Children’s Smart Watch Final Project by Amanda Farris IXDS 6813 Interactive Studio Professor: David Meyers Lindsey Wilson College May 13, 2016
Table of Contents Introduction ……………………………………………………………. 1 Concept Brief ………………………………………………………….. 1 Problem/Solution ……………………………………………………… 1 Research ……………………………………………………………….. 2 Target audience………………………………………………………… 2 Personas………………………………………………………………… 3 Completive Analysis …………………………………………………… 3 Interviews ……………………………………………………………… 4 Mood Board …………………………………………………………… 4 Site Map ……………………………………………………………….. 5 Design (Phase 1) ……………………………………………………… 5 Concept Sketches ………………………………………………. 5 Low Wireframes……………………………………………….... 5 Design (Phase 2) ……………………………………………………… 6 Low-Med Wireframes ………………………………………….. 6 Prototype (Axure) ………………………………………………. 6 Usability Testing (Phase 2) …………………………………….. 6 Parent Results …………………………………………………... 7 Children Results ……….……………………………………..… 7 Recommendations for improvements ………………………….. 8
Design (Phase 3) ……………………………………………………….. 8 Revised problems ………………………………………………… 8 High Wireframes …………………………………………………. 9 Prototype (Axure) ………………………………………………… 9 Usability testing (Phase 3) ………………………………………. 9 Results ……………………………………………………………. 10 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………. 10 Work cited ……………………………………………………………….. 11 Appendix ………………………………………………………………… 13-45
Farris |1
Introduction Children begin craving independence from caregivers between the ages of 9 and 11 years old due to changes in their bodies’ hormones. Technology is a gateway to escape parents, teachers, coaches, and other authority figures. Smartphones, computers, video games, and tablets are communication methods that are relied upon to help children disconnect from authority figures. Children adept to new technology trends quickly since authority figures have easy access to technology and use it to monitor their children’s online presence and time spent away from home or school. The evolution of communication has changed drastically in the last twenty years, and children and parents use technology to maintain contact with each other. [1] While technology advances have helped parents and children stay in communication when they are not together, the proper age for children to own smartphones vary on parents and the parents preferences and needs for the child.
Concept Brief With the research that was found there is not a reliable smartwatch for children that is on the market in today’s community. I am creating a watch that could fit the design that the children would love, and make it possible for parents to know where their children are at with a click of a button.
Problem/Solution Children have a tendency to lose or break smartphones, making purchasing a device for a child risky. Parent want the security of being able to access their children when they are apart. A child friendly smartwatch that is modern would benefit both parents and children. The watch would be designed to appeal children but also allow parents to monitor their children’s locations when they are not together.
Farris |2
Research Modern watches have a wide variety of features. Most smartwatches are advertised for adults. Motorola, Apple, LG, and Samsung each create smartwatches that fit their product line and include features such as tracking exercise, daily step count, email access, and texting capabilities. [2] The current available smartwatches for children range in features and ability to communicate with other people. Children being raised in the modern, technological world crave the newest and latest gadgets with the most up-todate technology. Children will favor my smartwatch because it will be the newest product available. Parents will favor the ability of my smartwatch to monitor their children’s locations and my smartwatch would triumph over other competitors. An article from wareable.com discusses how a children’s smartwatch was sold in China. BBK, a Chinese electronics powerhouse, created a smartwatch called the One Plus was able to sell more smartwatches for Chinese children than their competitor Samsung sold worldwide. An estimated 700,000 units were sold in China, selling for 760 Yen, or $120 in American money and proves the market for a children’s smartwatch is sustainable. [3] Smartwatches are a good choice for children. Parents will have peace of mind because smartwatches made for children have a GPS locater. Parents can control smartwatches because they have access to parental controls while children can learn time management to help make their days more productive. [4]
Target audience The primary target audience children’s smartwatches are male and female children ages 6-11 years old. The secondary target audience are parents of male or female children ages 6-11 years old.
