Pulse: stay in your zone

Pulse is a wearable accessory and mobile phone experience that monitors your heart rate and helps keep you in your most optimal fitness zone.

Fitness performance made simple

There are a lot of heart rate monitors on the market today that are bulky and uncomfortable to wear (such as large chest bands), or that are undesirable for people who want a more fashionable solution to their sports activities (such as bulky watches). In addition, focusing on staying within your optimal target heart rate zone can help you burn more calories and reach your goals more efficiently. No constant calculation in your head. No bulky hardware. Pulse simplifies your heart rate performance and helps keep you in your zone, beautifully and discretely.

Know when you're in or out of your target zone, at a glance

Focusing on staying within your optimal target heart rate zone can help you burn more calories and reach your goals more efficiently. The experience simplifies heart rate monitoring by focusing on keeping you in your zone. No need to calculate your heart rate during your work out. The experience does it for you.

Making real-time feedback fashionable

Some people want a more fashionable approach to their fitness gear. Pulse is a fashionable approach to heart rate monitoring that can be worn as a piece of jewelry. It’s small, discrete, and you can comfortably wear it anywhere.

Connect to your friends and support group

The experience allows you to select your most optimal target heart rate to your needs and goals using the mobile app. Change it at any time. Connect to your friends and trainer to help keep you on track and share your progress.

Ring interaction
On the phone, select your target zone based on your goals. The ring is connected to the phone and provides visual and haptic feedback that helps you stay within your zone during your work out. If you’re in your zone, it pulses white. If you’re below it, it turns blue indicating that you’re too cold. If you’re above it, it turns red indicating that you’re working out too intensely.

Experiential Prototype

Experiential Prototypes are used to "test often and fail early" in order to iterate and improve new experiences early in the design phase. This makes it easier and more efficient to get a sense of the feel and interaction before investing in the development prototype. This experiential prototype was built using the new open-source Pulse Sensor that was recently developed and funded through Kickstarter. Custom software was created for the ring interaction and tested during a variety of fitness activities such as running, biking and gym use. Watch the video to see it in action during a 6 mile outdoor run.

Findings
The haptic feedback was initially too aggressive. It was adjusted so that it provided 3 taps when you're above your target heart rate zone and only 1 tap when you're below. This seemed to provide enough touch feedback without interrupting the flow of your workout. It was also just enough to nudge you to glance at the ring to see more specifically what zone you're in.

The light pulses to your heart rate when you're in your target heart rate zone. This mode is unnecessary when you're doing activities such as running since you simply glance at the ring rather than look at it for long periods of time. The pulsing does work really nicely when on a bike, especially indoors when your hand is placed in a similar location during your workout. In that case, it provides a beautiful way to visual your heart rate in real-time.

Squeezing the heart rate sensor too tightly against the finger lead to some errors. This is particularly problematic when on a bike. Holding the handle pushes the ring into the finger. This was improved when two wires were placed into the ring that kept the sensor from pressing into the skin too tightly. Consider the ID to solve this problem.

This prototype was not tested in rain or very wet conditions. Too much moister could lead to errors or short-outs. This will need to be considered in the development prototype.