite popular, and were commonly seen. However, there was a giant leap that headsets had to make, to make them appealing or cool. Unfortunately it went the other way, and developed a negative stigma now known as the BlueDouche factor (Smith, 2006). Kevin O'Grady (2014) writes: A 2011 survey showed that about one-third of people were less interested in a person, or more likely to find them unattractive, for using or wearing a Blue-tooth headset in public, even more so than someone who wears a phone holster on their belt, or someone who has body piercings or tattoos ( p. 1). The wearable device called Google Glass, even being out for just over a year, seems to be unfortunately developing a stigma for itself. The people who wear them are being referred to as Glassholes (Honan, 2013). Although the technological advancement of such devices can be inspiring, the aesthetics barrier is where this technology constantly falls short. Miner et al. (2001) noted that devices that are designed to look and feel like pieces of technology may be acceptable if they are usually stored in the pocket, but it is less suitable for a product worn on the body (p.45). This is because people have the need to express their personalities, cultural beliefs, and values through the things they wear on their bodies (Miner, et al., 2001). Therefore, to depart from this negative stigma that plagues most wearable devices, there needs to be better ways to incorporate the design of wearable technologies. It can be as Miner et al. (2001) attempted, to integrated technology with fashion. Or in can be integrated into pre-existing socially acceptable clothing/gear. A Bluetooth watch for example will be less likely to attract much negative social attention. Jonny Lu 3

6 DECO7385 REFLECTIVE REPORT The interface and interaction with wearable technologies need to be as simple as possible, especially when it has persuasive elements in it. This is due to Fogg s (2009) behaviour model for persuasive design. In his report, Fogg (2009) states that improving a user s behaviour cannot be achieved by simply teaching them, as people are inherently lazy, but instead that:... to increase a user s ability, designers of persuasive experiences must make the behaviour easier to do. In other words, persuasive design relies heavily on the power of simplicity (p. 6), What he means by this is that to get people to learn new things or perform tasks, we must make the process as simple as possible. In another part of his report, he talks about the use of triggers, in order to push people into doing things. This comes into our idea of subtly reminding people of the tasks that they want to complete, effectively providing them with the triggers they need to actually get around to doing them. 2.3 INSPIRATIONS A chief inspiration for this project was the way people interacted with technology in the movie Her (Vanhemert, 2014). In the movie, technology has changed from being a bunch of screens competing for attention, to being almost invisible in most cases (See Figure 1). People don t tap away at computers, staring directly at the screen; they talk casually while interacting with the world around them. Anything that doesn t require direct human contact is made automatic; lights turn off by themselves as people walk in and out of rooms. This lack of direct interaction is what inspired this project, making technology become less about gadgets that you fiddle with, and more about improving and augmenting everyday experiences. 4 Figure 1: Technology in the movie Her Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

7 ONERING: WEARABLE REMINDERS Another source of inspiration is the products created by Ambient Devices, such as the Ambient Orb. This orb is just a simple, frosted glass orb, which changes colour based on information it receives over the internet. The idea is to set up the orb in a home, where people can easily see it and receive information, without having to explicitly demand it. This all comes down to the idea of ubiquitous computing (Weiser, 1999), the idea of having computers be involved in every facet of life, rather than as just large interfaces that we sit down and interact with directly (like PCs). In terms of wearable technology design, Digital Jewellery provided some major inspiration and design influences (See Figure 2). These devices are all jewelleries with simple technologies built in (Miner, et al., 2001). For instance, they had necklaces with microphones inside and rings with displays on them. Despite of being simple technologies, they could be very useful when used in combinations under specific circumstances. One of the examples given in the report was responding to incoming s. When an is received, the signal ring turns from calm blue to bright red. Touching the face of the ring triggers a bracelet with a display to show a photo of the sender. In the meanwhile, urgent information is dictated into your ear through the earrings, and users can respond by talking into the microphone in their necklaces (Miner, et al., 2001). The ring plays an important role in this scenario. It is, as the researcher called, a peripheral channel of information that provides information to users without them seeking it, and such interaction is more compatible with people s social interactions (Miner, et al., 2001). Figure 2: From left to right: a necklace with microphone, a ring with cursor control, earings with speakers, and rights with displays (Miner, et al., 2007) Other inspirations include Bossy, a desktop digital display of tasks (Flaherty, 2014), and Balloon To Do, a to-do list represented by coloured balloons (Shepherd & Thonis, 2014). Jonny Lu 5

