10 years ago, “wearable” was not a word. But with the introduction of Google Glass, the Apple iWatch and FitBits, it has become commonplace terminology. More than that, experts predict that wearables are going to take off and become the next big thing in the Internet in the next decade.
What are wearables, exactly? Simply put, wearables are technology that you can wear and you can see some examples we gave above (glasses, watches, etc.). Wearables allow users to access the internet from wherever they are and screens will be much smaller
This is an important turning point for web design. Mobile changed design in a way that we had never seen and wearables will do the same. Everything is becoming smaller and more responsive and designers will have to work to understand how design can fit this new technology. We’ve predicted five ways that wearable technology will change web design.
1. Instant Information
We are a fast moving society these days. We want to accomplish things quickly and at the press of a button. This will only become more important with wearable technology. Let’s face it, we have eliminated the extra step from taking your phone out of your pocket to just looking at your wrist. Society wants everything fast! When designing for wearables, designers will have to take into consideration why visitors are on their site from a wearable device and what they are searching for to design for visitors to find whatever it is quickly and efficiently. Users will not wait around to try and find the specific page they want. You will need to anticipate a user’s needs and design for that.
2. Minimalist design
This design trend has been popular over the past few years, especially with the rise of mobile and it will continue to be a go-to design with wearables. It’s important to remember that the content will come first in wearables and design second.
3. Responsive
Again, this is a tactic that had to be tackled with mobile and the importance of responsive design will only grow with wearable technology. Many companies and websites struggle with this transition when mobile became popular. In fact, many websites are still not optimized for mobile. Designers must start to anticipate this transition now so they are prepared when wearables become popular with consumers.
4. Text Size
Imagine reading something on your watch. Some people struggle with just reading the time, so reading contact pages, coupon codes or even headlines will prove to be a problem. Designers will have to find the line of large enough text so users can read their information and small enough text so it doesn’t take over the page.
Wearables are the future and it’s time to get excited about what they will do to our tech culture and how as a designer, you can challenge yourself to ride this new wave of technology into a new era of design.
