Designing For Wearable Devices: Aspects to Consider

Every day we all are moving a step closer to advanced technology. 

Wearable gadgets may be the most popular technology since the iPhone. In 2019, around a quarter of US individuals will use designing for wearable gadgets at least once a month. Currently, there are millions of wearable gadgets on the market (including watches, bracelets, glasses, earbuds, and rings), with many more on the way.

It is noticed that one in 6 consumers own and use wearable technology, meanwhile more than 70% of the mid-20s people want to purchase a wearable device.

Seeing the market demand and need for these technologies, well-known brands like Apple, Samsung, and Sony are coming up with sophisticated designs for wearable devices & the importance of wearable technology. Right now, there are types of wearable technology that are limited to certain market areas and sizes but it is growing steadily as more and more consumers are showing interest in wearable devices.

Types Of Wearables Devices

1. Smart Watches: A watch that does more than just tell time. An app designed for wearable devices that provide users notifications on their calls, messages, emails, social media updates, etc.
2. Fitness Tracker: This helps in keeping track of the number of steps the user walks each day while continuously monitoring the heart rate. Furthermore, the impact of fitness apps in a pandemic which is used to provide health information, the devices can calculate and report accurate data on calorie burn and exercise done by the user.
3. Head-Mounted Display: Takes you to a different world of virtual reality. It provides virtual information directly to your eyes. 
4. Sports Watches: The wearable devices are specially built for sports personnel who do running, cycling, swimming, etc. These smartwatch design concepts come with GPS trackers and record information on the user’s pace, heart rate, etc. 
5. Smart Jewelry: Smartwatch is an app designed for wearables in the form of jewelry especially targeting women. This jewelry notifies the users of their text messages, calls, or emails when their phone is out of reach.
6. Smart Clothing: Smart electronic devices are incorporated into Wearable Clothing to give an interesting and fashionable look.
7. Implantable: These wearable devices are surgically implanted under the skin. These devices are usually used for medical reasons like tracking contraception, insulin levels, etc. 

Why Do We Need Wearables Technology

Wearable technology deployment aims to influence the fields of health and medicine, aging, disability, education, finance, transportation, gaming, enterprise, fitness, music, etc. The future of wearable technology is smoothly entering the daily lives of individuals and becoming a functional part of them.

Furthermore, how wearable technology works with the hands-free nature of wearable computing devices in trends makes them very useful for users.

What Is The Purpose Of Wearable Devices

Tracker

The design for wearable devices collects data about the wearer’s activity or physiological condition. Moreover, the data can be used for monitoring the users’ state while encouraging them to improve their fitness, movement, and the healthcare industry using the benefits of RFID technology. 

Messenger

The importance of wearable technology is that wearable devices are readily accessible to the user displaying selected alerts and events from that device, like phone calls, incoming messages with security in the application, or meeting reminders. The reader can decide to take action through the device too. 

Also, it can help you locate the lost phone or even connect to IoT-enabled devices in the home. 

Meanwhile, IoT is also becoming a huge buzz in the town making people more excited to use it. The statistical graphs show its worth in the market and also among users. 

Facilitator

The wearable technology development facilitates certain communication, media, or other activities that are already available on the smartphone or other devices by offering a simpler, more convenient experience.

Enhancer

The wearable device augments the real world with information that is laid on the environment and its objects to interact and digitally manipulate that information.

Tips To Keep In Mind When Designing For Wearable App

Design for glanceability

The glanceability app design for wearables is the heart of design. The phrase “glanceability” refers to information that is intended for brief interactions.

The word was initially used in the context of screenless fitness trackers that rely on light to communicate with their users to know the fitness app development cost.

Glanceability is more about organizing and presenting the user with only the most important information at any one time.

Instead of lowering the interface to the most basic visual feedback, this is the top priority of smartwatches. In less than 5 seconds, the user should be able to consume the material created.

Design light-weight interactions

For brief and crisp wearable user experiences, lightweight interactions are essential.

If user interaction takes more than 10 seconds, you should adapt the interface to accommodate it in under 10 seconds. Only display information that is necessary to complete a job.

It is preferable to avoid typing while returning a message. Quick response templates should be available, and a voice input option should be available for lengthy responses.   

