Article is Provided by Toptal
In recent years we’ve seen new, disruptive innovations in the world of wearable technology; advances that will potentially transform life, business, and the global economy. Products like Google Glass, Apple Watch, and Oculus Rift promise not only to change the way we approach information, but also our long established patterns of social interaction.
Indeed, we are witnessing the advent of entirely new genre of interface mechanisms that brings with it a fundamental paradigm shift in how we view and interact with technology. Recognizing, understanding, and effectively leveraging today’s growing landscape of wearables is likely to be increasingly essential to the success of a wide array of businesses.
In this article, we discuss the ways in which effective interface design will need to adapt, in some ways dramatically, to address the new psychology of wearable technology.
Enter the Neuroscientific Approach
Cognitive neuroscience is a branch of both psychology and neuroscience, overlapping with disciplines such as physiological psychology, cognitive psychology, and neuropsychology. Cognitive neuroscience relies upon theories in cognitive science coupled with evidence from neuropsychology and computational modeling.
In the context of interface design, a neuroscientific approach is one which takes into account – or more precisely, is centered upon – the way in which users process information.

The way people interact with new, not-seen-before technologies is more bounded to their cognitive processes than it is to your designer’s ability to create stunning UI. New, often unpredictable, patterns emerge any time a person is presented with a tool, a software or an action that he has never seen before.
Accordingly, rather than employing more traditional approaches (such as wireframing and so on), you will instead focus on the sole goal of your product, the end result you want the user to achieve. You will then work your way back from there, creating a journey for the user by evaluating the how to best align the user’s intuitive perception of your product and his or her interaction with the technology used. By creating mental images, you won’t need to design every step the user has to take to accomplish an action, nor you will have to evaluate every possible feature you could or couldn’t include in the product.