Designing a dive computer from the ground up
The Descent X50i was Garmin's largest-screen dive computer yet, a chance to rethink what a Garmin dive experience could be. But with an extremely tight timeline and zero previous product references, building EVERY functions, features, interactions from scratch was relentless.
However, throughout the process, I kept asking myself: how could we deliver a diving experience that feels genuinely meaningful and valuable, not just a screen of numbers?
The data was there. The journey wasn't.
In the point-line-plane metaphor, the underwater depth experience stayed at the level of a single point. A diver's sense of their own depth journey existed only in the instant they glanced at the dive computer and read the number on screen.
Fragmented Data
Current depth + max depth only — no picture of the dive as a whole.
Minimum Guidance
Divers couldn't proactively manage ascent, only react to the nearest stop.
Four converging perspectives
The insight didn't come from one source — it came from the intersection of lived experience and design research.
Competitors
How advanced dive computers served technical diver needs
Garmin's Gaps
Identifying where the existing feature set fell short for divers
Personal Experience
Direct experience using dive computers in real conditions
User Research
Understanding the real use cases and mental models of technical divers — and recognizing that recreational divers were underserved by the same tools
The X50i's larger screen wasn't just a hardware spec. It was the opening I needed to do something genuinely new.
Dynamic Depth — connecting every moment of the dive
Instead of isolated data points, Dynamic Depth turns the entire dive into one continuous, readable picture: the path before, the moment now, and the projected ascent ahead. And with advanced data layered above the chart, dive management reaches a whole new level.
NDL Aware — serving recreational divers
Dynamic Depth was originally built around advanced dive data for technical divers. But I recognized that recreational divers — whose dive time is limited by No-Decompression Limit (NDL) — were being left out.
NDL Aware predicts how a diver's NDL changes if they ascend or descend 3 meters right now — giving rec divers an intuitive, real-time tool to understand and shape their dive.
Recognition from awards to world-class athletes
RedDot Award 2025
Interface & User Experience Design — Descent X50i
U.S. Patent + Trademark
NDL Aware metric — calculation method granted patent protection
Marketing highlight
Dynamic Depth featured prominently in Garmin's X50i campaign
It really visualizes the process and makes it easier to understand and mentally prepare the "flight plan" during dives.
— Por Parasu Komaradat, Cave & tech instructor trainer
Photo credit to Por Parasu Komaradat.
