Human Use Analysis: Digital Watch Interfaces

Even as smartphones and smartwatches become increasingly popular, many individuals still choose to wear a digital and analogue watches. For digital watches, users must interact with a digital interface to perform various functions. Every digital watch must have a method to set and change the time, and may also include features such as a stop watch, an alarm, or a second time. These features are almost always accessed by physical buttons along the outer rim of the watch face. The standard face will show the time and may also include information like the date, day of the week. Many digital watches only have a subset of these features, which may fit the desires of some users. As smartphones have many of the same features as digital watches and many more, users may not need their wristwatch to do a lot. In this analysis, I will investigate how digital watch wearers interact with their watch, specifically how they set the time, and, excluding fashion, what attributes and abilities they look for in their watch. From this, I will propose design changes or areas to improve the user experience.