TIMOTHY JORDAN: Now, Glass is a new platform.
In fact, it's a new form of technology.
And because of that, we need new rules for the road, new
guidelines, if you will, to know how to build these
services for users.
We've come up with four guidelines that make sense for
the services that we've built.
And we think they're going to be really
useful for you as well.
The first of which is to design for Glass.
Now, Glass is a unique platform that is both mobile
but fundamentally different than existing mobile platforms
in both design and use.
You want to build your Glass service with this in mind.
Design it specifically for Glass.
Ensure that the user experience is appropriate for
Glass by testing on the device.
You need to wear this service throughout your day, during
the week, in the evenings, to really know how it
fits into your life.
Now, a great example of this is that you wouldn't want to
read an entire news story on Glass.
When you put on Glass, you know it's great for those
short interactions, when you need access to information
right then.
Reading headlines and reading photos is really, really
great, but you wouldn't want to sit there and read a whole
article like you would be reading a book.
The second guideline I want to talk about is,
don't get in the way.
Now this seems simple, but it's really key.
Because users want Glass there when they need it, when they
want it, but out of the way when they don't.
You want to make sure that your service provides for this
desire by not being too frequent and loud with
notifications, and provide appropriate controls for the
optimum user experience, and never take precedence.
The user's life comes first.
Now, a great example here is that you wouldn't want to
insert a modal dialogue as a timeline card for the user.
And what I mean by that is you wouldn't want to give them a
timeline card, whereas if they don't respond to it, your
service stops working for them.
Rather, the timeline cards you insert should be something
that, if they look at, it's great, but if they miss it,
it's no big deal.
A third guideline is keep it timely.
Glass is a very now device.
You can think of your phone as information that you're
looking at for today or perhaps this week, your laptop
for maybe this month, your hard drives at home for the
last year or so.
But Glass is something that you're carrying throughout
your day that you look at when you need something right now.
And the data that you provide should be that.
It's most effective when it's in the moment and up to date.
Now, an example is that you wouldn't want to insert a
timeline card that's an email from a week ago.
You'd rather give the user an email that just came in and is
important to them.
The last one here is avoid the unexpected, and particularly
the unexpected and the unpleasant.
You want to be transparent with the user and give them
the functionality that you promised.
Now, you're going to want to do this on any platform but
especially on Glass, because the user is wearing it.
An example here is that if I were to share photos with your
service, and then you also insert timeline cards that
describe new features on your web property, that's going to
be inappropriate.
I mean that's a newsletter that I'm going to want to read
in my inbox.
I didn't sign up for that.
And by giving that to me, it's going to hurt my overall user
experience with your service.
So let's go through those one more time.
The four guidelines are, first, design for Glass.
Glass is new.
And you need to design specifically for it as a user
experience.
You don't want to get in the way.
You want to provide information there for the
user, when they want it, but you want to be completely out
of the way when they don't.
You want to keep it timely.
Glass is about right now.
Provide up to date information and respond to
the user right away.
And finally, you want to avoid the unexpected, and especially
the unexpected and unpleasant.
Give the user the service that they signed up for.