This project is about how I turned a complex medical problem into a design problem/
The research was performed for University of Rotterdam’s Research Centre Innovations in Care, specifically the Data-Science Unit (DDU). The DDU focuses on improving treatment and assistance for those in need, as well as promoting health-related engagement.
My assignment grew out of a project that started at the Dutch Coalition for Artificial Intelligence’s Hackaton. This initiative led in the creation of the B.A.A.S. concept, which is essentially a student stress-reduction tool. The idea behind this concept is to give personalized interventions by combining artificial intelligence with data from a wearable or smartphone.
From here on out, I established a target audience with the client and began my research to turn B.A.A.S into a product. The practical question centered on researching "How can we teach first- and second-year students to de-stress without being intrusive?". This all eventually turned into a product called Foundation, which focuses on giving the individual student what they need on a personal basis through guidance and got a 9.3 as passing grade for my project.
During my investigation, I discovered that the students lacked motivation to even start preparing for the semester. This was due to a variety of reasons:
For starters, they were unaware of their own stress levels and stress-reduction methods.
Second, they lacked low effort accessibility to stress-relieving tools. Existing apps make use of a paywall, which for a student isn’t an option.
Third, they struggled to balance school, personal life, and a part-time job. They can’t seem to find the time.
In conclusion, the students lack knowledge and motivation to prepare for their semester. This inevitably causes for stress which lowers academic performance. From here on out I defined my design briefing.
Designing
In my solution I have to take those three aspects into account. One line of thought was to concentrate on assisting students in finding time to work on stress management by evaluating their lives with AI. This was eventually revised when the target audience's, customer's, and stakeholders' demands were prioritized, with the user's desire ranking highest.
For example, the technological aspect of the project was the least prioritized element according to the target audience. The students appear to be more concerned with having the appropriate guidance for whatever problems they may have, which isn’t always the same. Their priority appears to be managing their life so that they may devote time to other activities such as hobbies.
I then formed my findings into insights and guidelines.
Design Question
“How can first- and second-year students be motivated to prepare for their new semester in order to reduce stress and academic pressure?”
During the concepting phase, I used the three directions I obtained from my research as a guiding factor.
🅐 Awareness
🅑 Balance
🅒 Control
I determined that in order to come up with ideas and create concepts for my user group, I should hold co-creation sessions to discover how they would address de-stressing in their own way. I made two focus groups from different institutes and started concepting with diverging techniques such as brain dumb and Mash-up. Mash-ups are a way of collaborative idea development in which participants come up with unique concepts by merging various aspects. In my case these aspects were location base, 'At university' or 'anywhere', to test if the lines of thought would differ significantly (spoiler alert: it didnt). That notion was quickly thrown in the bin as it didn't have any pro's.
After converging and keeping everyone's wishes in mind and still having my own vision, I came up with three concepts. After feedback from client and students, I choose to continue with the concep Foundation, which I then fleshed out into a product.
The goal of Foundation is to assist guide students depending on their lifestyle to locate what matches their lifestyle with personalized tasks in order to increase motivation. This is then enhanced further by taking the user’s environment into consideration.
The answer of the design question lies in the app. The students now have accessible tool to become more aware of their stress and learn. The app motivates the learner to decrease stress by teaching them fundamental skills and providing information on health and development.
The app lowers academic pressure through guidance and, as a result, gives students back control. The user will use the app more frequently as a result of the sense of control, obtaining a ‘healthy’ coping mechanism they may use each semester to feel less stressed. By monitoring heart rate variability, the app generates data for health insights.
The app employs onboarding to get students up and running quickly to destress, lowering the barrier to destressing. They may also follow their journey through the profile page, which includes health insights, which is important for anyone who may want to learn more about the student, such as a health expert.
This, in turn, is a non-invasive method of measuring stress levels. The tasks are customized based on preferences set during onboarding and are further personalized through trial and error. Each challenge they have may be addressed with knowledge by being able to consult with professionals. As a result, the student coach relationship improves through accessible knowledge and communication.
I made the prototype in Adobe XD.
I know my way around programs such as Adobe XD, Figma and Protopie.
Because my previous studies prior to designing was software development, I can easily comprehend and master software in general. I'm quite tech savvy in this case.
I performed some testing in the form of user testing and user ability testing.
I used the same focus group from the co creating sessies and gave everyone as scenario they could work with.
For the usability testing I used a website called Maze, as everything in the world was remote working this made it easier to test with my user group. Maze is a platform designed for prototyping. Maze allows you to test your design’s usability and see where participants touch on the screen. I tested things ranging from workflow, color usage, use of text tone and consistency.
You can try it out here
The platform educates the target audience on the importance of de-stressing and offers the learner with de-stressing methods that may be applied in a number of contexts and lifestyles.
The platform provides the following benefits to the user:
🅐 Awareness
A quick way for becoming aware of stress levels and learning fundamental skills.
🅑 Balance
Personalized tasks that take into account the user’s lifestyle.
🅒 Control
Reduce academic pressure, giving the user more time to pursue other interests.
In brief, it allows the learner to gain control over their own stress while not interfering with daily activities.
And this, I believe, answers the main design question.