Brief of the FMP
This project started with research on young women's anxiety levels during the pandemic. Throughout interviews, most young women express their demand for stress relief. Moreover, women in different stages, for example, single, married, and having a baby would have a different response to anxiety and depression. The project is purposing to relieve their depression through communication with people and self pouring out.
FMP mainly focused on the dilemmas of young women, who age between 20-30, in the middle of millennials and Generation Z. Especially in 2020, the whole world is suffering from Covid-19, the stress level of young women has increased than previous data, and also higher than other age groups.
The outcome is an experiencing product and an application. Aim to let users experience the process of self-pouring out, and also have an online platform for users to express their thoughts anywhere.
Introduction of ISLE
"In a broadly patriarchal system, men constitute a kind of interest group for women." Ueno Chizuko mentioned in the book, 'Patriarchy and Capitalism'. The dilemmas women faces are deeply grown in society. Domestic violence, different pay for the same work with men, and the price for fertility. Males unknowingly united together, ignored the existence of women and their work.
ISLE is the name of the FMP, which compared everyone's mental world to an isle. Inspired by the current condition of young women in society, moreover, the topic had developed to the feminist and patriarchal culture especially in Asian countries. The purpose of the project was to try to relieve the depression of young women, moreover, wish to remind people of the mental health condition of women.
Research Question:
The mental condition of young women during the pandemic and post-pandemic
Design Purpose:
Relief anxiety and depression of young women
Project Type:
Final Major Project, personal project
Timeline:
Jun-Dec 2020
Research Methods:
Literature Reviews
Interview
Content Analysis
Persona
AEIOU
Practice Reviews
Mind Map
Experience Prototype
Literature Reviews
Data from Deloitte research on 2020 shows that during the epidemic the stress level has dropped a little bit compared with the data in 2019. Because the data from 2019 shows that the stress level was pretty high in all generations. The data was collected during April and May which most countries are at the beginning level of lockdown, most people would like to take a rest at home, spend more time with family.

Reference: Deloitte. (n.d.). The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2020
[online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html# [Accessed 18 Oct. 2020].
In research of 2019, women expressed more stress than men both among Gen Z and millennials. 2020, during the middle stage of lockdown, research showed that young women would suffer more stress from the epidemic than other age groups via different perspectives.

Reference: Deloitte. (n.d.). White paper on millennials, Gen Z and mental health. [online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennials-gen-z-and-mental-health.html [Accessed 18 Oct. 2020].

Bodkin, H. (2020). Pandemic mental health: young women and millennials disproportionately affected. The Telegraph. [online] 7 Aug. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/07/pandemic-mental-health-young-women-millennials-disproportionately/.
Literature Reviews Summary
The huge effect of the covid-19 pandemic, three major influences of people, finance, physical health, and mental health problems. Inside the whole generation groups, young women age between 19-30, who belong to late millennials were suffering more than other generation groups.

Bodkin, H. (2020). Pandemic mental health: young women and millennials disproportionately affected. The Telegraph. [online] 7 Aug. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/07/pandemic-mental-health-young-women-millennials-disproportionately/.
Research Question:
The mental condition of young women during the pandemic and post-pandemic

References:
Morris Creative Group. (2017). Personality Traits of Millennials: How to Market to this Generation | Morris Creative Group. [online] Available at: https://www.morriscreative.com/personality-traits-millennials-market-generation/.
Parekh, R. (2017). What Is Depression? [online] Psychiatry.org. Available at: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/depression/what-is-depression.
In the summary of the literature reviews, I would like to focus on the mental condition of young women during the pandemic. Moreover, because of their sensitive age range, between the millennials and generation Z, they would have some unique specialties than other generations. Due to the current condition, different countries were in several different stages of the pandemic. So the planning interviews may cover women who are during the pandemic and post-pandemic.
Additional literature reviews
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News (covid-19, lockdown)
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Sociology (feminism, patriarchy, sociology of gender)
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Psychology (anxiety, depression)
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Design (binary design, weaponized design, design bias)
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History (Asian countries society)
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Feminist theory (radical feminism, socialist feminism, equity feminism)
Interviews
Before interviews, according to the conclusion after literature reviews, I was planning to ask questions from three perspectives that mainly focus on the effect of covid-19, habits of the Internet, and mental condition during the pandemic till nowadays.

