User Experience Researcher

Rocking Out with the Band

A secret Microsoft team was beating Apple Watch to market with a smart fitness wearable, but with no UXR support. Not on my watch!

TL;DR

Stepping in to provide the first UX research for Microsoft’s secret fitness wearable, I designed iterative end-to-end unboxing and active-use studies. The findings debunked key persona assumptions, overhauled confusing device interactions, and informed marketing strategy ahead of launch.

Project

End-to-end usability and out-of-box experience (OOBE) research for an unannounced first-generation smart fitness wearable, the Microsoft Band

People

My role: UX Research Lead, responsible for planning, execution, and reporting

Primary stakeholders: Design, Engineering, and PM Leads

Context & Problem

Another team at Microsoft borrowed me to run “one quick usability study” on the companion mobile app for a secret project, the Microsoft Band. Then I discovered they had been operating without any UX research and convinced my manager to let me support their remaining development.

Original problem: Are users easily able to navigate the Microsoft Band mobile companion app, and understand the information and fitness data presented in it?

New problem: Can users quickly get started with the wearable device and mobile app, and understand how the two work together as one cohesive fitness tracking experience?

But wait, there’s more: How are we planning to market to end users? The team often cited a persona of a busy working mom using the Band to keep up with texts and emails while also tracking her health. Where did that persona come from, anyway?

Approach

I designed a series of iterative, end-to-end usability studies using the largest UX lab I could secure. Participants unboxed the device, went through the first-run setup, and physically completed fitness activities (like jogging laps around the lab sofa) before sitting down to review their synced data in the app. This allowed me to catch friction points across the physical/digital divide while validating fixes and testing UI prototypes over time.

Key Insights

Several usability issues were discovered, but let’s dive into one task as an example…

Imagine you’re going for a run. Use the Band to track your run, and jog around the room for a short time.

Expectation (design intent):

  1. User selects “Run” icon on Band.
  2. Screen says “Start a run.”
  3. User presses action button to start tracking.
  4. User presses action button again to end tracking.

Reality (user behavior):

  1. User selects “Run” icon on Band.
  2. Screen says “Start a run.”
  3. User starts running!
  4. “Is it working?” (Nope.)

To the Designers, “Run” was a feature. To the users, “Run” was a verb. Also, what’s an action button?

Additionally, a key theme organically emerged among the women participants. The Band had very neat functionality, but was bulky and masculine-looking, not exactly cute for all-day wear. Different colors or perhaps a fashion brand collaboration might help with this. (As for that busy working mom persona, I discovered that it was purely aspirational and not based on any real evidence.)

Impact

Intuitive Interface: From the task example above, the team changed the Band’s UI from “Start a run” to “Press action button and go.” And during the first-run experience, they showed users which button was the action button. Similar changes were made to address other issues identified on the device and app to improve clarity.

Clear Customization: I also evaluated and locked in the winning interaction model for a highly requested feature to customize and rearrange the on-device tiles, allowing users to quickly find and track their favorite activities. (Prefer Guided Workouts over running? Me too! Just slide it to the other end.)

Managing Marketing Expectations: And as I was wrapping up my time supporting the Band and preparing to venture back to my own team, the Go-To-Market team had finally been onboarded to the project. As busy working women themselves, they brought with them similar skepticism about the busy working mom persona and this device’s appeal. I armed them with data to help convince the team to rethink their marketing strategy a bit. Ultimately, the commercials tended to emphasize both men and women in fitness or outdoorsy situations when wearing it, since it clearly wasn’t going to coordinate well with that nice cocktail dress.

NDAs are serious business. While I can’t share proprietary deliverables, real participant photos, or raw data, I’ve designed this portfolio to highlight the strategic thinking and impact of the work.