Wearable

Wear OS by Google (previously called Android Wear) is a smartwatch operating system. The early versions of smartwatches promised hands-free connectivity, but still required people to be tethered to their phones to get many on-watch experiences. This also impacted iOS users from using an Android Wear device as they were entirely prevented from downloading 3P watch apps. These issues impacted the perceived usefulness of smartwatches, evidenced in general industry coverage about smartwatches and in our own research.

When I joined the Android Wear team, I saw the opportunity to transform the smartwatch experience by enabling the devices to go standalone from the phone, and took steps to make it a reality.

Leading visioning for the standalone watch

I organized and led a strategic workshop with a group of UX, research, PM, and Engineering to explore the potential of a standalone watch. Using inputs from that session, I crafted a pitch that highlighted the opportunity for standalone smartwatches and what pieces we needed to build to go standalone. This included the need for on-watch authentication and permissions, which I took forward.

Designing the Google Account model & credential handover

First I needed to define the model for how Google Accounts were stored on the watch. I drove toward a solution where the watch, like the phone, can store none, one, or multiple Google accounts. Those Google accounts would only be necessary for signing into individual apps, such as Gmail, but not necessary to manage the watch overall.

I then designed the Android Wear setup flow to include a one-time transfer of Google Account and Wi-Fi credentials from the smartphone to the watch. This enabled a person’s watch to be quickly connected to the same Wi-Fi network as their phone, and to be automatically signed in to their Google Accounts (and 1P Google watch apps) straight after setup. I also designed for cases like signing in to multiple Google Accounts, re-authentication due to token expiry, and account errors.

Designing on-watch authentication for 3P apps

I defined and designed authentication patterns for 3P Wear apps, many of which were first-of-their-kind for smartwatches. On-watch authentication for 3P apps allowed users to download and run apps on the go even if their phones were not available, and store the apps’ account information on the watch.

Designing on-watch runtime permissions

Standalone watch apps also needed a way to request permissions, such as location, without the user needing to open a permission screen on the phone. I defined on-watch permissions patterns and best practices for apps, including a framework for deciding how and when to request a permission.

Publish guidelines for authentication and permissions

Finally, I wrote and created assets for guidelines and best practices for on-watch authentication and permissions for the Android Developer guidelines. Although the visual design of the OS has been updated since I published these guidelines, all of the best practices I defined are still reflected in the current version (see authentication guidelines and permissions guidelines).

Overall, standalone watch functionality was a marquee marketing feature for Android Wear 2.0 and opened up new possibilities for iPhone users to pair their phones and use apps on an Android Wear smartwatch.

Wear OS, previously called Android Wear, is a smart watch operating system from Google. As staff interaction designer on the Wear OS UX team, I designed the setup and onboarding experiences for the watches, along with leading the mobile phone companion app experiences for Android and iOS users from versions 1.3 through 2.0. For context, Android Wear smartwatches at the time required a mobile app to help facilitate the setup experience and manage the handover of settings, preferences, and more to the watch.

Watch setup and onboarding

I designed and oversaw multiple iterations of the setup flow, which included choreographing states between the watch and phone in a manner that I describe in my article “The choreography of companion setup.”

I established principles and techniques for post-setup, on-watch onboarding and user education, and designed educational features such as a wrist gesture playthrough tutorial. I also designed an interactive (and optional) welcome tutorial for new users of the watch that utilized new visual interface cues such as swipe and hardware button indicators.

Companion apps

I designed versions 1.3 – 2.0 of the Android mobile companion apps for Wear watches, as well as the first version of the iOS companion app to enable iOS support for Android Wear form factors. Of the features I updated in the Android-side companion app was the addition of the ability to connect to multiple watches, so that someone with different watch styles could swap them for different outfits or use cases without having to disconnect one and connect another each time.

Each of these projects involved collaborating with visual and motion designers, engineers, product managers, devrel, legal, privacy, and the larger Android platform team.

eBay’s app for the Pebble smart watch allowed eBay users to browse through the latest items matching their interests via the eBay feed, and watch an item so they can bid on it or buy it later.

As the design lead for eBay’s wearable products, I worked with a very small, passionate team to launch the initial eBay experience on the Pebble smart watch. I collaborated directly with the Pebble team and, in addition to designing the full end-to-end experience as well as creating all the design assets, I also pitched in to do QA, marketing and even a little product management. One of the most fun parts of this project was determining the best way to render an item image in bitmap for the watch (which, even at the low resolution, was still a helpful way for users to know they were looking at the right type of item).

© eBay Inc.

eBay’s app for the Samsung Gear smartwatch was designed to let eBay users quickly increase a bid or place a bid from a notification received on their watch, along with the ability to pass information back and forth with the eBay app on their phone.

As the design lead for eBay’s wearable products, I worked directly with a very small team to identify primary use cases eBay could support for the introduction of the Samsung Gear line. Using notifications as a baseline, I designed the architecture of the app, flows, and the design of the companion application for the mobile phone.

Notifications were designed to take advantage of the full-color Gear screen while also keeping in mind at-a-glance readability and the most critical of actions (such as increasing a bid on an outbid notification). We also translated the eBay look-and-feel to its first use on a small smart watch screen. This project also called for quick iteration whenever we discovered new constraints from the hardware or OS side.

Read the original press release.

© eBay Inc.