Wearable Thought Catcher

User Experience for Wearable and Mobile App

Designed to enhance your focus

Voice powered wearable to automatically convert your thoughts into actions via mobile applications.

MYLE is an innovative wearable personal assistant, specifically designed for mobile professionals, that effortlessly captures and organizes thoughts and ideas. This UX case study encompasses the development of both mobile and desktop apps, integration with various business and personal software applications, and the industrial design of the MYLE device. My role spanned across design strategy, UX design, and industrial design, focusing on creating a seamless user experience and a functional, aesthetically pleasing product.

The project achieved notable success, evidenced by its crowdfunding triumph on IndieGoGo, raising $152,875 CAD with the support of 1,044 backers, and securing a significant investment deal on CBC's Dragon’s Den. This case study explores the design journey and market impact of MYLE, highlighting its success in innovation and user engagement.

Strategy

User-centred design focuses on the rapid iteration of prototypes with users and stakeholders.

Methodology

Product development using value proposition canvas.

Tools

Solidworks
Illustrator
Photoshop
AdobeXD

Zen-like mindfulness in a small package

At the end of 2014, the founders of the company had been working for months on an early prototype that not only recognized commands much better than any existing solution in the market, but it aimed to be a unique device-agnostic wearable.

The device was activated by tapping it two, which created a conditional reaction to recording thoughts leaving the user with a zen-like feeling. All thoughts and actions were registered and processed on a mobile app.

Proposed value

Effortless Information Management for the Mobile Professional

MYLE, designed for the modern lifestyle, provides exceptional convenience in a wearable format. Its single-tap function enables quick recording of ideas and tasks, ideal for situations like commuting or meetings where traditional note-taking is impractical. Ergonomically designed, it's both an effective tool and a stylish, comfortable accessory for all-day use.

Unparalleled Convenience in a Wearable Format

MYLE stands out with its ability to intelligently categorize and assign notes to appropriate applications, tailoring its functionality to each user's specific needs. Whether it's integrating with professional tools like Salesforce and Outlook for business or managing personal tasks in apps like Evernote and OneNote, MYLE adapts to your unique workflow. This level of customization and integration means that every note taken is automatically placed where it's most useful, significantly reducing the time spent on data organization and increasing overall efficiency and productivity.

Data Integration and Customization for Enhanced Productivity

MYLE excels in intelligently categorizing and assigning notes to relevant applications, customizing its functionality to individual user needs. It integrates with both professional (like Salesforce, Outlook) and personal (like Evernote, OneNote) tools, adapting to unique workflows. This customization optimizes data organization, enhancing efficiency and productivity.

How it works

Voice recording

The user taps the device to indicate the beginning of a thought. And taps again to mark its end.

Thought analysis

The MYLE sends the information via Bluetooth to the mobile device app, where the thought is recorded, categorized and potential actions are analyzed.

Action execution

The MYLE is integrated with several applications and triggers specific actions, like marking a date in a calendar, twitting an idea or counting calories consumed over the day.

Discovery

The importance of immediate thought capture

Every day your mind generates 70,000 thoughts, makes 2,000 decisions and 200 of them are averagely finished while the rest are forgotten and lost.

Humans are thought-processing powerhouses, with studies suggesting that the average person experiences approximately 70,000 thoughts per day. However, the capacity to remember these thoughts is significantly lower. A study by the National Science Foundation indicates that a large portion of these thoughts are repetitive and somewhat fleeting, implying that only a select few make a lasting impression in our memory.

Furthermore, research by Dr. Art Markman, a cognitive scientist at the University of Texas, highlights that the human brain, despite its complexity, is inclined towards forgetting, a mechanism to prevent information overload. This is where devices like MYLE can be transformative. By enabling the immediate capture of these transient thoughts, tools like MYLE bridge the gap between the multitude of thoughts we have and the limited number we can recall. This discrepancy emphasizes the importance of immediate and efficient thought capture in our daily lives, ensuring that valuable ideas and tasks are not lost in the vast sea of our minds.

70k

Thoughts/day

20k

Decisions/day

200

Thoughts remembered

Conceptualization

Use cases

Myle needed to have a large enough user base to be profitable and bring the attention of 3rd party developers to provide integrations via APIs. During the early stages of development, we focused on the following scenarios.

Individual contributors

Simplifying simple tasks that require quick notes like reviewing blueprint, making inspections or to-do lists, without having to lose focus on the job at hand, keeping a notebook around or having to decipher hastily written notes.

Group collaboration

Streamlining collaboration between coworkers by reducing the effort of collecting everybody’s opinions, resolutions and action items. The figure of the note taker and the meeting minutes could be totally removed from the equation.

