THE UNIVERSITY OF ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCE

SCHOOL OF SCIENCE,

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATICS

BSc. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

LEVEL: 300B

COURSE TITLE: HUMAN AND COMPUTER INTERACTION (HCI)

COURSE CODE: COMP 304

GROUP ASSIGNMENT

NAME INDEX WHAT EACH DID

SARFO YEBOAH ROBERT UEB3231721 ALL of d and g

VINCENT GYIMAH UEB3225321 ALL of f

DEKE JOSEPH UEB3213621 ALL of e

GYEABOUR CHRISTIAN UEB3231621 ALL of b

OPPONG FOSU AUSTIN UEB3230721 ALL of a and c

 IN-DEPTH ACTIVITY CHAPTER ONE PAGES 31-32

The device we chose as a group is a SMARTWATCH

SMARTWATCH

a) First impression of Smartwatch

• Smartwatches Allow a Better Track of Our Health

Additionally, smartwatches may monitor your sleeping patterns and interact with
applications to set an alarm for you in the morning to wake up when you're not in a
deep sleep phase, figuring out when it will be the simplest for you to get out of bed.

• Security and Privacy: Wearable technology raises worries about user data being
hacked and altered, unsecured communication, actual data theft, use of wearable
technology for espionage (such as hidden cameras, microphones, etc.), a lack of
encryption, and other vulnerabilities.

b) USER EXPERIENCE

A smartphone is required to utilize a smartwatch. Install the smartwatch's included app

on your smartphones, such as Apple Watch or Android Wear. You may synchronize
the watch with your phone by launching the companion app on your smartphone and
activating Bluetooth.

How users interact with a smartwatch and what UI components do they use

The recent release of the Apple Watch has increased interest in smartwatches. Just one
week before its release, Apple Watch sales reached nearly 2.3 million units. Combined,
Pebble and Android Wear gained 1.5 million additional smartwatches in 2014. With all
of these figures, it is obvious that programmers should think about the smartwatch as
their upcoming computing platform for brand-new user services. The next task is to
create a new user interface (UI) based on as-yet-undefined user behaviour and
interaction patterns with the smartwatch on your wrist. In this essay, I'll attempt to
analyse how people currently engage with the user interfaces of smartwatches in use
and identify the most effective points of contact.

Time spent per software component

The user interacts with a smartwatch on these 6 levels in order of the time spent:

1. Watchfaces
2. Notifications
3. Glances/Google Now Cards/Timeline pins
4. Quick Launch apps
5. External Display and Remote apps
6. Other apps you can launch from the menu on a smartwatch
Watchfaces

Watchfaces can be modified to suit a range of requirements. Whether you're on the

road, at work, flying a plane, or trekking. Since every case is different, they may display
additional pertinent information on the watch face in addition to the time, such as
weather data, the next waypoint on a route, future calendar events, etc.
I could have a specialized view of two or three items that are important to me in my life
with a customized watch face, and it is just amazing. For instance, while driving home
from school, I might check the whereabouts of my child or the most recent online sales
data for our most recent product.

I wanted to be able to see future events from my calendar while wearing my Pebble
every day, therefore we created the watch face My Calendar specifically for this. That
makes it my go-to watch face; it's much more practical than having your calendar on a
phone.

Notifications will rule your wrist

It is an amazing route for providing users with quick and modest updates. We all make
use of them to improve engagement and draw users back to our apps. A new platform
for interaction is created through notifications.

The direction of technological change at the moment is toward highly customized, data-
driven user notifications. To increase user engagement and offer greater value, they
should be delivered in the appropriate setting, format, and at the appropriate time. It is
simple to irritate a user with excessive alerts, but with the use of machine learning
algorithms and ongoing monitoring of user behaviour, we may significantly enhance
the user experience by determining when to send a message.
The second most prevalent UI component that consumers see on their wrists is
notifications. You should utilize that channel extremely cautiously because with great
power comes great responsibility. After wearing a smartwatch, a user reviews her app
permissions for notifications and denies all of them.

Glances, Timeline pins and Google Now cards

Users must perform specific measures to use Glances on the Apple Watch or Timeline
on the Pebble Time. On the primary screen, they are typically one click away from the
watch face. It is more difficult than just raising your wrist to inspect your watch face or
the most recent notice.

Glances act as portals for users to a more interesting watch app experience. Your app
should be able to offer timely and pertinent information within its frame with only one
tap if it has a window like that. It's important to remember that users navigate through
each of these open windows one at a time, which means their attention is limited and
split across a variety of Glances and Pins. In light of this, your priceless Glance or
Timeline pin would be just one of many items on a common shelf.

With the introduction of the new Pebble Time smartwatch, a brand-new interface,
similar to the Pebble UI, will be made available. It can be used to show information
 personal to the user, as well as previous and future events, notifications, and reminders.
Up/Down buttons make it simple to use and increase the visibility of the data it displays.
It shouldn't be implied that creating an Apple Watch Glance and integrating your
information as a Timeline pin on Pebble Time will improve the performance of your
program.

Quick Launch apps

Having a unique hardware button for your software was amazing.

