Redesigning a smart home task for WearOS with a focus on creating fun and functional microinteractions.
Jun 20, 2025
To kick-off the second Interaction Design Studio class, we dove into one of my personal favorite aspects of digital design—microinteractions. As a motion design enthusiast, creating small moments of delight that stem from a single action makes for some of the most exciting steps in my design process. And so, coinciding with two weeks of learning the ins-and-outs of microinteractions that we were tasked with creating our own microinteractions for a task on a smartwatch platform within four weeks. I decided to look at how I could make one of my most used tasks for my smart home set up (configuring my lights) manageable from a WearOS device.
I conducted research that explored two facets: The Google Home experience on mobile & WearOS, and how WearOS users liked to interact with their devices.
For this part of research, I first looked at the app on my phone and documented its UX flow for configuring smart lights. To see it done on a WearOS device, I referred to Youtube tutorials for installing and using Google Home (the most helpful was THIS ONE). By recording the similarities and differences between platforms, I began to get greater clarity regarding what features were required, and how they could be made more delightful.
Things really started to get even more fun once I was able to discern how users navigate their WearOS devices. The default gestures for software was tapping and swiping; however, both Samsung's Galaxy Watches, and Google's Pixel Watches utilized added functionality either in the bezel (physically like in the GIF above, and digitally like in THIS VIDEO) or a scroll wheel on the side. As a former Galaxy Watch owner, I losing using my digital bezel feature, and am still hoping that the physical one makes a return in the next Classic iteration of watches (for which I am not alone! LINK, LINK, LINK); nonetheless, I thought that there should be considerations made for alternate methods of scrolling than just swiping, especially when considering that smartwatches are in and of themselves sometimes standalone devices for some users who want to forego a phone at times. Bearing these discoveries in mind, I started to come up with my how might we question.
Adjust smart lights brightness in a satisfying way, while also not losing color changing capabilities?
My design directions branched into three paths, which looked at tapping, swiping, and a combination of both. I really wanted to better understand how we could move away a bit from the bento box style of the mobile experience, while keeping the iconography and other components intact for WearOS styling, and also maintaining a streamlined flow of actions that feels intuitive.
Drawing inspiration from the physical/digital bezel and physical scroll wheel, I wanted to see how the adjustment of brightness and choosing light color/temp could feel right at home with those more tactile interactions. I originally leaned more towards the fine scrubbing direction, but backed away from it after gaining feedback concerning usability for users that might not have those same product features. Controlling sliders that increment in the single digits with your finger on a small screen could be quite difficult, especially so for people with large hands. Another note that I received, particularly concerning the swipe & toggle and toggle-only direction, was that there were way too many UI components to work on a small screen like on a smart watch.
Feedback in hand, I decided to pursue the swipe & toggle direction but reconfigure it so that it wasn't too busy and too exclusive.
Implementing Google Home Routines into the lighting configuration as a shortcut felt like a no brainer in regards to bringing features forward, and the default routines that I went with were simple day/night color and brightness setups.
One of the best bits of feedback that I got for this project was to change the brightness slider from an overly precise single-digit slider, to something in a different increment. I chose to go by ten instead, which still allows for freedom of customization options, while allowing for a higher tolerance for error.
By moving the color/temp picker away from the edges, I was able to avoid mis-taps and give the screen a little more breathing room. A satisfying solution for one of my most used functions for room ambiance.
To experience the digital product for yourself, please enjoy clicking through the prototype below!
Redesigning a smart home task for WearOS with a focus on creating fun and functional microinteractions.
Jun 20, 2025
To kick-off the second Interaction Design Studio class, we dove into one of my personal favorite aspects of digital design—microinteractions. As a motion design enthusiast, creating small moments of delight that stem from a single action makes for some of the most exciting steps in my design process. And so, coinciding with two weeks of learning the ins-and-outs of microinteractions that we were tasked with creating our own microinteractions for a task on a smartwatch platform within four weeks. I decided to look at how I could make one of my most used tasks for my smart home set up (configuring my lights) manageable from a WearOS device.
I conducted research that explored two facets: The Google Home experience on mobile & WearOS, and how WearOS users liked to interact with their devices.
For this part of research, I first looked at the app on my phone and documented its UX flow for configuring smart lights. To see it done on a WearOS device, I referred to Youtube tutorials for installing and using Google Home (the most helpful was THIS ONE). By recording the similarities and differences between platforms, I began to get greater clarity regarding what features were required, and how they could be made more delightful.
Things really started to get even more fun once I was able to discern how users navigate their WearOS devices. The default gestures for software was tapping and swiping; however, both Samsung's Galaxy Watches, and Google's Pixel Watches utilized added functionality either in the bezel (physically like in the GIF above, and digitally like in THIS VIDEO) or a scroll wheel on the side. As a former Galaxy Watch owner, I losing using my digital bezel feature, and am still hoping that the physical one makes a return in the next Classic iteration of watches (for which I am not alone! LINK, LINK, LINK); nonetheless, I thought that there should be considerations made for alternate methods of scrolling than just swiping, especially when considering that smartwatches are in and of themselves sometimes standalone devices for some users who want to forego a phone at times. Bearing these discoveries in mind, I started to come up with my how might we question.
