Design Framework for Social Wearables

Wearables are integrated into many aspects of our lives, yet, we still need further guidance to develop devices that truly enhance in-person interactions, rather than detract from them by taking people’s attention away from the moment and one another. In this project we created an annotated portfolio of ‘social wearables’, namely technology designs worn on the body that augment co-located interaction. The design work we described can serve as inspiration for others. We then also propose a design framework for social wearables grounded in prior work, as well as our own design research, that can help designers to ideate by raising valuable questions to begin their inquiry with and use to evaluate their designs. We illustrate the evaluative value of this framework through two social wearable designs, each tested in the appropriate social setting. This project was led by Ella Dagan and co-authored with Elena Márquez Segura, Ferran Altarriba Bertran, Miguel Flores, Robb Mitchell, and Katherine Isbister.