Thanks for tagging along! If you like to download watch faces or you want to create your own, this blog might be for you. I recently discovered a passion for creating watch faces, and it caught me off guard. I realized how much I enjoyed designing something totally unique that I can wear on my wrist. If I couldn’t figure something out, I read the documentation, searched the web, or asked AI. Many times I found what I was looking for…
but many times, not. AI was particularly interesting because it would confidently supply instructions that didn’t work at all. When I called it out, it would say, “You’re right!” and then supply another set of instructions that didn’t work either. Thanks AI! You’re excellent at some tasks, but others still need work.
My next go-to was YouTube. While I found some helpful tutorials, they didn’t always solve my issue. I spent a significant amount of time solving problems on my own. I also created a library of solutions to refer back to when a project called for it. It’s not plagiarism if you’re plagiarizing yourself.
I still have a lot to learn, but I’ve gotten to a point where “I know enough to be dangerous.” I think it’s a good time to pass on what I’ve learned, both to document my progress and to help others. I don’t quite know how this blog will play out, but I want it to grow organically.
Blog Goals
- Talk about the tools I use to develop watch faces.
- Deep dive into design decisions I made with my own watch faces.
- Share some formulas I developed which help my watch faces “tick.”
- Tell you things that I wish I knew when I first started out.
Personal Goals
- Build a library of functional and unique watch face designs.
- Use my own watch faces daily. Keep the parts I like, and fix what I don’t.
- I want to create unique ways to show the passage of time.
- And most of all, I need to like the watch faces I create. If I don’t like it, I can’t expect others to like it either.
- Develop my brand.
I can’t put my “all” into something I don’t believe in, so it’s extremely important that I like my designs.
There are many great watch face designs, and everyone has their own taste. I personally like more simplicity, as overly complex designs can sometimes be hard to read. Also, as someone who wears glasses, the watch face needs to be readable. There are a lot of great watch face developers out there, and I need to separate myself from the crowd.
I can’t put my “all” into something I don’t believe in, so it’s extremely important that I like my designs. I make decisions for myself, not decisions that have the ulterior motive of increased likes, downloads, or financial gain. If I create what I like, the rest should follow.
What type of Smart watch do I use now? I have a Pixel Watch 2, and use Watch Face Studio to create my designs. Before that, I was a long time Fitbit user and discovered that 3rd party tools allow for custom watch face installs. That led me to fitface.xyz, where I got my first taste of the custom watch face universe. When I upgraded to the Pixel Watch 2 (that I got for free when purchasing the Pixel 8 Pro), I found Facer.io. This site not only lets you download watch faces, but it also lets you create them as well. That was the hook I needed to get started and I published two watch faces over there: One for iOS and the other for Wear OS. More about them in a future blog post.
I’d love to hear from you! Are you a watch face enthusiast as I am? Have you created your own watch faces? If so, how did you get started? Post your feedback in the comments.
Thanks for joining me on this journey. This should be fun!