How can we co-design wearables?: A user-centred methodolology to co-design and co-evaluate wearables

The research field of wearables has grown increasingly during the last decades. Recent years have seen increased interest in the design of digital and physical-digital hybrids due the digital revolution that has added new dimensions to the field of wearables research. Although wearables boomed in 1960s, wearables have been around since long time ago and their role has been changing according to the historical and technological context of the moment. While wearables were perceived as miniature versions of existing products at first, they are huge service hubs nowadays. Thus, the creation of wearables requires specific concepts, techniques and ingredients involving textile, electronics and software that consider the diversity of potential users and their environments. This evolution of wearables can only be understood through the close inter-relation between new technological developments and people needs. Even though this reality involves understanding wearables through the close inter-relation between technological developments and people needs, there are few studies that follow this research line. Overall, there is a lack of a dialogue between human and technical factors both in the design process and in the validation process. This means that, most of the information found in literature, is focus on mainly technical or human factors but not on a shared focus. Having identified this research opportunity, this thesis seeks to provide a combined view of both technical and humans factors across a user centred methodology. Accordingly, the research questions that will guide this thesis are formulated within the framework of user-centred and co-design methodologies. First of all, it seems necessary to describe the term wearable and analyse the role of user centred design in the field of wearables. Secondly, wearables current challenges will be understood and explored in order to frame the object of the study of this thesis. Then, based on the insights obtained, a roadmap for designers will be provided. Finally, the main contribution of this thesis will be described: The Wearable Co-Design Domino; a user-centred methodology to co-design and co-evaluate wearables. From the academic point of view, this thesis contributes to the wearables literature with four main results. The first is the wearables design through a user-centred methodology that have been applied in a real empirical case. The second one is the classification of wearable design requirements considering both human and technical factors. Thirdly, the evaluation procedure for such design requirements that provides a new perspective in terms of verification and validation of complex products. Finally, the Wearable Co-Design Domino that integrates finding from different studies into a specific methodology. In conclusion, this thesis contribution responses on two different levels; that of a systematic methodology developed through a research-through-design methodology, and that of methodology targeted to design practitioners that helps to land the issue of user-centred design to wearables.