Increase the Breathing Self-Awareness using Qualified Self

Transcription

1 Increase the Breathing Self-Awareness using Qualified Self UX Case Study September November 2016 Project Overview The Problem Many people in western society are living a stressful life without paying attention to their breathing. The breathing in stressful situations is very fast, uneven and from high up in the chest. Since only a portion of the lungs is used, the body gets less oxygen which can lead to various complications such as heart diseases, concentration difficulties, back pain, sleep problems and fatigue to mention a few oxygen deficiency effects. The Process We applied the design thinking approach to resolve the problem. First, we conducted qualitative research to empathise with the problem. After that, we defined the design space and iteratively ideated viable solutions and evaluated them with prospective end-users. Empathise Define Ideate Prototype Evaluate

2 The Solution The solution combines various ubiquitous technologies to increase the user s breathing self-awareness. A smart T-shirt is used to measure and reflect the current breathing. The integrated Jacquard by Google technology enables the user to control the visualisation on the smart T-shirt. The quantified information is instantly transferred to the mobile application for further analysis. The mobile application also offers breathing exercises to rectify and foster abdominal breathing. Concept Video: My Contribution Role : UX / Interaction Designer Responsible Activities Literature Research Interviews Auto-Ethnography Self-Exploration ( Diary Study ) User Personas Ideation Sessions Concept Creation Used Design Tools Whiteboard Post-Its Pencil and Paper Google Drawings UXPin Physical Materials Usability Lab Scenarios & Storyboards Interaction Design Prototypes Usability Testing

3 Empathise Literature Research We read literature about breathing to get a basic understanding of the topic. As this was our first embodied interaction case study, we also went through somaesthetics and embodied interaction literature to enhance our theoretical design know-how. User Interviews Breathing is the base of yoga. We interviewed yoga teachers about the importance of abdominal breathing and techniques to rectify a fast and uneven chest breathing to a slow and even abdominal breathing.

4 Autoethnography As this is an embodied interaction case study, we had to sensibly experience ourselves the profound effects of slow abdominal breathing to design a useful and effective solution. Therefore, we decided to participate in a pranayama yoga session to feel, observe and reflect on the positive effects of abdominal breathing. Self-Exploration We did a week-long diary study to apperceive our breathing during our daily activities. We noticed the correlation between our breathing, our heart rate and the situated context. This study showed us that an aware breathing helps to stay energised even at the end of a stressful day.

5 Define PACT Students sit a lot, and often they sit wrong, move too little and breathe too flat which cause concentration issues, back pain and exhaustion. The self-exploration showed us that quantifying the breathing for a short period of time per day increases the breathing self-awareness notably. People: University Students Activity: Studying, Reading, Lectures, Seminars, Presentations, Exams Context: University, Home, Library Technology: Ubiquitous Computing

6 User Personas We created two user personas as a base to ideate and design solutions. Gustav Gustav is a second-year physics master student at the Uppsala University. He is busy with his master thesis. Besides that, he works three times a week at the student nation s pub. He is an energetic and active person who likes to spend his free time outdoors. In the evenings, he likes to do play football or to meet friends for some other social activities. Since few weeks he feels worn out, demotivated and stressed. He has difficulties to concentrate on his thesis and has already missed a milestone. In the evenings he is exhausted and apathetic. He also started to feel back pain when working at the pub. Katia Katia is in the first semester of her political science bachelor study at the Uppsala University. She is from Austria. This is her first study abroad. Although she likes the university and the student life, she is anxious about her future and particularly about her career. Katia is very sensitive, nervous and reserved person. She likes horror books and thriller movies. Due to her shyness and insecurity, she has a hard time when it comes to presenting and exams. The night before a presentation or an exam she is stressed and has difficulties to sleep. On the day of an exam or presentation she feels very weak, unease and breathless.

7 Iterative Design First Design Iteration Ideate In the ideation sessions, we brainstormed ideas and technology to collect inputs to create viable concepts. After several brainstorming sessions and discussions, we eventually designed three concepts.

8 First Concept : Smart Desk Lamp This concept has two stretch sensors connected to a desk lamp. The user wears the sensors around the chest and the belly to measure the breathing. The lamp computes and visually reflects the results via the lighting. Second Concept : Review Mirror This concept has a smart T-shirt to measure the breathing and a mirror to review the recorded data. The use case is that the user wears the smart T-shirt during the day and reviews the data later on the mirror which is overlaid over the user s own reflection.

9 Third Concept : Feedback Bracelet This concept has a smart T-shirt to measure the breathing and a bracelet with an embedded small display to visually reflect the current breathing. The bracelet has a haptic feedback to notify the user when the breathing is uneven and high up the chest for a lengthy period of time. This solution empowers the user to better understand her breathing habit while reflecting the breathing to the situated activity and to rectify it. Prototype We used physical items to create low fidelity prototypes.

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11 Usability Testing We evaluated the three concepts with nine target users. We gave them task scenarios in alternating orders to perform and asked them to think aloud their thoughts. One of us was guiding the user through the tests and the other one was observing and recording the session. At the end of the usability test, we conducted an interview with the test participants to get more qualitative feedback on the concepts.

12 Design Iteration 2 Ideate The evaluation showed us that the users appreciate the instant feedback and notification features of the feedback bracelet as well as the visual output of the review mirror. The test participants expressed reluctance to wear two artefacts. They would rather wear the smart T-shirt than the bracelet. They also predominantly disliked the desk lamp and the review mirror because of the fixed location dependency. Therefore, we decided to only use the smart T-shirt to measure and reflect the breathing. The quantified information is then transferred to the mobile application which allows the user to review the data anytime and anywhere. The application also provides interactive breathing exercise to help the users to rectify and foster their abdominal breathing. Final Design Smart T-shirt Design

13 Smart T-shirt Design We are using the Jacquard by Google technology to switch on/off the breathing reflection visualisation. The user has to activate the Jacquard technology with an unlock pattern on the inner wrist to prevent accidental actions. After 10 seconds of none use, the interaction deactivates itself. By tapping the outer wrist, the visualisation will be depending on the state either turn off or on.

14 Mobile Application Design The mobile application offers users the flexibility to analyse the quantified raw data in different interactive visualisations. Noticeably, we put little effort on the visual design because the intention was to only give a brief glimpse of how the user interface could look and feel like. The breathing exercises aid the users to rectify and foster their abdominal breathing habit. The mobile application recommends breathing exercises based on the quantified information. The breathing exercises instructions adjust and adapt depending on the real-time quantified breathing information from the smart T-shirt.