Once I had a working iPhone prototype, I needed to decide how much of the wider airport system to take forward. I had explored shared displays, quieter routes, staff assistance, a wearable and open-ear audio. I used one gate change to bring those ideas back to a practical question. If someone is waiting near B12 and needs to get to A04, what can Grounded help them do at that moment?
I kept the flight lookup, the route shown one step at a time, and the option to open or decline support. The example BA256 gate change lets me show how those parts fit together. The new gate comes first, and choosing ‘Not now’ takes the traveller back to the screen they were using. I also added a way to send flight and location details to family, alongside spoken breathing guidance and a short exercise asking the traveller to notice one thing they can see, hear and feel.
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The traveller should still be able to find the gate and continue their journey if they skip the exercise, dismiss a prompt or leave the wearable disconnected.
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I used a Fitbit to explore whether a reading could trigger a dismissible offer of support. Testing the connection and getting the prompt to appear exposed how much setup was involved. At home, a first-time wearable user also found connecting difficult. I kept the watch interaction as a technical trial and left the custom band as a concept. A new band would bring questions about comfort and fit, while the prototype already gave me a way to investigate the interaction.
I kept the quieter-route comparison as a design study because I had no verified sound or crowding data for the sample route. The staff-request screens and shared departure display show how the service could work with airport partners. They would need a verified source for updates and an agreed process for responding. Live flight lookup serves a narrower purpose in the build. Day-ahead planning remains open because the data available to me did not cover the future flights I wanted people to look up.
I explored spoken route instructions and an open-ear headset as part of the wider system. The spoken exercises have a specific place in the app already. A traveller can choose them during a pause, while spoken wayfinding would need its own checks alongside announcements and other directions in the terminal.
My next test would begin with the gate change. I want to see whether someone can say where they need to go, choose their next action and keep their place after dismissing support. That would give me a better basis for judging which of the wider ideas would make the journey easier.
Studio Practice draft, pp. 43 and 49–63 · GDE751: Week 21: Texting Family from the Airport.
In Studio Practice I drew on Bahameish et al.’s review of heart-rate variability during cognitive tasks. Variability describes changes in the interval between beats. The Fitbit prompt uses a threshold in beats per minute. My movement test showed that a rising heart rate could trigger the interaction. It also showed how easily an ordinary activity can raise the reading. That is why I treat the prompt as an offer the traveller can dismiss, and why the threshold itself would need further evaluation. Bahameish et al.’s review