Research
Rather than trying to solve a physical problem in the home, I wanted to respond to an abstract theme. A staggering statistic found “1 in 6 people have experienced a common mental health problem in the last week” (McManus et al, 2016). Therefore I explored how product design could help with a person’s short- and long-term emotional well being.
The market is saturated with apps assisting with mental well-being, but no physical product addressed the intangible aspects nor dealt with the issue in a lighthearted, surprising way.
Content research of 'satisfying video' trend lead to the paper planes theme as it was an intriguing theme for resolution.
App Design
Accompanying the product is an app where you could track your mental well being and send planes to your closest friends’ printers.
The user could also personalise most of their interaction, including button illumination colours and the plane’s design. Future plans would be for users’ inputs to incorporate different responses to music and lighting in their homes.
McManus, S., Bebbington, P., Jenkins, R., Brugha, T. (eds.) (2016) Mental health and wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014. Leeds: NHS Digital. Available at: content.digital.nhs.uk [Accessed 10th October 2019]
Final Outcome
I have completed extensions to the project since completion, including developing a visual language and packaging that complemented the playful theme.
Design Tags: Industrial | Packaging | CAD
Development
I explored how the user would tune into their emotions and record them in a physical way. Results included the universal emotion rating scale, which uses the familiarity of faces to determine a person’s feelings.
Forms investigated (seen right) looked at how a trio of emotions could be presented. The horizontal designs were favoured as then it didn’t give obvious hierarchy to a particular emotion.