Farris |3
Personas Three personas were created to help test the need for children smartwatches and parental control. In the first persona, a mother of two children wants to be able to contact and know her children’s GPS locations at all times. For the second persona, an elevenyear old girl needs a way to communicate with her parents when she not at home with them. The final persona features a six-year old boy whose parents want him to enjoy restricted freedom in their neighborhood that monitors his GPS location while allowing him to access games without requiring a tablet, gaming device, or smartphone. See figure A – figure C.
Competitive Analysis Four children’s smartwatches were chosen for a comparative analysis. Each smartwatch has features that are unique to the creator of the product. The HereO GPS, FiLIP, Cubi, and Kidizoom were analyzed and tested. . See figure D - figure C. The HereO GPS smartwatch has the least amount of features and is more beneficial for use by an adult instead of a child. This smartwatch contains GPS location by accessing the HereO Family Application. The water resistant watch has two physical features, an SOS feature, and the time on the screen. The SOS feature is a button that can be pressed by a child if they feel they are in danger. The button will alert their parents immediately when pressed and is meant for children 3-11 years old with a cost of $179. [5] The FiLIP smartwatch features GPS location, a SOS feature that allows a child to click a button to send a help message to their parent through the accompanying parent application, and a voice call feature that allows children to use the smartwatch like a cell phone. This watch is marketed for children 4-11 years old and costs $150. [6] Cubi smartwatch has many features, including GPS location that allows parents to locate their children through the parent application. Children can voice message with
Farris |4
family members that have the smartphone application. ASOS feature is built into the watch that can be used by children to get help from their parents with a push of a button. The parent application can also alert them when their child leaves or arrives at a set location set by the smartphone application. [7] Kidizoom has the most features and can take pictures and videos, children’s games for play, timer, stopwatch, calendar, calculator and alarm clock. It is the only children’s smartwatch that features a touchscreen currently on the market. With the watch’s large memory, pictures and videos can also be stored on the watch. This watch is designed for children ages 4-9 and cost $60. [8]
Interviews (about watch features) After conducting surveys with parents and children. Ten features could potentially be included. Smartwatch features that are popular include an alarm clock, exercise tracker, games, GPS, video chat, texting, pictures & videos, calculator, calendar, and mp3 player. Five children and parents were surveyed and asked to pick the five features that they would want on a smartwatch. Figure F - Figure H show the results of the survey. Parents recommend features were GPS, video chats, and texting. These features would eliminate the need to supply their children with a cell phone that can be easily lost, stolen, or broken. Children were interested in the ability to play games, take pictures and videos, and texting. Chosen featured for the smartwatch design will include texting, video chat, alarm clock, GPS, games, and the ability to take pictures and shoot videos.
Mood board The mood board was inspired by my personal Pinterest page. While researching smartwatches, I discovered using colors and a UI design to create an easy and simple interface would be most beneficial. I was also inspired to add a clip-on so children would be entertained by the smartwatch design and enjoy wearing it. See figure I.
Farris |5
Site Map A site map was developed to help users navigating between the various screens by swiping a finger across the screen. See figure J.
Design (Phase 1) Conceptual sketches The design of the smartwatch and parent application must be easy to use. A back button and a home screen button was included in the design so that children would be able to easily navigate the various screens on the smartwatch. I added speakers and a microphone so users are able to communicate through video chat. A SOS button was included so children can press it if there is an emergency. I also included a power on/off button so children are able to turn the watch off if needed. I created an interchangeable clip-on that also has the option of not being used. The clip-on includes a screen protector that helps keep the screen from becoming scratched. See figure K.
Low Wireframes Using feedback from the interviews, the smartwatch design features include text messages, video chatting, GPS, games, and camera. The parent application allows parents to check their children’s GPS location through the activities section. GPS location is determined by syncing the location with Google Maps. The messages page allows parents to contact their children while the settings page is used for parental control of the child’s watch. The notifications page allows parents to receive messages when their children leave a set location on their destination. Parents can review their children’s pictures and videos by accessing the camera page. Once parents view stored pictures and videos, they will be able to determine if they want to keep the pictures or videos on the camera page or elsewhere on their computer or tablet. See Figure L - Figure S.