Adjust smart lights brightness in a satisfying way, while also not losing color changing capabilities?
My design directions branched into three paths, which looked at tapping, swiping, and a combination of both. I really wanted to better understand how we could move away a bit from the bento box style of the mobile experience, while keeping the iconography and other components intact for WearOS styling, and also maintaining a streamlined flow of actions that feels intuitive.
Drawing inspiration from the physical/digital bezel and physical scroll wheel, I wanted to see how the adjustment of brightness and choosing light color/temp could feel right at home with those more tactile interactions. I originally leaned more towards the fine scrubbing direction, but backed away from it after gaining feedback concerning usability for users that might not have those same product features. Controlling sliders that increment in the single digits with your finger on a small screen could be quite difficult, especially so for people with large hands. Another note that I received, particularly concerning the swipe & toggle and toggle-only direction, was that there were way too many UI components to work on a small screen like on a smart watch.
Feedback in hand, I decided to pursue the swipe & toggle direction but reconfigure it so that it wasn't too busy and too exclusive.
Implementing Google Home Routines into the lighting configuration as a shortcut felt like a no brainer in regards to bringing features forward, and the default routines that I went with were simple day/night color and brightness setups.
One of the best bits of feedback that I got for this project was to change the brightness slider from an overly precise single-digit slider, to something in a different increment. I chose to go by ten instead, which still allows for freedom of customization options, while allowing for a higher tolerance for error.
By moving the color/temp picker away from the edges, I was able to avoid mis-taps and give the screen a little more breathing room. A satisfying solution for one of my most used functions for room ambiance.
To experience the digital product for yourself, please enjoy clicking through the prototype below!
Redesigning a smart home task for WearOS with a focus on creating fun and functional microinteractions.
Jun 20, 2025
To kick-off the second Interaction Design Studio class, we dove into one of my personal favorite aspects of digital design—microinteractions. As a motion design enthusiast, creating small moments of delight that stem from a single action makes for some of the most exciting steps in my design process. And so, coinciding with two weeks of learning the ins-and-outs of microinteractions that we were tasked with creating our own microinteractions for a task on a smartwatch platform within four weeks. I decided to look at how I could make one of my most used tasks for my smart home set up (configuring my lights) manageable from a WearOS device.
I conducted research that explored two facets: The Google Home experience on mobile & WearOS, and how WearOS users liked to interact with their devices.
For this part of research, I first looked at the app on my phone and documented its UX flow for configuring smart lights. To see it done on a WearOS device, I referred to Youtube tutorials for installing and using Google Home (the most helpful was THIS ONE). By recording the similarities and differences between platforms, I began to get greater clarity regarding what features were required, and how they could be made more delightful.
Things really started to get even more fun once I was able to discern how users navigate their WearOS devices. The default gestures for software was tapping and swiping; however, both Samsung's Galaxy Watches, and Google's Pixel Watches utilized added functionality either in the bezel (physically like in the GIF above, and digitally like in THIS VIDEO) or a scroll wheel on the side. As a former Galaxy Watch owner, I losing using my digital bezel feature, and am still hoping that the physical one makes a return in the next Classic iteration of watches (for which I am not alone! LINK, LINK, LINK); nonetheless, I thought that there should be considerations made for alternate methods of scrolling than just swiping, especially when considering that smartwatches are in and of themselves sometimes standalone devices for some users who want to forego a phone at times. Bearing these discoveries in mind, I started to come up with my how might we question.
Adjust smart lights brightness in a satisfying way, while also not losing color changing capabilities?
My design directions branched into three paths, which looked at tapping, swiping, and a combination of both. I really wanted to better understand how we could move away a bit from the bento box style of the mobile experience, while keeping the iconography and other components intact for WearOS styling, and also maintaining a streamlined flow of actions that feels intuitive.
Drawing inspiration from the physical/digital bezel and physical scroll wheel, I wanted to see how the adjustment of brightness and choosing light color/temp could feel right at home with those more tactile interactions. I originally leaned more towards the fine scrubbing direction, but backed away from it after gaining feedback concerning usability for users that might not have those same product features. Controlling sliders that increment in the single digits with your finger on a small screen could be quite difficult, especially so for people with large hands. Another note that I received, particularly concerning the swipe & toggle and toggle-only direction, was that there were way too many UI components to work on a small screen like on a smart watch.
Feedback in hand, I decided to pursue the swipe & toggle direction but reconfigure it so that it wasn't too busy and too exclusive.
Implementing Google Home Routines into the lighting configuration as a shortcut felt like a no brainer in regards to bringing features forward, and the default routines that I went with were simple day/night color and brightness setups.
One of the best bits of feedback that I got for this project was to change the brightness slider from an overly precise single-digit slider, to something in a different increment. I chose to go by ten instead, which still allows for freedom of customization options, while allowing for a higher tolerance for error.
By moving the color/temp picker away from the edges, I was able to avoid mis-taps and give the screen a little more breathing room. A satisfying solution for one of my most used functions for room ambiance.
To experience the digital product for yourself, please enjoy clicking through the prototype below!
Beautiful design has the power to captivate audiences