3 Concepts March 31, 2020 by Erin Mooney Leave a Comment My first drawing is a journal with a day’s plan, followed by thoughts and feelings towards that day. I thought of a planner as a solution to dealing with mental health during this time because it allows me to take control of my immediate life with so many outside occurrences that are completely out of my hands. Additionally, the reflective component allows me to stay in touch with how I am feeling and truly be in touch with my mental state. This fits the hierarchy of design needs as a planner/journal is a very functional item in itself. Even outside of quarantine, planning out my day is always helpful in making ensuring that I am staying active and motivated. The reliability of this is completely in the hands of the person themselves, in this case, me. It is up to me if I want to routinely plan the days ahead, if I do so, this solution will be completely consistent. The usability of this design is very important, especially in a time of isolation, as over time I will feel the need to use this as a release for my thoughts and feelings along with a sense of organization in my life. With a schedule or journal, the limits are in my own hands. The proficiency in which I better my daily routine and the extent of which I reflect on it are entirely up to me. There is endless room to improve this solution and to be creative with it, it is entirely up to the user themself. I can keep my schedule straight forward or come up with fun and new activities for me to do each day. My next drawing is a picture of myself on a walk outside. Though I did not have any specific trail or path in mind, it is clear that I am completely surrounded by nature. This idea is more broad than others, as it is entirely up to me what I do outside and if I even go. Going outside is meant to allow me to truly enjoy the time away from the rest of the world and avoid being cooped up in the house which could negatively impact mental health. Being outside does have the functional solution to this problem of feeling entirely closed off and stuck in quarantine. Reliability and usability are quite self-explanatory as going outside can mean something just as simple as taking a walk down the street which most people can do. One of the only true variables is the weather which might affect these components. Proficiency and creativity are up to me, or the person going outside during quarantine. For me specifically, I can better my time outside by coming up with new things to do: ride a bike, walk my dog, go for a run. This allows me to be creative as well as I can dive into my child’s eye and think of ways to entertain myself outside that I normally wouldn’t, for example, testing out my old basketball skills. The last drawing can relate to the previous drawing of going outside as this is one of the many things one can do when they unplug. For me personally, I need to unplug at times throughout quarantine as seeing the negativity in the media can really impact my mental health. Assuming that one has access to activities that don’t require technology (reading a book, playing a board game, doing a puzzle, drawing, painting), all aspects on the hierarchy of design needs are present. Creativity is the most relevant component with this sketch as in this day and age, most people rarely find themselves needing to entertain themselves outside of a computer or phone. This allows me to get into a different mental space, one in which I am not constantly connected to the world around me, and do something that I never would have brought myself to do prior to COVID-19.
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