Farris |6
A usability test was not conducted with the paper prototype because the children could not understand how paper testing occurred. The children were confused by pretending to navigate the various screens with the paper prototype. I then created a lowmed. fidelity prototype that allowed the children to test the prototype on a computer or tablet. The updated prototype allowed the children to navigate through the prototype faster and provide quality feedback.
Design (Phase 2) Low-Med. Wireframes In the low-med fidelity, a simple image the watch buttons proposed look like was used for the prototype user testing. Screens instead of black and white paper design pages were used, and the screens were set up so the user could swipe left to see the smartwatch features. A main screen was also made for the features with the exception of the camera slide. I felt the user would understand the proper use of the camera feature. I created the hamburger menu for the parent application and made the main and secondary screen pages so users understand the proper working of the screens. See Figure T - Figure 2.
Prototype (Axure) The prototype can be found by using this link. http://chx3yr.axshare.com/parent_app_home.html
Usability Testing In the usability testing for phase 2, a list of tasks that had to be completed was assigned to each user. Two parents, Danny and Jessica, tested the smartphone application and smartwatch. Five children tested the smartwatch: Cadence (Age 11), Tyler (Age 10), Aubree (Age 7), Zachary (Age 9), and Conner (Age 6).
Farris |7
Assigned tasks to be completed on the smartwatch by the children were: Set an Alarm, video chat Dad and then end the call, go back to home page, message mom in text, power off the watch, turn it back on, send an SOS message alerting you are hurt, then go to the games page and pick out a game to play. The parents were asked to complete the following tasks on the application page were: Check Mia’s activity, video chat with Mia, check the children’s notifications, change the settings on Mia’s watch, check Mia’s camera pictures, and check a message received from Mia.
Parent Results Danny was able to use the smartwatch with one minor problem. He was confused by which button was the power button and which was the SOS button. Danny felt that the watch seemed simple for children to learn how to use it. Danny felt the smart application was easy to navigate until he arrived at the activity page, as he did not know which girl was who. He first clicked on the wrong girl but then realized who the right girl was. Jessica was able to navigate the smartwatch with no issues, but had trouble with the parent application. She had a hard time understanding the proper way to navigate from page to page, but was able to find the solution on her own. Jessica felt that the smartwatch was simple and easy to navigate, and once she knew how to navigate the pages on the parent application, it was also easy to use.
Children Results The children all thought the smartwatch was easy to navigate and felt some of the features were interesting. Each child shared the same problem when testing the smartwatch. The problem was knowing which button was the power button and which button was the SOS button. Danny, the parent, also had the same confusion during his testing. The children were the “hands” on the prototype; they did not know that the hand on the prototype was meant to help them navigate through the screens and was a symbol that it is a touch screen. I do not have the capabilities to let the children touch my
Farris |8
computer screen to make it feel more realistic. A minor problem during the testing was that the children did not understand what SOS meant.
Recommendations for improvements At the end of the parent testing, Danny recommended that locating a child would be easier on the activities page if their name was incorporated on the page next to their picture. He also suggested was that the headings on the application pages be in lower and uppercase letters, as it was an eye sore. Jessica suggested that there be a home button put into the parent application so it would be easier to access the main activity page without having to access the hamburger menu. She also suggested that I move the home page to the top of the hamburger menu so everyone is aware that it is the home page. The children’s suggestions were that I should change the name of the SOS Button to Emergency Button because they did not understood what SOS meant. They also suggested to make the buttons for the side of the smartwatch different colors to help tell the difference between them.
Design (Phase 3) Revised problems Problems that were addressed in the usability testing were fixed as suggested. I put each child’s name on the bottom of their location pins so parents are able to locate their children quicker. The pages of the parent application are no longer in all capital letters. A home button was added in the top, right corner of the parent application for easier navigation. The home page was placed on the top of the hamburger menu so the user is aware that is the home page. Per the suggestion of the children, I changed the SOS button to read Emergency and made it a red button. The power on/off button was changed to a black button.
