Fashionable Services for Wearables: Inventing and Investigating a New Design Path for Smart Watches

Abstract

With the advent of wearable devices equipped with publicly visible screens, we argue for the need to apply fashion thinking in designing their visual expression. The screen provides endless variations of visual expression, beyond traditional clothing. The topic motivates us to investigate the potential of assembling "fashion thinking" with services generation, to create new forms of use that wearers will adore, as they do with clothes. Disregarding fashion thinking in wearable design might lead to user dissatisfaction and missed opportunities. In an explorative design study we triangulate three methods i.e. a small study on the use of smart watches in dressing practices; an invention and design of a service called "Watch for Figuracy", with a watch face contextually dependent on the wearer's dressed ensemble, and an initial user feedback study. Altogether they indicate the potential of fashion wearable hybrids and shortcomings in utilizing color theory for matching the watch face to the outfit.