Visualizing on the Wrist: Impact of Motion, Dial Shape and Visualization Type on Smartwatch

Keywords

Smartwatch Visualization, Mobile Visualization, Human-Computer Interaction

Abstract

Smartwatches increasingly serve as daily data analysis tools, yet their visualization designs face unique challenges: small screens, diverse dial shapes (round/square), and mobile usage contexts (sitting/walking). These factors may interact in unexpected ways, potentially compromising data readability during real-world use. Through a controlled experiment (N=32) comparing bar vs. radial visualizations across dial shapes and motion states, we found: (1) walking significantly reduces estimation accuracy, (2) bar charts consistently outperform radial variants by better supporting linear perception, and (3) radial bar graphs on square dials create particularly poor affordances than other combination. Our work provides the empirical evidence for how smartwatch dial factors, usage contexts and visualization design jointly impact data interpretation, offering concrete design guidelines for smartwatch visualization. Supplemental material is available at https://osf.io/k7fa3/.