8 DECO7385 REFLECTIVE REPORT 3. Design Process The main aim of the design and development of OneRing was to make it useful to the general public. Based on our research and discussion, useful was defined as 1) fitting into people s daily lives, 2) solving a prevalent issue, 3) limiting the amount of features to increase the ease of use, 4) hiding technology into everyday objects, 5) minimal interactions and 6) providing information through the peripheral channel. These values were considered throughout the design process and were used to evaluate prototypes and user feedbacks. 3.1 IDEATION Figure 3: Defining the project The initial idea of OneRing (previously named 1Ring) was the combination of my concept Memory Ring, a ring that records reminders, and my teammate Callum s Pomodoro Ring, a pomodoro timer. Both of the concepts were closely related to general productivity issues people have, have simple features and minimal design, and happened to take on very similar physical forms. We combined the reminder aspect of the Memory Ring with the timer feature of the Pomodoro Ring, and decided to build a ring that records and display reminders and their remaining time, so users can focus on their current tasks, and finish or move on to the next task in time without seeking for this information on other devices. To better illustrate the concept and the experience we hope it would deliver, as well as communicating the concept to the other team members and the teaching team, I used my illustration skills and produced a series of drawings of the ideal design, alternative designs, scenarios, and storyboards, both in our workshops and in the proposal report (See Figure 3 & 4). The idea and experience were clearly communicated through the visual materials, and we made the final decision to commit to this project. 6

9 ONERING: WEARABLE REMINDERS Figure 4: Storyboards developed for the proposal report 3.2 DESIGN The design of OneRing went through a number of iterations. The original design of a ring, although was recognised as difficult, wasn t given up until the progress demonstration in week 9. Before that, several design attempts were made to keep the ring, but moving some of the features to external devices such as an armband or a smartphone. However, even with very limited features, the ring still needed to fit in multiple components to support input, output, and connection. The final decision was made after thorough evaluation of technology options and development plan. Furthermore, having multiple devices meant potentially more complicated interactions, and more difficulty to fit into people s daily lives because they need to remember to put on multiple items. As a result, the final form we decided to design OneRing in was a watch/armband. We made many prototypes of OneRing to test various aspects, including interaction, display, feedbacks, and the overall look and feel. I personally did several paper and play dough prototypes for testing the form factor, and designed and tested two interface designs with more than five participants. The design carried the basic elements, which is a LED ring, a potentiometer, at least a button, and at least 1 strip of LED lights though the iterations, however, the shapes, amount, and positioning of components were modified in each iteration in response to users feedbacks (See Figure 5). One interesting learning from this process was how a physical form that resembles a watch instantly created a mental model in users minds, which led to heavy affordance on Jonny Lu 7

10 DECO7385 REFLECTIVE REPORT the side button, which people would normally use to interact with watches. While there was a side button on the design, participants would overwhelmingly use the side button as their first guess to perform any task. That led to the removal of the side button, which solved the problem. In the final design, there was one LED ring, a circular potentiometer, a centre button, and one strip of LED lights on the side closer to users. I also made an interaction flowchart to assist the development of the software. Figure 5: Paper Prototypes and Interaction Flowchart 3.3 BUILDING Although I didn t have a strong background in programming and engineering, I was heavily involved in the building of the final product because of the lack of programming and engineering skills in the group. I developed the first version of communication protocol between OneRing and the Android application through Bluetooth. I used the protocol to develop a command recognition system, so OneRing responded to voice commands received from Android. After Callum finished coding the LED lights and the potentiometer, I put all the hardware together and merged the code for Callum to do further development on the software part. In the end, the voice command part was not activated or demonstrated in the final exhibition because such interaction is usually not compatible with people s social interactions, and may cause awkwardness when performing such interactions. Therefore, we decided all the features to be controlled through the button and the potentiometer. I started working on constructing the watches after finishing with combining the code. The main goal for me when I was building the devices was to make sure they are as compact as possible, so they can fade into peripheral channel of communication, instead of an obvious piece of technology. To do that, I had to learn basic electronic engineering and soldering from the very beginning, and went through multiple trials and errors before deciding on the 8