Interview Questions:
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When was the last talking with your close friends?
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Through which device?
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How long did it take?
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Who imitated the talking?
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What's the relationship with he/she, friends, schoolmates, playmates?
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What's the content of the talking, about the job, relationships, recent hobbies?
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How often do you speak or have talked with your friend?
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Talking makes you feel...?
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Are you the one who imitated the talking?
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It's good to talk with someone you are familiar with and close to?
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Do you have any moments that you want to have someone to talk to but you don't know who should talk to?
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Compare with relatives you are more likely to talk with friends?
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When do you feel most anxious during pandemic and post-pandemic?
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What's the source of the anxiety?
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Did you call your friends during lockdown more often than usual?
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If so, does it make you feel better?
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Tell me something about your condition during lockdown & pandemic
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Do you think the covid-19 pandemic has changed your mind or life? bring some difference to you?
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Do you usually meet with your friends?
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Talking online or meet offline which one do you prefer?
Interview draft(part):


Explanations of interview
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Due to the global condition, most interviews were finished by voice call or zoom meeting.
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The process of interviews includes normal chats and expand topics around prepared questions.
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All interviewees allowed voice recording
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Interview drafts are voice-to-text in Chinese and translated in English
Content Analysis

Conclusion
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During the epidemic, the main reasons for getting anxious were people are worrying about their family, fear of getting infected, and also getting agitated of activity limitation.
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Part of the interviewees had mental changes after the epidemic, such as would like to spend more time on social and with family.
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Interviewees who currently in China, their anxiety about the COVID-19 had faded away.
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The COVID-19 pandemic derivate anxiety about careers. Some interviewees have changed their career plans.
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Women in different status deal with anxiety differently. Women in relationships are more likely to talk to their partners because they communicate more often than their friends, and cohabiting partners are more involved in each other's lives. Single women tend to discuss it with close friends but are more likely to bear anxiety themselves.
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In terms of relieving anxiety alone, most people choose to take it by themselves, while a few choose to pour out words on social media. A few choose to have a conversation with AI (any machine) with one-way output.
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Most interviewees prefer to meet in person, even if they can accept voice calls or videos, but they prefer to meet in person for close friends.
Persona



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4.1 Women who have partners would more rely on their husbands/partners both mentally and physically.
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Among 12 interviewees, eight of twelve have partners or husbands, and five of them were currently living with their partners. They all have the same response when I asked about whom they would choose to share emotions and anxiety, which is their partners/husbands. The main reason was they are physically close to each other, especially for couples who live together.
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4.2 Women who have no partners and offspring would choose to self-digest their anxiety and depression.
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Women who do not have partners would usually talk about their emotions and anxiety with their friends. Sharing worries with close friends is a channel for girls to maintain friendships. However, they all expressed that they want to self-digest some worries when others cannot help or understand.
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4.3 Long-term anxiety about life’s development such as job hunting and the decision of fertility even outweighed the worry about the pandemic.
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Seven of twelve interviewees were in China when they were interviewed, others were in the U.S, Canada, Spain, and the U.K. All interviews were finished in August, countries may in different stages of a pandemic. All interviewees showed more worries about their future careers than about the current pandemic condition. Because of COVID-19, some of them have to change their career plans. The pandemic is a trigger, which exposed problems about women who had suffered from job hunting. The difficulties of job hunting may force young women to give up and choose to get married and give birth to a child instead.
AEIOU

