INTRODUCTION
In public, I unconsciously stare at people's wrists. It's become a habit since I started using wearable devices in 2013. Now that I'm leading a team to develop a smart ring, I'm paying even more attention to people's hands. From the beginning, I recognized that wearables give us the power of perception through data. Today, we can have a substantial impact on our health through data from these tiny sensors. We started by designing products for women, because I think this is long overdue.
Women's Demand for Wearables
Many people will ask if Qring was designed for women, even though women have roughly the same body metrics as men. However, there is far less knowledge about the female body and how it changes over time than there is about men.
Needs Research
When we announced that we were designing a wearable device for women, it was common to assume that our product was primarily a menstrual tracker. However, there is much more to consider when designing a ring. When researching existing wearables, we found that most looked like they were originally designed for men and only later considered being redesigned to fit women. They were often bulky, undersized, or featured traditionally masculine designs. We interviewed more than 1,000 women between the ages of 30-75 about their needs and wants for wearables and digital health.
User Needs Survey Results
We found that although women want to use wearables, they often don't because of some of the shortcomings of existing devices. Nearly half of the women we interviewed felt neutral, dissatisfied, or unsatisfied with the wearables they currently use. These reasons included a lack of accuracy or reliability, high device costs and monthly fees, and uncomfortable or unsightly wearability.
Qring Ring's product principles
1. Aesthetics and Comfort: Qring rings are beautiful to look at and comfortable to wear. We designed it to be comfortable over time by taking into account changes in finger size.
2. Personalized Experience: The Qring app helps users connect with their bodies. We emphasize a personalized and contextualized experience that celebrates small successes and deepens the user's connection with their body.
3. Consumable Data: The Qring app provides facts that show a high-level view of activity in daily, weekly, and monthly formats, helping users understand opportunities for improvement. We also provide key metrics such as sleep stages, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, and respiratory rate to provide users with insights through these data points.
4. User data control: Users have complete control over their data. We follow medical regulations and utilize industry-leading security protocols in an effort to ensure that user data is secure and transparent.
Conclusion
Developing Qring has been the most rewarding experience of my career. I've had the opportunity to talk to a lot of women in the process, and their responses have convinced me that we're doing the right thing. Our team has built an incredible product experience for women, and we look forward to growing it with more women. qring is just the beginning, and we will continue to design and build more special products for women.
