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COURSE

Perceptual & Cognitive Human Factors

DURATION

10 weeks

Winter 2020

MY ROLE

Visual Lead

User Research, Visual design, Prototyping & Testing

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TEAMMATES

Aparna Somvanshi

Nandika Gupta

Baley Firlus

Connor Mclerny

THE PROBLEM

Mental health is a serious issue that many face till this day. Memories we associate with negative emotions limit our perspective and influence our future life experiences by reinforcing negative thought patterns which shape our daily lifestyle.

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INFLUENCE OF PAST MEMORY ON OUR FUTURE

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With our secondary research to provide us with a solid base understanding, we found that emotion is tied together with significant events. One region in the brain that is correlates to emotion is the amygdala, and appears to play a significant part in the recall of negative experiences and memories.

References:
Grief Statistics. (2019, November 21). Retrieved January 13, 2020,
from https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/grief/related/grief-statistics/#gref

DISCOVER

Moving forward, to gain a better understanding of our users, we decided to conduct two phases of primary research methods.

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1. SURVEY

OBJECTIVES:

- To define a specific target demographic based on their     experiences
- To gain quantitative data

INSIGHTS

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2. INTERVIEWS

- 8 users & 4 SME 

OBJECTIVES:

- Gain qualitative understanding of people’s emotions         and experiences

- Achieve a deeper understanding of the different types     of coping mechanisms used

- Gain industrial insights from subject matter experts

INSIGHTS

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3. JOURNAL STUDIES

- Experimental & Controlled

OBJECTIVES:

-  Understand how participants deal with emotions on        a daily basis
- Learn the process of how they handle negative events
- Gain insights on what specific habits help them                 overcome negativity

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The Journal Studies were divided into two different sections:
- Positive Affirmations and Motivations
- Self-Reflection and data visualization

INSIGHTS

Overall, we found that in our experimental group, none of our participants found the physical objects to be of any use to deal with their negative emotions. Instead we found that:

1. Participants try to distract themselves with the things they like in a negative situation.

2. Happiness was induced by productivity.

3. Participants lean towards meditation to clear and calm their mind.

4. To get through a negative events, participants tend to turn to close friends for support and advice. 

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IDEATION

With over 700 data points, we were able to create 150 clusters, deducing them down to 6 crucial insights.

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INSIGHTS

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DEFINING OUR TARGET AUDIENCE

ages

12 to 35

-  Research showed that younger individuals started being exposed to traumatic events around the average age of 12

- Due to lack of data received and the rigid nature of their chosen coping mechanisms, older audience members were not applicable

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OUR NEW PLACE

I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. Let your users get to know you.

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AFTER HOURS OF BRAINSTORMING, MY TEAM AND I CAME UP WITH 2 MAIN IDEAS

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CONCEPT 2: Elated (El)

CONCEPT 1: Echo

An algorithm based iPad/tablet application that allows users to record or write their experiences, using which it identifies negative and positive thought patterns and recommends exercises/activities that assist in coping with the emotional process.

An emotional artificial intelligence robot that provides a safe space and social structure to help people process negative experiences and suggest methods to maintain a positive outlook.

WE ENDED UP CHOOSING CONCEPT 2 WITH ADDITIONAL FEATURES 

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INTRODUCING

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WIREFRAMING & PROTOTYPING

LOFI WIREFRAMES

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MIDFI WIREFRAMES

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TASK ANALYSIS & USER FLOWS

Adding a Journal Entry

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CBT Exercises

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USER TESTING

EVALUATION METHODS:

- Wizard of Oz
- Thinking Out Loud
 

Quasi Empirical Method
 

Questionnaire (SUS)

12 Participants

3 rounds

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Round 1

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Round 2

DESIGN CHANGES

HOME PAGE

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・Decreased weather intensity

・Increased customizables

Initially, the landing page consisted of intensive weather changes depending on the users emotions, such as harsh storms. This however discouraged many to use the app, therefore we decided to do subtle changes in the weather. As for the customizables, many produced positive feedback and wanted a larger variety of how they can decorate their safe space to fit their own personal taste. From here, we added more items, where they can even customize the color.

EXERCISES

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・Precise guides and prompts

・El as a VUI
・Addition of progress bars

Throughout the user testing, many participants were confused with the initial prompts. Our initial goal was to make El, the emotional assistant guide our users through these exercises. Instead of guiding them through, we decided to make it more conversational and altered the choice of wording to create a more natural empathetic character. 

USER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS

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・ Better data visualization
・ Clarity of journal entry breakdown
・Less emphasis on journal breakdown

Our team had a hard time trying to represent their trends and key takeaways; we had to decide what insights were actually helpful.Our goal was to help them identify their recurring & dominant thought patterns & highlight things that helped them feel better. With feedback from the first and second user tests we were able to make this screen much more insightful for the user.

HI-FI WIREFRAMES

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