GIEcho

Components

Project Overview

How might we use sensory-amplifying biofeedback and visualization tools to support users struggling with stress-induced gut dysfunction or aging-related sluggish motility by transforming invisible internal micro-signals into a calm, biomorphic interface that visualizes the body’s hidden rhythms to promote mindful eating habits, provide psychological safety, and empower users to navigate their daily wellness with intuitive bodily insight?

When discussing digestive health, we often talk about obvious factors like diet, as well as more noticeable sensations like discomfort or pain. However, one sense we often ignore is interoception: the ability to perceive our internal state. For too long, we've treated our gut as a silent machine until it breaks.

Our project aims to break this silence by creating a dynamic visual experience that helps our users better understand the microsignals and ambient conditions of their gastrointestinal (GI) system. Hence, the more specific questions are:

Key Research Questions: - How might we help people reduce anxiety and confusion about their digestive health by visualizing their internal physiological stress?

How might we translate raw medical data into intuitive and interpretable presentations beyond simple discrete notifications and tracking records?

The Future of GI Tracking

Through research, we speculate the future of GI tracking as non-invasive, continuous pressure monitoring, where smart wearable or internal GI tracking devices will stream data to an intelligent core that will also utilize medical APIs and AI pattern recognition to detect anomalies such as drug-induced sluggishness or reflux risks.

Design Strategy

In terms of design, we deliberately avoid anthropomorphic representations (despite the well-known gut–brain axis), as these may oversimplify users’ experiences and health conditions.

Instead, we are using dynamic matrices of pulsing circles, arranged in the shape of GI organs, to represent rhythmic movement. Color variations indicate changes in internal pressure, allowing users to perceive their GI tract state in real time.