CHING' STUDIO
Lotus Map - A mindfulness solution
Date: November 23, 2020
Designers: Yuanqing Tian, Ava bilimoria, Hanxiao Du, Gurudutt Perichetla, Suyash Junnarkar
The objective of this study is to better understand the changes in emotional wellbeing of university students during to the advent of COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the preliminary user research findings,we are looking to understand the different interventions we can make to better the emotional wellbeing. We finalized the design as a mobile application named "Lotus Map", connected with wearable monitoring devices (e.g.,Apple Watch) for users to practice meditation and help build up a journey of mindfulness with sharing and empathy.
01
Background
Since the 2020 new year, the world has been undergoing an unprecedented recession and silence due to the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping over. One of the paramount issues is the emotional wellbeing of the current U.S. college students. Many studies over the world revealed that students during pandemic have different levels of anxiety, depression, stress-out, and other types of mental and psychological issues. Therefore, this study intends to investigate the overall emotional wellbeing of the current U.S. college students during the COVID-19 pandemic period, as well as to provide potential design opportunities and solutions regarding wearable products.
Objectives
The objective of this project is to understand the COVID-19 impacts on college students’ emotional wellbeing and to provide design solutions using wearable technologies. This requires the following specific tasks:
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Conduct user research through a questionnaire survey and interviews in order to collect data and information and understand the challenges, experiences, demands, and expectations of the targeted users.
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Analyze the collected data using both qualitative and quantitative approaches to summarize the research findings and gain insightful design implications.
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Provide a design solution for a wearable technological product to address the problems identified from the research.
User Research
We conducted user research to gather relevant data and information through two specific methods, the questionnaire survey, and the user interviews.
In total, we collected 150 responses through online survey distribution among Georgia Tech students anonymously.
We also interviewed 5 subjects for in-depth information and discussion with IRB consented forms.
Through Affinity Mapping, we identified several important findings.
02
Identification
According to the research, we presented several design directions of providing positive affirmation and energy sharing among friends and practicing mindfulness through gamified meditation.
We used user personas and storyboards to discover potential solutions.
Design Criteria
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Monitor Emotional Wellbeing and Report Alerts to Caregivers
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User participates in a Guided Meditation Experience to focus on Daily Routines
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Providing Social Communication to share Positive Affirmations among Friend Circles
03
Design Criteria
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Monitor Emotional Wellbeing and Report Alerts to Caregivers
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User participates in a Guided Meditation Experience to focus on Daily Routines
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Providing Social Communication to share Positive Affirmations among Friend Circles
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A wire-framing conceptual model for logic and main tasks
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UI/UX design with the metaphor of lotus flower for meditation and gamification concept of sharing.
Development and Prototyping
04
Demo Walkthrough
Focusing on the main features of blossoming lotus for meditation practice and positive affirmation sharing, we created a walkthrough demo.
Evaluation Goals
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Does the application provide enough information to a new user?
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How effectively can users complete key tasks within the prototype?
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Do users find this intervention helpful to improve emotional wellbeing by encouraging students to provide positive affirmation to others?
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Do users think the interaction flow of our design is expected and familiar?
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Do users think the user interface of our design is clear and intuitive?
User Testing Approaches
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6 participants in total (3M, 3F)
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Created a User Test Protocol with a script
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Follow a Think-Aloud protocol
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Interview + System Usability Scale Questionnaire
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Note-taking, screen recording, audio recording
Tasks
1. Log in and onboarding
Create an account
Set up your device
2. Start a meditation, take notes, and share it
Set up a meditation session for a specific theme and time duratio
Write a reflection/lotus note
Share it with the Lotus Pond and specified friend circles
3. Pick a lotus note in pool and share it
Select a specific lotus note under a certain Lotus Pond theme
Like it and share it with specified friend circles and a specific contact
05
Through this study project, we aimed to understand the multiple psychological and mental issues among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learnings from user research gained us a profound understanding of the present challenges of anxiety, pressure, and isolation.
We developed a mobile app Lotus Map, with the concept of metaphor, gamification, and energy sharing, to help students practice mindfulness through meditation and bond affirmations among them.
The user testing evaluated the overall design focusing on several main features. Feedback from subjects indicated a positive result of usability and innovation of the design.