Semester B Project Proposal Form
Name: Kayleigh Umfreville
Working title: Harmonize
Blog URL: https://dmresearch.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/
What is the intended idea / concept behind the proposed project?
My intended idea is to explore either a technology or a software, which is based around the concept of Cognitive behavior therapy. CBT is a therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way that you think and behave. I would like to apply this concept to the theme of health, and more specifically mental health. It will look at ways that people who are dealing with mental health to help themselves, which will help change their thinking patterns.
Justify the idea / concept in terms of the needs for its existence (if purely for entertainment, state this and how the output will be innovative/original and creative):
I feel that this idea will be important as, in today’s society 1 in 4 people suffer for mental health, some people will experience these problems at some points throughout their life, also there is still a massive stigma around the idea of people having mental health issues, as people do not want to talk about it, or do not know how to act. Helping people to manage this is very important as, the way that we think affect our who lives and the people around us, as the better we can manage our thoughts the better. The support that is already out there is not helping enough, as the amount of people who have these problems is increasing but the funding for the NHS, within this sector, is decreasing. The resources available to them are not helping the way they should. Lastly raising awareness for this is very important, as people are suffering from mental health issues, and they do not know they have it or how to deal with. This means that the problem may not be addressed till it’s too late.
This means from researching the best ways to offer some sort of help or support to everyone is crucial, our quality of life should be increasing not decreasing. There should be more products out there to offer this kind of service to this type of audience. This is what I am aiming to do this semester, to be able to aim towards thinking/creating a product to help this area.
This product will be innovative, original and creative, as I would like to aim to using modern technology, such as virtual reality or augmented reality to enhance the experience of the user. It will explore different more creative ways to use CBT to overcome problems, to make it more engaging.
Describe the intended audience:
From doing some basic research around the issue of mental health, and what are the most concerning problems was the fact that more teenagers between the ages of 14-24 were getting some sort of mental health issues. It is said “Around 20% of the world’s children and adolescents have mental disorders or problems. About half of mental disorders begin before the age of 14.”
I thought this was very concerning and really caught my attention, as during this period of a person’s life should be fun and exciting, but some are going through this, because of extra stress and pressure put on the from school and their surroundings. My target audience, will aim to be around 12-18. This is because, this age is the time from secondary school to sixth form/college, where more and more pressure is put on the student, affecting their mental health. Also, at this age you are still learning how to figure things out, which means that thinking patterns are very important, so by helping them to change the way that they think from an early age means that, they will be able to use this technique later on in their life, and hopefully reduce the amount of people suffering from mental health problems.
How will this project extend your or your team’s creative and technical skills?
This project will extend my creative skills, as I will be creating a product for a young audience, which means that what I decide to choose to make will need to be exciting and vibrant, but creates the challenge of fitting into an aesthetic of a calming environment without being patronizing, as this will detract the user from using the product. From creating a product for a young audience will enable more room for creativity as, it can be fun and engaging. This will also extend my technical skills, as ii have the possibility to explore virtual reality and augmented reality. Looking into these technical attributes means that I will need to learn new skills, of how to code and create animation that is 3D. This will be a challenge as, I have not done anything like this before. The other possibilities of creative an app is very likely, which means that I will need to gain technical skills, with how to create a working prototype, and gain more experience with the type of software, such as Adobe Illustrator.
Outline how the practical work will be carried out by you and the time-scales involved for each task:
Research and Development:
In weeks 1 to 4
I will start to research into mental health, and the issues around it is. Them applying it to my target audience. Researching my target audience of 12-18, to come up with an appropriate art direction of logos, colour schemes, and type face. After identifying which technology or platform should be used for maximum accessibility and will be appropriate.
Production:
In weeks 5-9
I will aim to create a potential branding and interfaces that correspond to the outcome of the research from weeks 1 – 4.
Testing/Feedback
In weeks 10-12
The prototype to be tested by users, preferably by the target audience, then collect any feedback, which should be analysed. This will then be reflected on and improvements will be made. This will be a cycle till the project has reached a good potential.
This is a very basic plan, and can be swapped and changed at any point to adapt to the work flow, for instance I may want feedback from the target audience straight after I have researched and created the colour scheme. By doing this I can avoid the problem of the audience not liking the product till the end.
What other work (by animators, designers, film-makers, writers, digital media producers, etc.) is relevant to your project? (This work may either be relevant for its conceptual or technical similarity):
A work that Is interesting to look at is an app called Sribblenauts. This app is an animation game that put the user into different situations, and they need to follow the instructions to them get to the next level. The way that they do this is very interesting as, the users has to think of anything to the apply to the scene. This means that the software has a massive bank of animation to then apply. This is aimed at the same target audience, and will be interesting to analyses in more detail, as it is a very visual and engaging way to get the user to be creative. I would like to explore looking at this app and developing it further to fit into my concept.
List any critical texts that are relevant to your conceptual intentions:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Cognitive-behavioural-therapy/Pages/Introduction.aspx
http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/mental-health-statistics-facts
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/sites/default/files/fundamental-facts-15.pdf
http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/mental_health/mental_health_facts/en/