Second Star
Work - - 2 min read
A watchOS app concept that surfaces Disney Parks wait times in a glanceable, wrist-native experience. Designed and prototyped within a four-hour design challenge.
Challenge
The brief was open-ended: design any experience for Apple Watch. That freedom made the first decision the most important one. Choosing a problem space where the wearable form factor wasn’t just adequate, but the right tool for the job. A watch rewards glanceability, ambient awareness, and context-sensitivity. It punishes complexity, extended interaction, and anything that works better with a keyboard or a large screen.
Theme parks felt like a natural fit. Guests are moving, distracted, and time-sensitive; constantly making small decisions about what to do next based on wait times, reservations, and where they are in the park. That’s exactly the kind of low-friction, high-relevance information a watch handles well. The design challenge then became executing on that premise: surfacing the right information at the right moment, without pulling guests out of the experience.
Solution
Second Star is a watchOS app that puts the information that matters most front and center, without the noise. Rides and shows are surfaced for the park you’re in, sorted by proximity, and updated in real time. Watch face complications extend the experience passively, surfacing a Fastpass return time or a quick-launch shortcut without ever opening the app. Notifications handle the rest: a welcome prompt with park hours, status updates for rides, and a timely reminder when your Fastpass window is approaching.
The watch experience was the brief. An iOS companion app was developed as a bonus to explore more features, but the core design decisions were made for the wrist first.