For instance, the Pebble smartwatch's Quick Launch function allows users to program
a lengthy click for the up/down buttons to open specific apps. It is practical to have two
apps on a shortcut in this way. My Calendar and Misfit buttons were configured on my
Pebble watch.
Try to explain this option to the user, and you'll probably end up binding your program
to the hardware button on the smartwatch.

External Display and Remote Apps

The watch apps that go along with smartphones fall under this category. These
smartwatch apps typically serve as a remote. The GoPro Remote, Music Control,
Camera Control, Run Keeper, SNOCRU, and other activity trackers are a few
examples.
This is how it functions. When you begin a running workout with a Run keeper and
begin the activity in the app, the Run keeper display is automatically pushed to the top
of everything else on your smartwatch. The smartphone app could be utilized as an
external display for your activity when you're on the go because it is aware that you
have a connected smartwatch.
It is a feature that the user will find to be quite helpful and offers yet another way to
expand the smartphone user experience to the smartwatch. Do you possess anything
akin to this?

Other apps you should launch from the menu on a smartwatch

No, there was no error. All other apps are very difficult to locate, open, and utilize if
they are not on Glances, Quick Launch buttons, or Notification. Technically speaking,
it is feasible to locate and open an app, but this isn't something most people do. Every
operation that requires more than three to four clicks or taps from the user can be
completed more easily with a smartphone.

You will create a smartwatch app for the user regardless of the situation since it is a
unified packaging to provide the customer with a fresh smartwatch experience. But
keep in mind that for your core value to be used by the user, you should spend more
effort integrating it into the watch face, notifications, and glances/timelines, riding
quickly.

c) Micro-interactions are small, focused product moments that focus on a specific use case
and accomplish a single job. When developing for wearables, particularly smart
watches, his Micro interaction Model (Trigger > Rules > Feedback > Loops) is
helpful. Following are his descriptions of each stage of this model:
• Trigger: a user or system action that initiates the micro-interaction

• Rules: determine the flow of the interaction

• Feedback: communicates the rules to the user

• Loops: Determine how long the interaction lasts because longer interactions are
uncomfortable due to the limited output and input capabilities. The prefix "micro" refers
to their importance in being as brief as feasible. This is another reason why it's crucial
to make use of the user's context to increase speed, efficiency, and relevance by offering
relevant, actionable content and perhaps even automating some processes.

d) USABILITY AND USER EXPERIENCE GOALS

• Effectiveness is a broad concept that refers to how well a thing performs its intended
function.

• Efficiency describes how a product helps people complete their jobs.

Learnability relates to how simple it is to learn to utilize a system. People dislike taking
a lot of time to learn how to utilize a system, as is common knowledge. They want to
get going right away and develop the skills necessary to do jobs efficiently.

Utility refers to the degree to which the product offers the appropriate kind of
functionality to enable users to perform the tasks they require or desire.

• User experience
It is enjoyable, interesting, beneficial, and amusing.

e) Translate each of your sets of usability and user experience goals into two or three
specific questions. Then use them to assess how well your device fares.

• What is the effectiveness of the Smartwatch?

• What is the efficiency of the Smartwatch?
• Does it have a goal Utility?
• Is it easy to learn?
• Is it memorable?
• Is it safe to use?
• Can it be used in a different environment (Ergonomics)?
• Does accessible by many different people (Accessibility)?

Effectiveness and utilities refer to usefulness. Effectiveness is an overall measure of how

well the system performs. “Can users use the Smartwatch to do the work they need to
do?” Efficiency is more akin to usable and can refer to the time required to use the interface
and the likelihood of making errors using the Smartwatch. Amazon’s single-button
shopping is an example of design driven by efficiency. ” Can experience users be
productive using the Smartwatch?” The utility is a measure of the correct functionality and
breadth of functionality. Most good software is driven by utility, for example, word
processors have nearly all the features required to compose and format text documents.
“Does the Smartwatch provide all the functionality that users need?”

Because the computer is a new cognitive tool, learnability has been a concern of UI
designers. Designers have been plagued with trying to design “familiar and natural
interfaces” that can be learned without reading a manual. But learnability depends on
functionality; not all interfaces should be expected to be immediately usable. A
programming language is a UI, how many hours did you spend learning it? A question that
designers can ask is, “Can users figure out what to do by exploring the interface of the
Smartwatch?”

Memorable is how easy is it to remember how to use an interface after the user has
experience with the Smartwatch. Memorable is related to learnability and has generated
GUIs with menus and icons, but the menu names and icons images need to be appropriate
for them to be memorable. “What kind of support does the Smartwatch have for
remembering how to do tasks, especially infrequent tasks?”

Safety is protecting the users from dangerous errors, for example, losing all the user’s data
or protecting the user’s confidential information. Safety can also refer to how users recover
from errors. Safety is a little considered usability goal. An example of designing by safety
is not putting the delete button next to the save button. Another example is providing users
various ways to recover from errors, both by reverting to a priority state or progressing the
system to the correct state. For example in a word processor, the writer can use control-z
to correct, back button, or retype to correct mistakes. “What kind of errors can users make
and how can they recover from the mistake of the Smartwatch?”

