Inner Garden
Diploma
Individual Project
Work of 2023
The Inner Garden project centers on novel visualizations of emotional data, offering individuals an insightful journey to learn, explore and foster a profound understanding of their emotions.
My Roles: Research, User Interview, UI/UX design, Testing, Illustration, Iterating
Through this project, I actively collaborated with psychologists and therapists, leveraging their invaluable input to ensure the app effectively addresses users' emotional needs, drawing from their professional expertise.
Introduction
Have you…
Have you ever had a difficult feeling and not known what to do with it?
Has this feeling ever grown for days or even weeks
without you being able to know exactly what you are feeling?
Research
How might I…
If emotions are not direct reactions to the world, but rather they are constructed by our brains based on a combination of sensory input, past experiences, and cultural influences, I wonder,
How might I help people see their constructions of emotions?
Is it possible to create a new pathway?
Areas of exploration
Insights from Research:
1. Emotional growth isn't tied to age
2. Emotions are subjective
3. Validation is essential for emotional well-being
4. Expressing vulnerability is a powerful way to connect with others
Focus areas
Within the vast abundance of information and experiences, I have pinpointed three key focus areas to prioritize and advancing forward based on my insights.
I've categorized them into easy and challenging actions. Some can be done independently, while others may benefit from collaboration.
Explorations & Challenges
Explorations
During this phrase, I did a lot of quick drawings to communicate with users and experts about my ideas.
Reevaluating my focus areas
I did this drawing while contemplating the comments. In psychology, there is a concept called projection, where our individual perspectives shape our perception of reality.
Initially, I assumed that sharing from one person and listening from another would naturally lead to positive outcomes.
However, I realized an important aspect I had overlooked: willingness does not always help people to understand emotions. This realization highlighted the challenge of creating conducive environments for meaningful dialogue.
This realization prompted me to reassess my focus areas. In my conversation with psychologist Audun, he emphasized that the areas I have been contemplating, which seem challenging, are precisely the domains that psychologists dedicate their careers to exploring. As a designer, I can create something on the easier end where the psychologist had a hard time discovering.
By prioritizing the easier end of this map, it doesn't imply that I am abandoning the challenging aspects. Instead, I see it as a starting point that establishing a solid foundation allows individuals to build the necessary skills to navigate the more difficult aspects over time.
Final Product
1. Learning and labelling emotions
3 main features of Inner Garden
2. Recent emotions & Sharing emotions
3. Reviewing emotional histories and patterns
Main Feature 1:
Learning and labelling emotions
Key Features:
Choosing Emotions with Emojis
A single emoji might convey varied meanings and even mixed emotions. Users can select the one that resonates most accurately with their current state.
Expanding individuals' emotional vocabularies
Clicking a word reveals two suggested related words, gradually expanding your emotional vocabulary for accurate identification and categorization of feelings. This enhances your ability to predict and respond to emotions effectively in various situations.
Long press on a word
Long-pressing a word provides quick access to three specific actions, streamlining user interactions without unnecessary steps. This feature improves the user experience, especially after familiarizing with word meanings and having clear intentions.
Labeling an emotion
While labeling emotions, users can add details like reasons, locations, or involved persons.
Main Feature 2:
Recent Emotions & Sharing emotions
Recent Emotions
Labeled emotions are displayed in your vase. Emotions are symbolized by unique flowers that last a week, with their petals wilting and falling over time, mirroring the transient nature of emotions.
It's a visual reminder that every emotion is temporary, just like the beauty of a flower that blooms and fades away. Our emotions are products of the present moment, and they too will pass with time.
Sharing an emotion with someone
Users can share their labeled emotions with others, who have the choice to accept or decline them. Accepting provides validation, while declining shared emotions respects boundaries.
Additionally, I offer a choice called "maybe later," allowing users to process their emotions before making a decision. This choice fosters open communication and serves as a meaningful starting point for genuine emotional expression.
What’s the purpose for sharing emotions?
Research highlights that loneliness often precedes depression. Sharing emotions cultivates a supportive environment where mutual validation fosters empathy, understanding, and emotional connections. This dynamic boosts mental well-being, alleviates isolation, and strengthens resilience by reassuring individuals of the validity of their emotions.
Main Feature 3:
Reviewing your emotional histories and patterns
Datas for a Week
When reviewing weekly data, you'll see entered details like location, time, and emotions' reasons.
If two emotions are labeled in a day, connected coloured dots hint underlying connections between the emotions you experienced throughout the day.
Datas for a Month
Here, you can obtain an overview of all the emotions you have labeled over the course of a month. The emphasis is on the overall picture rather than the specific details of each emotion.
I want to introduce this using some user scenarios:
Henrik, experiencing mood swings, initially rejected professional help but found insights through Inner Garden. Regular use of the app revealed a recurring pattern of heightened anger, leading him to seek additional support for managing his emotions.
Michelle engages with Inner Garden to expand her emotional vocabulary and shares flowers with her friend Frida, deepening their emotional connection and fostering continued exploration.
Henrik
Michelle
Datas for a Season
Psychologists emphasize the importance of patterns in emotional experiences. However, recognizing patterns can be difficult for those less attuned to their emotions.
To address this, I'm considering a pattern feature in the app, concentrating on seasonal data. With the app accumulating extensive data, it's equipped to process patterns adeptly. Patterns can emerge based on location, person, or time, and can extend to identifying triggers for emotions.
User Journey
Iteractions
