about
Welcome! I am a passionate Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience expert. As a professor for User Experience Design at IU International University of Applied Sciences, I try to awaken a passion for human-centered design in as many people as possible. Before, I have been working as UX Engineer at the peak lab in Oldenburg where I promoted the human-centered design activities in the energy turnaround project enera. I hold a Master's degree in Computer Science and a Doctor of Engineering from the University of Oldenburg in Germany, which I received for my research on wrist-worn wearable technology, i.e., Smart Digital Jewellery.
My research focussed on the design of and interaction with ubiquitous user interfaces. In particular, I explored wearable ambient displays, light displays, and persuasive user interfaces. I applied my research to the domains of health promotion, well-being and everyday activities. In my doctoral thesis, I investigated in how far functional technology can be integrated into fashionable jewellery. Discreetly integrated into everyday life, this Smart Digital Jewellery offers the potential to increase long-term acceptance of wearables. Knowledge must be shared widely. Hence, this page provides access to all of my publications.
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doctoral thesis abstract
In recent years wearable devices have become an emerging trend in the consumer market. However, recent studies in the U.S. show that a third of owners of a wearable device abandon its use within six months. Supposed reasons are, among others, a lack in useful functions, aesthetics, and comfort. Smart Digital Jewellery (SDJ) has been proposed as an approach that could overcome the problem of abandonment and increase long-term acceptance of wearable devices by joining functionality with a decorative appearance. The term describes decorative objects worn on the body, that appear as jewellery and at the same time offer useful, computerised functions. Researchers have proposed a number of concepts for different types of SDJ, but thorough investigations are missing. Specific design guidelines are needed that tell developers how to design broadly accepted wearable technology in the form of SDJ.
In this dissertation we investigated how wrist-worn SDJ should be designed in order to be everyday suitable and meet the users’ needs. After having explored the scope of SDJ, we investigated how wrist-worn SDJ should look like, how information could be presented, and how a user could interact with SDJ. We investigated single-purpose as well as multi-purpose SDJ. The investigations were carried out by means of concrete SDJ systems, which we designed, built and evaluated in the lab and in real-life situations. Several scenarios illustrate the application of concepts regarding the form of, as well as information presentation and interaction with wrist-worn SDJ to the domains of health promotion, everyday tools, and non-verbal communication.
The contributions of this work are (1) the artefacts that were created during the research process as means of physical representations of the investigated concepts, (2) detailed insights into the human-centred design and evaluation of wrist-worn SDJ for several use cases, (3) concrete recommendations on how to design wrist-worn SDJ, i.e., according to appearance, information presentation, and interaction, and (4) the reflection on the applicability of a variety of human-centred prototyping and evaluation methods for researching SDJ. The insights into the design and evaluation of wrist-worn SDJ and the design recommendations provide a good step in pointing us towards designing acceptable wearables. They enable developers of wrist-worn technology to create appealing and comfortable devices that integrate well into everyday life. The reflection on the methods used helps researchers to choose appropriate methods for their studies, and identifies potential areas for future work.
Find your way in the UX process jungle: An introduction to UX process models and methods and a practical session on how to find a suitable process for your project 