Three autistic adults tried Grounded at home. I installed it and introduced the app before asking whether they could see it helping on a journey and whether they would choose to use it. My explanation shaped their first experience, so these sessions tell me about trying the app with an introduction. They give me questions to take into a session where someone starts on their own.

What people noticed

H1 described the app as easy to navigate and found the small mascot and colours friendly. H2 also described the tone as friendly and reported that their watch connected quickly. During the home review a watch response was tried by raising the wearer’s heart rate through movement. That helped check whether the interaction could run in that setting. A reviewer new to wearables had more difficulty getting connected, which made the amount of work involved in setup much clearer.

Setup was easiest for someone familiar with their device. I need to see whether a first-time wearer can connect it, understand what it does and carry on if they decide to skip it.

A separate accessibility review

I also reviewed a development build with an autistic family member. We looked at contrast, text size, screen-reader labels, touch targets and motion. I made the font clearer and removed unnecessary wording afterwards. Looking at the same screen before and after that change would make it easier to judge whether the first instruction became easier to find.

Working out which changes I could make

The comments about the mascot and colours helped me understand how the tone came across at home. I still needed to check how the same screen reads when someone is trying to work out where to go. That is why I would keep the gate and its instruction at the top and let the character sit further down. I can use the friendly tone where someone has room to notice it.

The comments on wearable setup gave me a different sort of feedback. I already knew how the connection worked because I had debugged it myself. Watching how differently people approached it showed me how much knowledge I was assuming. The next thing I would try is to let a first-time wearer start without my introduction and see which instructions they need. I would also check that they can skip setup and still use the journey.

What I took forward

I wanted to keep the warmth people noticed while making sure the important instruction still came first. For the next review I would ask the traveller to try a particular task without my introduction, such as finding the new gate or connecting a watch for the first time. Those tasks would let me observe where they have to stop and work something out.

Studio Practice draft, pp. 47–48, 55 and 58–60.