Health and safety at workplace using Smartwatch.

In UAE Summer is very hot and sunny, with temperatures ranging from 38 °C to 42 °C (101 °F to 108 °F) between May and September, as construction and industrial workers are not permitted to work during the hottest hours of the day during the summer because of Health and safety at the workplace. Our team come up with an idea to monitor workers/employee's heart rate using a smartwatch not just heart rate also daily office activities like approve or reject requests, and mark attendance, etc. As Fitbit Watch amplifies simplicity and eliminates the smallest little daily frictions. This device gives a great opportunity to streamline UX.

We rolled out surveys across 10 different customer organizations to understand how often workers operate in remote areas and whether they monitor vital signs like heart rate and blood pressure during extreme weather conditions. We wanted to learn about their current health monitoring habits, especially when working in hot and sunny conditions. The insights from these surveys helped us validate our hypothesis about workplace health monitoring needs and identify key pain points to address in our solution.

We followed the hypothesis-driven designer canvas to validate our assumptions about workplace health monitoring. This approach helped us test whether our design hypotheses were true and if our solution would meet user needs effectively.

After validating our hypothesis, we needed to decide on the ideal direction - whether to go with minimal context or a more powerful, feature-rich approach. Through initial discovery and client interviews, we explored different paths for the product.

During ideation, I wanted to ensure we designed an app that would work for both frontline workers needing health monitoring and leadership requiring oversight capabilities. After several stakeholder meetings, I realized there was sufficient overlap to create a unified solution that would serve all user groups effectively.

I had gotten a fair understanding to start with user flows. User flow allowed me to see the complete app experience at a holistic level. Furthermore, sitemap helped me make a checklist of all the pages to be designed.

Created low-fidelity wireframes to map out the information architecture and identify missing components for small screen devices. These wireframes helped us conduct cognitive walkthrough tests with stakeholders and iterate on the design before moving into high-fidelity mockups. The focus was on ensuring optimal readability and touch targets for the Fitbit's compact display.

For small device interfaces, I chose filled icons with consistent visual weight to ensure clarity at small sizes. Each icon was designed on a 24x24 pixel grid with 2px strokes, maintaining uniform thickness across the entire icon set. This pixel-perfect approach ensured icons remained crisp and recognizable on the Fitbit's display, while the foundational grid framework helped maintain consistency throughout the design system.

The interface design prioritized ease of use on the small screen format through heavily rounded corners, vibrant gradients, and large touch-friendly icons. Working closely with engineers, I contributed to the front-end development using Fitbit's SVG-based SDK, creating reusable components that matched our design specifications. This hands-on approach helped bridge the gap between design intent and technical implementation.

Accessibility was integral to our design process. We revised the entire color scheme to ensure WCAG 2.0 compliance, achieving at least AA level standards with a 4.5:1 contrast ratio for all typography and iconography. This was particularly crucial for outdoor workers who might view the device in bright sunlight, ensuring the interface remained legible in various lighting conditions.

Balancing generous touch targets with compact layouts was crucial for the small device interface. We standardized all interactive elements to maintain consistent touch areas, ensuring reliable interaction even when workers wore gloves or had sweaty hands. This systematic approach to touch targets significantly improved the app's usability in challenging work environments.

Created a fully interactive prototype to demonstrate the complete user flow, from health monitoring to daily task management. This prototype helped stakeholders visualize the end-to-end experience and provided valuable feedback before development.

Thoughtful micro-interactions enhanced the user experience without compromising device performance. We implemented subtle animations for button presses and SVG icon transitions, providing immediate feedback while respecting the hardware limitations. These carefully crafted animations made the interface feel more responsive and intuitive.

The final implementation in the production app:

We distributed Fitbit watches to several partner companies for real-world testing. Working with our customer support team, we conducted 6 moderated usability testing sessions with actual workers and managers. While the CS team facilitated the sessions, I observed user behaviors, pain points, and overall experience patterns.

Test findings were compiled using Google's rainbow spreadsheet methodology. We began by documenting participant demographics with color-coded categories:

Before each session, I prepared a list of predetermined observations to track. During testing, I documented which behaviors occurred and prioritized findings based on frequency and impact for the next design iteration.