When I was designing the gate-change screen, I kept asking what work a traveller was already doing. They might be checking a board, listening to an announcement and working out where they are. If Grounded asks them to interpret the same change again or work through a set of options before they can see the new gate, it adds a task at the point I wanted it to help.

Prandi et al. (2023) mapped research on accessible wayfinding and navigation technologies. They distinguish between the accessibility of a place and the accessibility of the tools that describe it. That distinction helped me think about the phone and the airport together. A readable instruction still needs an accurate route, and useful route information still needs to be easy to find in the app. Accessible wayfinding and navigation

Giving the information an order

Jakob Nielsen’s article on progressive disclosure describes making essential options available first and showing further detail on request. He also discusses staged disclosure, where the interface presents a task one step at a time. I used these as two design ideas. The gate alert leads with ‘Go to A04’ and keeps B12 visible as the previous gate. Additional route detail and optional support are available when wanted. The route screen then keeps A04 in view while giving one direction at a time. Progressive Disclosure

I judge each screen by what the traveller needs to do next and how much work it takes to find that action.

Deciding which information can wait

The previous gate is a useful example because it could look like a secondary detail. For someone who has already followed signs to B12, it explains why the instruction has changed. I kept it on the alert and labelled it, while giving A04 more visual weight. I used a different approach for support choices. Those can be opened when needed, and the person can leave them without having to start again.

This made me look more closely at what a simpler screen means. Removing everything except the new gate would make a cleaner layout, but it could leave someone to make sense of the change themselves. Showing the old gate, the new gate and the next action together gives each piece a job. The question for testing is whether that order feels clear once someone has actually been interrupted on their way through the terminal.

Making it easy to carry on

It matters where someone ends up after they dismiss an offer. ‘Not now’ returns them to the screen they were using so they can carry on and reopen support later. I would test the whole sequence by asking someone to identify the new gate, show what they would do next and resume the route after declining support. I’d look at where they hesitate or have to go back for information.