A little thought of usability is ergonomics. “Is the device physically safe and comfortable
to use?” I believe that new devices, smartwatches, Smartphones and tablets, should drive
designers to consider ergonomics. For example, the designers should ask, “Can the user
perform the operations in the work environment?” “Can the user press buttons wearing
gloves?”

User Experience Goals

Some positive user experience goals are:

• Satisfying
• Enjoyable
• Fun
• Entertaining
• Helpful
• Motivating
• Aesthetic
• Supports creativity
• Rewarding
• Emotionally fulfilling
• Informative
• Support social networking
• Support society

Some negative user experiences are:

• boring
• frustrating
• bossy
• annoying
• cutesy

NOTE: User experience cannot be designed because the user experience is subjective to
the user using it. User interfaces should not try to appeal to all possible experiences, but
they should provide a positive experience or users will not continue using them.

f) Repeat steps (c) and (d), but this time use the design principles outlined in the chapter.

Design Principles

Overview

Watch design concepts are based on how users wear timepieces. You may improve the user
experience for your app by knowing the fundamental methods for designing the watch's
small, circular display.

Scannable

The watch is worn on the wrist, and user interactions happen in an instant. Therefore,
applications using the watch's tiny circular display should provide information quickly. To
enable seamless user interactions, design your apps to be easily scannable and embrace the
principles of scannability.

Focus on a central theme

When you concentrate on a straightforward, central concept, your app will be more
effective. Centre the important text on the screen and pick a font size that will grab the
user's attention. Keep it basic and smooth the flow between screens because adding too
much detail or functionality takes away from the main concept. By enabling tasks to be
finished in a limited number of steps, you can improve the scannability of your app.
Design your screens to be readable

The essential concept of your argument is made more visible by graphic components. When
expressing meaning, they may also be more effective than multiple lines of text. Choose an
easy-to-read font size whenever you need to employ text. Additionally, you can employ
backdrop contrast to draw attention to important details or dark colour schemes to make
your material simple to read outside. For further information, see Visual Design.

Easy to follow

The watch should be simple and quick for users to operate. Don't make it difficult for people
to execute tasks with your design. Users can explore sites and find their way around your
app more easily when the designs are consistent, purposeful, and intuitive.

Suggest interactions intuitively

Users may comprehend activities and components on the screen more easily if there are
intuitive and meaningful relationships between them. For instance, bezel controls should
explain how users can navigate and use your app with the bezel.
Keep a consistent theme

By preserving aesthetic uniformity throughout your app, you can give users a consistent
experience. Your screens ought to have a branded typeface, colour, and layout. Give your
app one common theme that represents the stuff it serves.

Responsive

The watch should respond rapidly to human interaction. Users gain trust in their watches
and a stronger sense of control thanks to responsive designs.

Provide natural and responsive feedback

Your app should combine visual, audio, and haptic feedback to give users rapid feedback
as a natural reaction to their interaction. Avoid screens that are unnecessary for completing
activities and call for further user engagements.

Make your components easy to use

It's simpler to use your software when the on-screen UI elements are the right size. If the
watch's buttons are too small or its components occupy too much screen real estate, the
watch may be challenging to use.

Desirable

Making an app that merely functions is insufficient. Users will only download your app if
the visual appeal of the design and the benefits to the user are appealing.

Concentrate on benefits, not features

Users will consider how your software will enhance or benefit their lives while deciding
whether or not to download it. When creating your app, bear this in mind. Consider a variety
of user scenarios and be specific about how your app will be useful in each one.

Design stylish screens

The watch doubles as a smartwatch and a piece of clothing. Your software will look better
with stylish designs that use typographic and graphical elements as ornamental accents.
g) Finally, discuss possible improvements to the interface based on the answers obtained
in steps (d) and (e).

Improved battery life and wireless charging

Like any other wearable device, smartwatches will be more capable of managing more
power-intensive functions and supporting faster CPU chips if their battery life is
enhanced. Naturally, this could result in a gradual transition away from mobile phones
to smartwatches.

Cross-platform support

The absence of support for numerous OS is currently one of the main obstacles to the
development of smartwatches. Therefore, purchasing an Android watch won't be
practical if I use an Apple phone. However, it is projected that the aggressive software
development currently underway will result in smartwatches that support a variety of
operating systems, enabling users to share programs, files, or contacts across many
platforms. More software developers will be encouraged to create programs that can
function on all smartwatches, which is also expected to increase competitiveness in this
market.

Aesthetic improvements in the hardware department

The current generation of smartwatches is not the most attractive wearables on the
market (at least to some). However, given the quick advancements in material science,
we can anticipate that future smartwatches will be just as svelte and exquisite-looking
as regular watches. So it would be simpler to wear these watches without appearing to
be in desperate need of a wardrobe upgrade.

A more business-centred designs

At the moment, the typical smartwatch serves more as a pretty gadget than a practical
device. However, this is only the case because a variety of external constraints, such as
the hardware and software potential, are currently restricting the capabilities of modern
smartwatches. With the introduction of cross-platform support, though, we might see
smartwatches utilized more in professional settings or outfitted with more business-
focused apps.