points to consider when designing wearables, Via Wearable Technologies

Light-Weight Interactions

Light-weight interactions are very important for stimulating user experiences. In a wearable device, such as a smartwatch, the user session should not be more than 10 seconds. If user interaction requires more than that, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and redesign your interface. For example, when a user needs to reply to a text message in a smartwatch, they should be able to do it using a pre-defined template instead of typing. An option for using voice command should also be provided.

Low power and energy-efficiency

Tiny batteries that run wearables should run for days without the need for charging them. As these devices become an integral part of a user’s life, it’s of utmost importance to increase battery life. Medical wearables like heart-rate monitors, multiparameter patches, blood glucose monitors, blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters need batteries that are reliable and can last for longer periods compared to other forms of wearables. As the size of the battery in wearable devices shrink, the fabrication process for composite electrodes and the use of liquid electrolytes is becoming a processing challenge for microfabrication using conventional approaches.