Wearables: Testing the Human Experience

Testing wearables is fundamentally more complex than any other mobile device class. Wearables become extensions of us, so testing should focus on the total experience of the wearer—the emotional, physical and sensory reactions, including our biases and mindsets. It involves testing in the “real world” of the wearer—when, where, and how the wearer and the device will function together. Using concepts from human-computer interaction design, Gerie Owen and Peter Varhol provide a framework for testing the human experience of wearables. Learn to develop personas by delving into the wearers’ personalities and characteristics to understand their expectations of the wearable. Then learn to create user value stories to test the ways in which the wearers will achieve value from the wearable. We’ll look at how these devices may respond to different types of human interaction and examine how to test those responses to ensure that the device works properly under real-world conditions.