Smartwatch App Design Guidelines & Antipatterns
The process involves: investigation of wearables, smartwatches and existing guidelines; the use and exploration of the apps on a smartwatch device; development of guidelines, antipatterns and recommendations for smartwatch app design; design of a mutable brand and exposure through this website.
The complete process took a full year
The complete process took a full year in which we devised guidelines and antipatterns based on the experience and analysis done for an Android Wear OS device during a period of over 8 months. for developed the brand Zuri to help us expose
Used design games as a creative impulse
Design games such as a Design Slam where in short time spans, great amount of information is places on the table, discussed and processed.
Changes happen every second. Let's be ready!
[Should be ready to grow, change, add and migrate.]
Find ourselves in others.
The principles for each guideline were matched with existing heuristics, guidelines or recommendations from Nielsen, Weinschenk and Barker, Maeda, Powels and ISO9142.
Avoid showing everything, think about notifying the user with the right amount of information. Don’t saturate the user.Use user’s history to show information that the user likes and might be useful.
Don’t be afraid to ask the user about what he likes and anticipate without imposing decisions. Let him tell you if he didn’t like something.
Give a range of options for the user to choose from and create their own experience according to their needs and likes. Sometimes show him things a bit out of the box, so he can evolve and find new things we can enjoy.
Make emphatic inferences about users and their possible reactions upon proposed functionalities.
Be Trustworthy, Earn Respect and Build Confidence.
They are many good techniques promoted in user centered methodologies such as: focus groups, ethnography, questionnaires and user tests.
Content is relevant to the point where it is transmitted in the right context; taking into consideration cultural, geographical and demographical aspects of the user.
To effectively engage with the users determine a span of interaction or message appropriate for the time being. Doing so in the right context creates a window of opportunity develop a ’moment’ (or ’micromoment’) for the user.
Show the least amount of content that's able to transmit a singular o simple message effectively. Therefore, by reducing distractions and imprinting clarity, the time needed to understand and process the information or data is minimized.
Keep user interfaces uncluttered, minimalistic, aesthetic and well organized.
Use color, size, type and spacing to elaborate a structure and hierarchy for which elements are in the most straightforward manner with the appropriate relevance.
Current state and responses should be effectively communicated to the user through obvious and clear visual cues. This might include elements such as: affordances, icons, color, size and proximity. As well as transitions, such as movement, scaling and rotation.
Design should meet culturally, psychologically and context, from the target audience to create an effective glance.
To ease the recognition process, speak the user's language, talk in terms that the user will easily understand. Thus, avoiding wasting time by translating or interpreting the content.
A learning experience should invite the user to grasp the new know-how. This invitation can be accepted or declined by the user.
Give a range of maneuverability, freedom and flexibility to the user.
Avoid forcing the user into an anticipated decision.
Disconnecting and connecting with devices near or worn by the user should be done with ease.
Connectivity should be architected to be simple, intuitive and quick to do by the targeted audience or user.
In some cases, it may even be simplified to an automatic connection but still respecting the user's empowerment.
Interactions should be clear and easy to perform by the user as possible. Therefore, it is vital to maintain the native interactions and/or well known interactions by them.
The right interaction for the right task is a must in the smartwatch world, for instance, voice input is promoted for commands and to simplify complex writing for the user.
Be consistent with the way users navigate. Use understandable affordances that communicate effective feedback to satisfy the user's predictions with a short time span and without hesitation.
Allow the user to recover from errors easily.
Design being aware of the different characteristics on every device. Consider limitations -such as battery life and screen size-, accessibility and ergonomics.
Design must work as a standalone when in need, since connectivity is not guaranteed.
Consider a direct connection with other devices.
Expose and consume data to an accessible and common repository that can be accessible to all related apps.
State changes in data and situations on one device should be reflected seamlessly on others.
Devices are not isolated pieces of technologies.
New devices emerge and new data will be available. Think and design for the upcoming and not just for the current.
Core experience usage and functionality must match and be satisfied on every available device.
A global experience should be common to all channels (PC, mobile, wearable), still it also has to be adapted and unique to every device.
Each channel should be consistent visually and interaction-wise. Visual language must be shared among all the channels.
The actions taken to achieve a common goal should be similar and predictable as well as those on the other channels.