ANGER FLANKER
Have you been in a position where anger got the most out of you? Remember those days when you just want to unleash your anger self and at that very moment, you just can't control it? We have the solution to that, in a very safe space.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Motion Graphics Designer
Fabricator
Conceptual Designer
Project Type
Interactive Design
Technology
Force Sensors, Sound Sensor,
Arduino
Project Timeline
4 Weeks, ITP Winter
Collaborators
Vidia Anindhitya
Kriz Fernandez
Exhibition
ITP, Winter Show 2017
CATHARTIC EXPERIENCE OF RELIEF
Anger Flanker is a game that aims to encourage a cathartic experience of relief through physical gestures and interaction with the machine.
Anger Flanker is run using serial communication and sensors. It is a space for users to scream and smash controllers in order to break digital surfaces. The different levels are represented in textures of a mirror, a wall, wood, and the user will be cued to keep breaking the surface.
VENTING TECHNOLOGY
Our pace of technological advancement is changing our lives exponentially. It's exciting to think about what is around the corner. Emotional technology may seem too far fetched for some to think about, but it may potentially help us.
PROCESS
0.1 RESEARCH
0.2 DEFINE
0.3 IDEATE
0.4 DESIGN
0.5 PROTOTYPE
0.1 RESEARCH
TOO MUCH GOOD IS BAD
Happiness is our go-to emotion, naturally, it is something we as humans strive for. However, researchers are exploring whether to feel too good can be bad for you. By observing the potential pitfalls of happiness, it may be possible for us to understand this logic better and promote healthier and more balanced lives.
It is without a doubt that people would want to be happy. Most of us are hardwired to pursue happiness. Iriss Mauss director of the Emotion & Emotion Regulation Lab at Berkeley (EERLAB) supports this notion of the counterintuitive idea that striving for happiness may actually cause more harm than good. At times, the more people pursue happiness, the less they seem able to obtain it. Mauss shows that the more people strive for happiness, the more likely they will be to set a high standard for happiness – then be disappointed when that standard is not met.
Another research according to Mark Alan Davis's 2008 meta-analysis of the relationship between mood and creativity, when people experience an overwhelming boost of happiness, they no longer experience the same space for creativity. People lose the ability to use their inner creative resources. Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, writer for her book Positivity, mentioned that too much positive emotion – and too little negative emotion – makes people inflexible in the face of new challenges.
It is crucial to impose an emotional balance
It is ideally important to experience happiness in the right amount. Experiencing less amount of happiness could also cause issues, it also applies with too much negative emotions may lead to the same thing. Happiness has a time and place, it is important to be mindful about the context or situation in which one experiences happiness. It is crucial to impose an emotional balance.
0.2 DEFINE
PERCEIVING ANGER
Expression of Anger
People whom we interviewed mentioned that they suppress their anger, because of the professional image they have to uphold. This definitely entails negative consequences into the mental well-being.
Getting around the emotion
If suppressing was the only option, we question what are the alternatives and how do they manage to continue their daily activity? Most of them use items that is tangible which may transfer that negative energy.
Expectations of user
Releasing anger is something that people find it personal, and most of the time they would prefer not to express it in the eyes of the public openly.
User Mapping
The user mapping is separated into two scenarios, the blue scenario is someone who managed to suppress his emotions for the sake of his professional image. While the red scenario, he was far more involved in expressing his emotions and were far more abusive physically and verbally.
Empathy Map
FEELINGS
TASK
INFLUENCES
PAIN POINTS
OVERALL GOAL
Anger
Suppress
Shouting
Physical
Abusive
Communication break down
How to transfer this negative emotions in a safe space?
How do they express their emotions without being too caught up with suppressing it?
Expressing anger in a safe environment.
Upholding image, suppressing emotions is difficult
Unable to express emotions hence bottling it up
Negative Consequences with the emotional built up
To give a cathartic experience to user for them to release their anger in a safe space
Persona
Morgan White
Age
26 Years Old
Bio
Core Characteristics
Emotional
Tech Savvy
Introvert
Morgan is an art director by profession. He has a short span of patience and is usually hot headed. He often displays his anger towards his colleagues. Morgan can get angry even by the simplest thing like a colleague's coffee cup was placed on his desk by accident. His colleagues are isolating him and he is at the brink of getting himself fired from his job. He has to find solutions to control his anger before it gets too late.
Proffesion
Art Director
Behaviors
Location
Canada
-
Display emotions
-
Gets affected by the simplest thing
-
Colleagues are isolating him because of his short temper
Goals & Needs
-
Need emotional therapy, he has to find ways to express his anger without affecting anyone else
-
Has to be sensitive towards others
-
Finding a safe space to release his anger while he goes through his therapy sessions to control his anger
EXPRESSION THROUGH TANGIBILITY
From the people we talked to, a majority expressed that they would prefer to transfer their negative energy into something more physical. The satisfaction that they get from doing that is better than other alternative methods. We guessed the use of their energy to tire themselves makes it logical to transfer that emotion.
0.3 IDEATE
MAKING ANGER FLANKER
Sketching and to conceptualizing the product was a crucial factor of the process. There were many things that we learnt from this process, we learnt that it is important that users feel comfortable when they are using the product. It must also be safe and there should be an immediate response for them to understand that the product is responding.
We intended to make it look like a cone shape so that the user has a personal space while interacting with the product, it also allows an amplification of sound coming from the product itself. We wanted the user to feel comfortable, therefore we created two poles that stand on both sides.
Mock up
Mocking up the product helped us in many ways than one. It made us realize that height matters and it determines the comfort level of the user. We also needed to ensure that the screen is elevated at a perfect angle and height.
We used Force Resistor Sensors to calculate the impact when a user hits on the poles. This will determine whether the user will be able to break a tangible 'wall' that we intend to build in the product itself.
0.4 MOTION DESIGN
I created the motion design for the project. We wanted to focus on three different phases therefore the intensity of the motion gets higher as you proceed to the next stage.