Design Thesis Project
Research and develop an innovative artefact to better meet the needs of humanity, improve quality of life, technical performance, furthering the understanding of human beings, or shaping culture for the better.
Keywords: service design, ui/ux designAva -- a space to rest your heavy thoughts
Aug 2019 - May 2020Under the guidance of
PATRICK CHIA Ava is an interactive journalling tool designed to address the low help seeking attitudes of children experiencing their parent’s martial conflicts in a largely conservative society, Singapore.
With the use of interactive gestures and visual feedbacks, Ava becomes a safe digital space that encourage expression of emotions in their darkest hours. While also serving as an open channel that allows children to seek professional help, thus further nudging them towards their road of recovery.
Current plans are made to bring this project forward to, in hopes that one day it will lies in the hands of beneficiary.
FEATURED ON
Straitstimes — Designing for a better future
No children have to suffer alone during their parent’s toughest time.
The general rate of divorce has been falling over the years, but data can be deceiving on a surface level. By diving deeper, it reveals a hidden trend of couples exiting marriage later.
Most divorce cases are acrimonious and typically surrounded by high level of conflict and prolong case battles that can last for years. Children may become a tool to help win their parents battle and end up being an emotional crutch to care for their parents needs. These unaddressed emotional needs of children can led to the development of mental illness and negative trigger down effect into the society and future generations.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
KEY INSIGHTS & OPPORTUNITIES
Despite having a lot of self-help resources and social services available in close geographical proximity, most people don't see a need for it.
But when the need arises, people don't know how to use it or it has become too awkward to use. Despite the low help-seeking attitudes of Singaporean, and the diverse range of divorce cases, there are still commonalities and gaps that intervention can still make a difference.
1 Service Gap
Individuals who need help do not seek it and do not know how despite available resources.
2 Communication is key
Important to address children’s unresolved emotional turmoil to prevent the occurrences of deep-seated trauma.
3 Healing in a private space
Family conflict is still largely seen as a private family affair. Most parents want to help their children but do not know how.ITERATIONS
With the above key insights derived from interviews with key stakeholders such as mental health professionals, social service providers, and users, I started looking into how I can facilitate the healing process between parent and child during separation/divorce.
Being intrigued by the success of asking the right questions that can lead to the unearthing of deep emotional thoughts and in turn creating an emotional bond that strengthens a relationship, I begin my design probs and explorations by first creating conversation cards for parents to facilitate the conversation with their children in a private home space.
TURNING POINT
With each iteration, solutions evolved to become highly parent-centric, involving multiple touch points and resources, making the proposed intervention a long and indirect process to help children.
This solutioning deviates from my initial aspiration, and my gut instinct told me something was off. Hence I asked myself, “what is my one punch solution?” This led to the birth of Ava.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE TO SAY
“ It’s very relieving to know that even if there’s no one there for you or you think there’s no one there for you at least you can seek alternatives like (Ava) ... sometimes if you have too much build up inside of you then it’s not good either so I guess this app is like a solution to that problem.”
— Male, 15yrs old, parents seperated for 5 years
“ It can just be a few seconds of using Ava that turns their life around … as one click leads to another click, one doesn’t even realised they are already on the road to therapeutic recovery. ”
— Female, Divorced
A professor once shared that ‘a project is not finished until it lies in the hands of your users.”
Although my thesis had a somewhat conclusive result for Ava, I am looking at the opportunity of taking this project further to actualise it as an app that lies in the hands of children who are suffering in silence. Join me on this journey to bring this concept to reality, and make a tangible difference to the lives of those children.
Special thanks to
MS LAY LIN, Principal Medical Social Worker at Institute of Mental Health, Singapore; Ms SERENE, Lakeside Family Service Center; DENISE and CLARICE for your valuable insight and input that have contributed to the creation of Ava.