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https://hasura.io/blog/build-a-realtime-mobile-chat-app-using-3factor-architecture/
https://www.lbc.co.uk/hot-topics/coronavirus/can-i-meet-other-people-under-new-lockdown-rules/
https://www.thebrecklife.com/creating-home-meditation-space.php
https://trovelog.com/entrepreneurship-2/rage-room-aka-anger-room/
https://www.viator.com/en-PH/tours/Kathmandu/Bungee-Jumping-In-Nepal/d5109-70394P27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGS5SS8tuIU
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/arts/gaming-introduction-basics-quarantine-coronavirus.html
https://mynewmicrophone.com/microphone-feedback/
https://www.redbookmag.com/food-recipes/g29539626/how-people-drink-coffee-around-the-world/
https://www.spotlightstores.com/home/home-decorating/furniture-covers/koo-pet-couch-cover/BP80311993
https://www.realhomes.com/us/design/bedroom-ideas
https://www.petersons.com/blog/computer-basics-for-an-online-student/
https://www.industrialmineralmanagement.com/blog/2019/5/27/whats-in-a-pen
https://www.123rf.com/photo_111072573_diary-writing-concept.html
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/hammer-wielding-naked-man-covered-4384722
AEIOU defined the activities that I want the user to take, the environment of the activities, interactions that may happen in the environment, my target user group, and related objects.
A-activities that may help users to relieve their pressure and anxiety. Including mental activities and physical activities.
E-environment should be relatively personal which allows people to pour out/express their emotions and thoughts. If the surrounding area allows, the environment could be isolated from the outside world or be silent from outside.
I-interactions may happen between people, objects, and screens. Single direction interaction with objects(affordance), double direction interaction with people, and machines.
O-any physical objects may become the medium for user to express their thoughts and emotions
U-especially for young women who age between 20-30, however, it may also help people who have lots of pressure to relieve.
Practice Review
During practice reviews, I go over lots of social media platforms and self-pouring out and diary applications. Then I choose four of them for the practice review, Instagram, Wechat, Mooda, and Worry dolls. Ins and WeChat are the most popular chat tools in current NA and China. Sharing pictures and videos, also chat/interact with friends through the app. Mooda is a diary app that uses cute icons and interfaces to attract users to write down their thoughts and form a diary that may share with the public platforms as pictures. Worry doll is simpler than Mooda, it only has one function which lets the user write down their worries. When the worry has gone or the user had deal with it, then the worry may be deleted.
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share pictures/videoes with text
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make comments and likes of pic/video
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chat with friends/send pic/video/stickers
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view tags/similar content
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chat with friend/send pic/video/stickers/documents
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share moment within pic/video/live photo
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game applications
Mooda
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write down thoughts and add pic/stickers
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share diary
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planner
Worry dolls
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write down thoughts
Mind map

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According to previous research, young women who have partners would more likely to talk with a partner. Women who do not have partners, would more likely to talk with their friends. However, they would also digest their negative moods by themselves.
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Based on the previous research conclusion and mind map, I would like to focus on the self-digest point, design a pathway for the moment which people need to pour out.
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Overall, the outcome would focus on women, especially single women who usually self-digest anxiety and depression.
Experience Prototype



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The shape of the experience prototype was inspired by a “tree-hole” which is a secret place for people to pour out anonymously.
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To create a ‘secret place, I was trying to let the tree hole block the sound so that people around would not hear the content of pouring out.
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After test different materials and models, I made a 1:1 ratio model of the cup with wood, and fill the cup with sound-absorbing cotton. Compared with other models, the final version works well, when people were pouring out to the ‘tree hole’, it is hard to hear the voice clearly even people just stand beside them.

Tree hole:
The audience may wear the mask and talk to the tree-hole. This is the experience prototype of the function, which shares their thoughts, self-expression to the tree hole. The cotton would block the sounds so that other people would not able to hear the sounds.

Participant and I both wear noise-canceling headphones. My headphone would play music so I cannot hear what she was saying. Participant’s headphones would play rain sounds which create an isolated space. We both sit inside an enclosure space, safe and private. The participant would more likely to talk with the tree hole than talk with a friend(me).
Wireframe 1.0

Wireframe 2.0
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Tutorial feedback:
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the main function is not clear, chatting or self-pouring?
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the function should remain simple, which would be easier for a user to use at the beginning.
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have more interactions with friends while chatting
Wireframe 3.0

Everyone has our inward world, it records our moods, thoughts, anxiety, and depression.
The purpose of the application is to encourage people to pour out/express their thoughts in mind. Also, encourage their friends to notice their friend’s mental condition.
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virtual map represent user’s inward world
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pouring out may unblock the map
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chat/interact with a friend may unlock the ability to check each other’s map

Hi-fi

Hi-fi was built basically on the structure of wireframes, with better interfaces and icons. Combining the whole functions as a theme and with LOGO.

Showcase




Reflection
The project was starting from research proved phenomenon under COVID-19. I enjoyed the process of having interviews with my friends and listening about their current conditions. If I could I would like to meet them in person. The process of this project was following the research methods of UX design. Starting from interviews and narrowing down to target the users and demands. The most difficult part for UX designers was the gap between research and make it concrete.
To be honest, I am not satisfied with the outcome of the project. Making an app cannot reach the purpose of this research project. I was planning to design an outcome that has a product function but also has social influences. If I could make any change to this project, I would rethink the outcome form.
For future plans for this project, I would like to develop the project topic and purpose. Gender equality should be deeply planted in people's minds. Not only be reflected in design projects, but also in little things in life.