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III CULTURE
About // Passion Project
Stress, anxiety and depression are all emotions we've experienced and unfortunately people are too busy to engage in self-care practices but... what if therapy was fun?
I started developing meditation experiences for VR as a way for individuals to drift away from daily stressors, escape to a safe space and heal.
ROLE
UX/ XR Developer
DURATION
2 Weeks
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RESEARCH
User Interviews // Affinity Mapping //
SCIENCE
On a biological level, I wanted to understand why meditation and yoga improve our mental health and after extensive research I identified the following techniques were most effective in bringing our body back to a calm state:
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Progressive Muscle Relaxation
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Grounding (Using the 5 senses)
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Telepresence (VR Therapy)
INTERVIEWS
I then interviewed 6 participants to understand how they:
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deal with stress, anxiety, and depression
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if they attend therapy
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stigma around therapy
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view of immersive experiences
THE FOUNDATION OF MY FRAMEWORK
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THE USER
Persona // Problem Statement //
KASEY
AGE: 27 years old
LOCATION: New York
She’d like to improve her mental health but doesn’t like sharing what she’s going through with anyone.
Challenges:
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Doesn’t have much time
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Feels uncomfortable talking about her feelings
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Needs help but is scared to ask
Needs:
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Quick & accessible therapy
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Consistent practice
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Fun & engaging
HYPOTHESIS
If anxiety reducing techniques are used as part of an immersive experience, then the individual will achieve the same bodily state outcome as a meditation in less than 10 min.
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PROTOTYPING
Wireframes // Mid- fidelity // Gamification
My idea consisted of gamifying the therapy techniques and creating an immersive experience.
The first phase would implement grounding techniques by using the five senses. The user would have to explore the world, identify what they see/hear and select the options accordingly. Additionally, bilateral auditory stimulation would be used to create a calm state.
The next phase would be Progressive Muscle Relaxation. Here the user would be guided to tense different muscles in order to activate different components in the environment.
For example, when they tense their fists, the fire flies would move towards the pawn and in order to tell how much to hold it for the fireflies would spiral up and elevate the pawn.
Once the user completes the tasks, they enter their own safe space. Here the user is able to design their own space, play their own music, and choose the different therapy sessions (Self Worth, Inner Child, Rock Bottom). Each session would use EMDR and bilateral auditory stimulation to reprogram and create new neural pathways.
WIREFRAMES
MID-FIDELITY
HIGH-FIDELITY
