User requirements for digital jewellery

In recent years, wearable devices have been an emerging trend on the market. Though, recent studies show that people abandon their wearable devices after a couple of months. One of the main reasons supposed is the technical look and feel of the gadgety devices and thus, an insufficient suitability for daily use. Digital jewellery, the concept of concealing technology behind fashionable jewellery, is a promising approach to address this problem. However, little research has been done to clearly define the requirements for digital jewellery. In this work we present the design and results of an online survey, in which we investigated, which requirements are important for digital jewellery, and how important specific requirements are perceived by potential users. Overall, participants considered functionality, form factor, and interaction and display design as very important, whereas they found body location, context awareness and customisability less important. We also found differences in the importance ratings, that are related to gender and age. Our results will help designers of digital jewellery to focus not only on the right, but also on the more important requirements first.