11 ONERING: WEARABLE REMINDERS final solution. Although time consuming, the process and multiple attempts led to a much more compact solution that I could have never be able to achieve on the first attempt (See Figure 6). Even though the final products were still to some extent fragile and sensitive due to the durability of components, they were able to communicate the intended form factor and experience to the users at the exhibition. Figure 6: Construction of the watch 3.4 COMMUNICATION For the nature of the design, users need to use the device for a long period to get used to the interactions and fully understand its benefits to their daily lives. This was, however, difficult to demonstrate in an exhibition setting because users only had very limited time to engage with the device. For that reason, we made the decision to demonstrate the concept through visual materials, presentations, and a game with simulated scenarios of daily lives. These materials around the product well supported the communication of the concept and how it was useful to the audience, and we were able to get some very valuable feedbacks from the people who tested the product. Among these materials, I designed the posters, the business cards, and the user guide, helped scripting and shooting the video, and led the design and set-up of the game. It was an important lesson that how these small details in the presentation of concepts can have huge impact on how audience engage with and understand your design. Jonny Lu 9

12 DECO7385 REFLECTIVE REPORT 4. CONCLUSION In conclusion, OneRing was a successful design project with an end result that was able to be recognised its usefulness by the audience at the exhibition. Relating back to our group s definition of usefulness, the final design of OneRing was able to solve a prevalent issue, which was remembering tasks, and fit well into most people s daily lives. It had very focused features and use case, in conjunction with extensive user testing, resulted in ease of use. The overall design of OneRing was compact enough to resemble an everyday object, a watch. Finally, the design required very minimal interactions and provided information through peripheral channel. People who tested the device not only acknowledged its usefulness, some of them suggested more specific areas a similar devices would be very useful, such as helping the elderly with dementia, and reminding patients to take medicines. The success of the project adds a valuable example of designing wearable technology to the academic field. As mentioned, wearable devices with simple purpose and fit into people s existing lifestyles are more likely to succeed. However, that is not the trend in the field as major companies like Google and Samsung, as well as start-ups like Pebble are trying to develop wearable smart devices that have as many features as smart phones. Whether those products will be successful is difficult to predict, but the success of OneRing is potentially an example of how by limiting the number of features and focusing on solving a single problem that most people have, wearable technology can be well accepted by the general public. Working on OneRing has allowed me to improve as an interaction designer. I have learned practical skills such as programming Arduino, connecting hardware, constructing physical products and soldering electronics. More importantly, I have learned a great deal about wearable technology and how to design them. The most critical lesson I have learned about designing wearable technology is the importance of fitting them into people s daily lives. Different from devices set in certain context, or stored in people s bags or pockets, wearable technologies are more personal to users as they represent users personalities, tastes, and values. Fading away the look and feel of technology, while quietly enhancing users lives is the key to designing a successful persuasive technology, and that will certainly be one of the things I will spend more time studying and experimenting in the future. 10

13 ONERING: WEARABLE REMINDERS 5. References Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behaviour. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), Retrieved from Alto, P. (2014). Fitbit accounted for nearly half of global wearable band shipments in Q Retrieved Buetow, M. (2014). Wearable Device Forecasts Vary Widely. Retrieved from Flaherty, J. (2014). Work 2.0: A Web-Connected Sticky Note That Bosses You Around. Retrieved from: fromhttp:// Fogg, B. J. (2009). A behavior model for persuasive design. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Persuasive Technology, Claremont, California. Honan, M. (2013). I, Glasshole: My Year With Google Glass. Retrieved from Imhof, I. (2006). Becoming forgetful: how people deal with forgetfulness in everyday life. American journal of Alzheimer s disease and other dementias, 21(5), Retrieved from Meeker, M. & Wu, L. (2014) Internet Trends. Retrived from: Miner, C. S., et al. (2001). Digital jewelry: wearable technology for everyday life. CHI '01 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Seattle, Washington, ACM: Miner, C. S., et al. (2007). Digital Jewelry: wearable technology for everyday life [video]. Retrieved from: O Grady, K. (2014). Wearing headsets make sense, but be wary of the BlueDouche factor. Retrieved from: Oniki, T & Clemmer, T & Pryor, T. (2003). The Effect of Computer-generated Reminders on Charting Deficiencies in the ICU. Retrieved from: Shepherd, B., & Thonis, D. (2014). Balloon To Do. Retrieved from: Smith, J. (2006). Bluedouche, Urban Dictionary. Retrieved from Tew, S. (2014). Fitbit rules 50 percent of the world s wearable market. Retrieved from: Trenholm, R. (2014). How to make a wearable gadget the Fitbit way. Retrieved from: Jonny Lu 11

14 DECO7385 REFLECTIVE REPORT Vanhemert, K. (2014). Why Her will dominate UI design even more than Minority Report. Retrieved from: Wakefield & Citrix, (2013). Citrix Wearables Survey Report. Retrieved from methodology_final_1.html. Weiser, M. (1999). The Computer for the 21st Century. ACM SIGMOBILE Mobile Computing and Communications Review, New York, NY. 12