Farris |9
High Wireframes In the high fidelity, I added the background and colors to each screen. The buttons on the screens were made to look more realistic. The side buttons on the smartwatch for the emergency and power buttons were different colors; black for the power button and red for the emergency button. See Figure 3 - Figure 7.
Porotype (Axure) The prototype can be found by using this link. http://hfxpbw.axshare.com/watch_home.html
Usability Testing During the usability testing for phase 3, I used the same command list as used in phase 2 of tasks for each user to complete. I also used the same two parents, Danny and Jessica, test the smartphone application and the smartwatch. The same five different children were also used to help test the smartwatch: Cadence (Age 11), Tyler (Age 10), Aubree (Age 7), Zachary (Age 9), and Conner (Age 6). The children were asked to complete the following tasks on the smartwatch: Set an alarm, video chat Dad and then end the call, go back to home page, message Mom by text, power off the smartwatch, turn the smartwatch back on, send an Emergency message alerting that you are hurt, then go to the games page and pick out a game. The parent’s application tasks were: Check the activity on Mia, video chat with Mia, check the notifications of the children, change the settings on Mia’s watch, check Mia’s camera pictures, and check the message sent from Mia.
F a r r i s | 10
Results The user testing went well. The children and the parents did not have user problems with the tasks. I did not receive feedback stating that I needed to make further changes to the smartwatch or parent application. The users felt that the designs were eay to navigate.
Conclusion Moving forward, the next step for the smartwatch would be to fix flaws in the watch design that was presented to me by the users in the final presentation. Making the alarm screens more user friendly so that children are not struggling to click on certain buttons will make the smartwatch an even better product design. Funding to create the smartwatch and the parent application would also have to be obtained, and finding an affordable software developer to code the parent application could be troublesome.
F a r r i s | 11
Works cited 1)
Ribble, Mike, and Education International Society for Technology in. Raising A
Digital Child : A Digital Citizenship Handbook For Parents. Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE], 2009. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 28 April 2016. 2)
Consumer Report. Smartwatch Reviews. April 2015. Web. 28 April 2016 Click
Here 3)
Charara, Sophie. This Chinese kid’s watch sold more than Samsung smartwatches
this summer. Warwable.com. 4 Dec. 2015. Web. 28 April 2016. Click Here 4)
Christine. Reasons Why A Smartwatch Could Be A Good Choice for Kids. 10
Feb. 2016. Web. 28 April 2016. Click Here 5)
HereO. Hereofamily.com. 2015. Web. 26 March 2016. Click Here
6)
FiLIP. myfilip.com. 2015. Web. 26 March. Click Here
7)
Glassninja. Cubi: Star-Trek Like Smartwatch for Kids. Coolwearable.com. 4 Feb.
2016. Web. 26 March. Click Here 8)
VTech. Kidizoom.2016. Web. 26 March 2016. Click Here
F a r r i s | 12
Appendix Figure A
F a r r i s | 13
Figure B
F a r r i s | 14
Figure C
F a r r i s | 15
Figure D
e
F a r r i s | 16
Figure E
F a r r i s | 17
Figure F
F a r r i s | 18
Figure G
F a r r i s | 19
Figure H
F a r r i s | 20
Figure I
F a r r i s | 21
Figure J
F a r r i s | 22
Figure K
F a r r i s | 23
Figure L
F a r r i s | 24
Figure M
F a r r i s | 25
Figure N
’
F a r r i s | 26
Figure O
F a r r i s | 27
Figure P
F a r r i s | 28
Figure Q
F a r r i s | 29
Figure R
F a r r i s | 30
Figure S
F a r r i s | 31
Figure T
F a r r i s | 32
Figure U
F a r r i s | 33
Figure V
F a r r i s | 34
Figure W
F a r r i s | 35
Figure X
F a r r i s | 36
Figure Y
F a r r i s | 37
Figure Z
F a r r i s | 38
Figure 1
F a r r i s | 39
Figure 2
F a r r i s | 40
Figure 3
F a r r i s | 41
Figure 4
F a r r i s | 42
Figure 5
F a r r i s | 43
Figure 6
F a r r i s | 44
Figure 7