Regulating emotions has always been challenging.
About our user
ii. The scenario, explained
Meltdowns often go unrecognized until it happens.
A meltdown, often triggered by sensory overload, is an intense stress response with emotional and physical symptoms. For neurodivergent individuals with autism or ADHD or alexithymia, emotions feel intense but can be difficult to name.
"I have a lot of trouble identifying emotions other than sad or overwhelmed."
"racing thoughts, sweating, panicking, stomach pains, looping memories over and over in my head"
While meltdowns are both physical and psychological, one of the major challenges user experienced are catching early signs. As our survey with target users shows, 80% of the user found identifying early overwhelming signals the most difficult.
iii. What's missing from the market
Problem statement
Current tools lack support to address neurodivergent users’ struggle with recognizing and regulating emotions.
Wellness market is divided in two distinct directions
Where wellness tools fall short for neurodivergent users
Personal triggers, generic solutions.
Wellness industry fall into 2 major categories: smart wearables that track biometrics, and wellness apps that guide mindfulness. Both depend heavily on user evaluating their own physical and mental states, making these tools more like trackers than support systems.
User story #1
As an autistic user, I want a wearable made of familiar materials to avoid sensory overload.
User story #2
As a user with ADHD, I want a tool to recap scenarios and explain triggers to understand my feelings.
Features aren't as useful as actual soothing techniques.
While in our study users mentioned journals as the coping strategies, features like streaks or daily reflections rarely reduce the emotional load as proved by the high drop-off rate. Users still prefer using traditional soothing techniques such as grounding.
Our opportunity
How might we tailor personal emotion regulation strategy and detect early signs of meltdowns?
Define design objectives based on our client's branding
The 4 design objectives
With our client's unique position as a startup leading by a full neurodivergent team, we defined four design criteria to evaluate every feature we build.
ii. User testing with target users
More steps creates more friction
Users expressed interests in the quick tap action but were hesitant about using smart watches especially when they are in meetings and presentations.
User prefers a more subtle way to record.
Time-based journal creates emotional clutter where sometimes user prefer to have reflections as something optional. Emoji representation of emotion also feels limiting as user frequently mentioned the difficulty of recognizing emotions in the moment.
My contributions at a glance
A feedback loop supported by gestures and constant learning
01
User only document cues that matter.
Instead of asking for full details about the meltdown, we ask users to share relevant signals and categorize them into emotion, physical, and environmental cues.
02
A usability update: optimizing gesture recognition with a soft wearable and a mobile app that supports in the background
It started with the question asked during user testing. "How do I log my thoughts in the middle of a meeting?" We explored different tactile methods, finally consolidating on a soft wearable where users pair gestures like a tap to an app to track feelings at the moment.
01
Tap now, view later: read relative data and analysis about tapped emotions anytime
User navigates between three tabs to view their entries, insights regarding their logs, and AI chats spaces to practice calming techniques.
01
Mood forecast: an AI-empowered review of logged emotions to provide actionable feedback
Based on the data received, the app utilizes AI to analyze and then suggest personalized regulation strategies. The suggestions aim to serve as gentle nudges rather than milestones for users to achieve.
The outcome
Increased likelihood to engage emotion logging
Both the user and the client expressed great interest in investing in a knitted wearable for capturing their emotions. The user tested the wearable and gave it an overall score of 4 out of 5 for its comfort, ease of use, and overall willingness to use.
>
snapshots from user testing
Press to log emotion: being sensory-friendly
"This method feels natural and unobtrusive. A simple press lets me log an emotion effortlessly without disrupting my daily activities."
The versatility of the proof-of-concept
"The data collected can be valuable for me to be aware of how I feel but also potentially be insighful to show to my therapists."
