Preparing for Perceptual Studies: Position and Orientation of Wrist-worn Smartwatches for Reading Tasks

Despite the increasing demand for data visualization on mobile devices with small displays, few guidelines exist for designing visualizations for this form factor. To conduct perceptual studies with smartwatches under realistic conditions, we first need to know how to position these devices in front of a viewer. We report the results of a study, in which we investigate how people hold their smartwatches to read information. This is the first in a series of studies we are conducting to understand the perception of visualizations on smartwatches. Our study results show that people hold their watches at a distance of 28 cm in front of them, at a pitch angle of ~50 degrees, and at an angle of ~10 degrees from the line of sight.