Everyday Peace of Mind

A discreet digitally linked tool that helps to reduce stress

Role: Product Designer

Scope: AI-assisted prototyping · UI systems · Accessibility

Duration: 2 days - Class project, January 2025

Platform: Mobile

Tools: Figma, ChatGPT (prompting partner), Design thinking framework


Problem

People lose everyday items and waste time retracing steps. Losing everyday items is not just inconvenient, it creates cognitive friction.

Existing tracking solutions often:

  • Add visual bulk to personal items

  • Feel intrusive or aesthetic-breaking

  • Prioritize hardware over seamless integration

Insight: The emotional friction of losing something is higher than its financial cost.

Recovery solutions should:

  • Be invisible until needed

  • Preserve the object’s design and identity

  • Integrate quietly into daily behavior

Peace of mind works best when it doesn’t call attention to itself. Users want reliability without visible compromise.


Solution

A hybrid physical-digital tracking system using:

  • Mobile app with GPS location

  • Transparent adhesive tags

The solution makes object tracking:

  • Subtle: Blends seamlessly with personal items.

  • Accessible: Can be applied to all your belongings.

  • Practical: Reduces everyday stress and recovery time in finding misplaced items.

The goal: instant recovery without visible compromise.


How it works

  • User scans and assigns a transparent tag

  • Applies it discreetly to an item

  • Uses the app to view real-time location

  • Uses blacklight mode for physical confirmation

Unlike traditional trackers that prioritize hardware visibility, InvisiTrack prioritizes:

  • Subtlety

  • Material integration

  • Cognitive ease

  • Emotional reassurance

It treats tracking as a quiet layer, not a loud attachment.


Process

I used AI as a generative accelerator to explore structural design directions, then transitioned into human-led systems refinement—validating interaction logic, reducing cognitive load, and ensuring the final experience balanced automation with clarity and control.

Design prompts focused on:

  • Frictionless Onboarding: Scanning and assigning tags mirrors familiar QR behaviors.

  • Dual-Layer Recovery: GPS for macro-location, Blacklight for micro-validation

  • Everyday Integration: The experience supports both: High-value items and Frequently misplaced objects


Impact

I treat AI as a structured design collaborator, not a shortcut. It helps me rapidly explore layout variations, interaction patterns, and system possibilities. I then apply human-centered evaluation to refine clarity, hierarchy, usability, and edge cases. AI expands the solution space. Human judgment sharpens it.


What I learned

  • AI + Human collaboration: AI sped up iteration, but my design judgement was important to ensure usability and guide prompts to filter noise.

  • Human-Centered framing: A relatable story (me forgetting a water bottle) anchored the design, making it relatable and empathetic.

  • Systems thinking: Blending hardware and software elements required balancing feasibility, transparency and usability.


Next steps

If developed further:

  • Add real-time tracking feedback states

  • Strengthen onboarding and microcopy clarity

  • Test durability and long-term usage behavior

  • Explore integration into ambient computing ecosystems

  • Explore accessibility further through prompting (voice prompts, haptic cues).

  • Refine feasibility of hardware materials (UV sticker production).

  • Run usability tests to validate task success rates, ease of use, and perceived value.

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Identifying friction in cross-platform mental models and interaction consistency

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Designing for Accessibility, System Scale, and User Control