Keep It Simple

Wearables are more suited to the keep-it-simple concept than mobile and desktop user interfaces.

It’s important to keep in mind that the wearable technology deployment should only receive the bare minimum of data and functionalities. Keep the number of activities and information to a minimum. Concentrate on one use case at a time and create a logical flow for users to complete activities swiftly.

Design a Minimalistic Interface

Wearables are well-suited to minimalist design. Everything from text to color, the layout, and the overall presentation should sync well with the functionality, creativity, and usability of the application. In short, the UI of the wearable mobile app should offer an enhanced user experience. 

We’ve included a few characteristics that will aid in the development of a minimalistic design:

1. Sharp contrast: It is important on tiny displays because it improves visibility and reading.
2. Basic typography: For the wearable gadget, a simple typeface that can be read from a distance should be chosen and employed. When it comes to readability, Sans Serif, for example, is fantastic.
3. Adequate space between elements: To give function and usability, you must find the correct balance between too much and too little space between pieces. Both are equally detrimental to the design. Too much space will prevent further information from being added, while too little space will make it difficult to read.

Focus on privacy

The importance wearable technology has the advantage of being linked to the rest of the world at all times but also runs the danger of releasing highly personal information such as health data, private conversations, emails, and so on to anybody because they are visible.

Given the problem, designers should always choose for more privacy, such as vibrating first, then displaying the material, and so on. 

In this situation, the need for a user persona can be seen to answer the questions of users’ 5 W’s( What, Where, When, Who, Why) and 1 H(How) more accurately.

Design for Offline Usage

Think beyond the box about how wearable technology works to make its wearables useful even when they are not linked to the internet. Because wearables are always with us, they will undoubtedly encounter connection challenges. Instead of always searching for a network, the user should have some offline tools on hand.

Although these wearables are changing our lifestyle smartly and will make our lives more organized in the coming future, the technology is opening its gates for mobile app development companies also and has given birth to the wearable app development company.

Key Challenges Faced While Designing Wearables

The biggest challenge for the wearable technology trends in the industry is to get sustainable customer engagement.

Bad quality, pain to sync with smartphones, poor battery life, uncomfortable and awful design, UI/UX design will create problems. These are some of the functional reasons which make the user abandon the device. And the abandonment of the device will directly impact the overall wearable app industry.  

Secondly, wearable technology is looked upon as a disruption in the world of business. However, the growth and popularity of trends in wearable technology always come with data security and privacy risks. 

The technology is still emerging and it will face numerous challenges coming in its way. But one thing is sure Wearables will impact the lives of people globally in a more active style. 

What Is The Future of Wearable Technology Holding

1. Smart shoes could charge your phone’s battery while you rush to work.
2. Your shirt through vibration will help you find your way.
3. A personal assistant could be embedded in contact lenses for many purposes.
4. Smart earrings will track your heart rate along with body temperature and blood oxygen levels to provide you with vital health statistics.
5. Sensors in your shirt will monitor your physiology, broadcasting it to the world and letting people near you respond appropriately.
6. Your smart shoes will convert movement into energy while powering internal sensors. The sensors will help the shoes remain cool while heating your feet as required while tracking your weight gain/loss.
7. A virtual assistant built into your contact lenses will keep your life organized. The assistant will be able to analyze your tears to understand your emotional balance while predicting your thoughts and intentions and thus will react accordingly.
8. Microchips in nail polish or underneath the fingernails will allow the smart contact lenses to track your movements.
9. The button will have an embedded GPS to track movements along with learning your habits. 
10. Last but not least, intelligent earrings could find the perfect songs that will match your mood.

Innovation and invention for a better future will keep on happening as more and more people require it for their safety, a well-organized life, and mood swings issues. These devices are the future of wearable technology as well as the upcoming trends users are excited about. 

How Appventurez Will Help With Designing Wearable Devices?

Developing wearable technology trends with products is inherently more complicated and expensive than designing a non-wearable product with similar functions.

Smartwatches are unquestionably here to stay. It will take some time for them to be outfitted with new features that will take interactivity to the next level, therefore making them popular. However, Appventurez mobile application development company will have a user experience unlike any other, one that finally crosses the divide between digital and real.