Home automation

Home and shopping automation solutions like Alexa are currently available in the market, back in 2014, it was only a dream. Still, this solution is active only when the user asks for it, by double tapping, no need for larger companies to ears drop on the users’ conversations all the time.

Healthcare

A great percentage of human errors in patient care come from incorrect data entry. Imagine potential errors a nurse might have at the end of a long shift trying to correctly enter the medication provided to a patient.

Also most patients are not disciplined enough or face challenges recording information like how often they take their pills, if they are they done physio-therapy exercises, or tracking their progress over time.

Training and sports

At the gym, MYLE lets trainers and trainees easily record workout routines, track progress, and capture real-time feedback, fostering a more engaged and efficient fitness training experience.

Mindfulness

Being able to collect personal thoughts, feelings and ideas is essential to practice mindfulness and being able to consciously track progress in areas like stress management, grieving, and emotional wellbeing.

Problem statement

From collection to visualization

The solution could be easily defined as collection, processing, action and visualization. The process to make this step happen where very complex and implied the integration of several different moving parts that needed to share information flawlessly without any interruption.

Data collection

This is going to be done by the wearable device synched with a mobile phone via Bluetooth.

Data processing

The application stores the recordings, voice-to-text processes are done in the background and the thought is displayed in the app.

Text to action

The text is recognized as potential actions, and they are submitted to 3rd party integrations.

Data visualization

The user is offered a summary of their thought and visualizes its trends and statistics.

Interaction Design

Designing an ecosystem for your thoughts

The wearable device needed an ecosystem to operate correctly; I was in charge of designing the mobile app. Myle Cloud (user account web app) and doing small changes to the form of physical device so it would be easier to prototype and mass production.

Mobile App:
Designing an intuitive mobile application for Android and iOS for seamless interaction with the MYLE device.

Desktop App:
Creating a desktop version for enhanced accessibility and wider user engagement.

Marketplace Integration:
Integrating MYLE with various marketplaces and software applications, such as Evernote, Salesforce, Twitter, Slack, OneNote, Outlook, Wunderlist, and Calendar, to ensure a smooth workflow for users.

Product Development:
The overall industrial design of the MYLE device focuses on ergonomics, functionality, and aesthetic appeal.

Mobile app

In order for Myle to work, it needed to be connected to a mobile device for the heavy lifting of processing the information and converting its content to actions based on the content of the thought.

White labeling

The option to white-label MYLE's mobile app is crucial for market expansion. By allowing customization and branding by different organizations, it becomes more adaptable for various business contexts, from corporate environments to fitness centers. This flexibility not only enhances the app's appeal to a broader range of users but also enables seamless integration into diverse business ecosystems, thereby significantly widening its market reach.

Myle Cloud Web app

The system needed a management area that would allow individuals and organizations to centralize and coordinate which 3rd party applications needed to be in the system (Mylets), visualize historical data and manage groups or organizations the device will be syncing with.

Mylets are 3rd party integrations communicating with the device and sharing information with other systems

The user will have a variety of Mylets to choose from. For organizations the options were already predefined, so the user had preinstalled integrations and optional ones.

Organizations could get an enterprise plan so teams can implement complex workflows and collaborate using their Myles.

Employee management features for organizations and groups.

Changing the way users capture, organize, and integrate thoughts and ideas across various platforms.

Results

Transforming Ideas into Achievements.

The project achieved remarkable success, evidenced by its impressive performance in crowdfunding and investment platforms:

IndieGoGo Campaign: The campaign was a resounding success, fully backed with $152,875 CAD raised by 1,044 backers.

This case study delves into the journey of MYLE, exploring the intricate details of its design process, user experience strategy, and the remarkable outcomes of its market introduction.

Dragon’s Den Appearance: In July 2015, the project gained significant recognition and financial backing, securing a 500K deal for 30% equity on the CBC show Dragon’s Den.

Personal reflection

Working on wearable tech

Working on the MYLE project has been an incredibly rewarding experience. It challenged me to blend innovative technology with user-centered design, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in wearable tech. The process of transforming a concept into a tangible, impactful product has been both enlightening and inspiring. Seeing MYLE evolve, from initial sketches to a tool that enhances daily productivity and organization for so many, has been deeply fulfilling. It's a vivid reminder of the powerful impact that thoughtful design and technology can have on people's lives. This journey has not only honed my skills in UX and industrial design but also reinforced my passion for creating solutions that make everyday tasks more efficient and intuitive.

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My work

I created three portfolios highlighting UX design versatility, tech leadership, and innovation across industries.

Open Access

UX Design for Internet of Things