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SPACE_D
3rd Winner at " Samsung Innovation Award 2021 "
My role - Design and Development
Process Followed
The first thing we did was set ourselves some basic guidelines as to how we were going to approach the project.
Defining Project
Assumptions
Objective
Secondary Research
Domain Study
Trend Research
Competitive Study
Understanding User
User Survey
User Interview
Redefining Project
Problem Statement
Objective
Ideation
Brainstorming
Sketches
Development
Assets
Composition
Rendering
Visual
Logo
Colour Palette
Typography
User Testing
User Testing Plan
Observation
Corrections
Result
Our Findings
Defining Project
Assumption
Virtual Reality Experience can be used as a stress buster
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Objective
An experimental project to understand if and how Virtual Reality Experience can help relax users.
Domain Study
Understanding the aspects of stress
STRESS
Stress is the body’s physical response to a real or perceived threat, demand, or danger.
Types of Stress
Acute
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An acute stress reaction occurs when symptoms develop due to a particularly stressful event.
Episodic
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Episodic acute stress is when a person experiences acute stress frequently.
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If you have episodic acute stress, you may feel like you are always under pressure or that things are always going wrong. This can be exhausting, both physically and mentally.
Chronic
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Chronic stress is ongoing stress resulting from long-term emotional pressure. For example, a stressful job, an unhappy family situation, or money problems.
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If you have chronic stress, your body experiences the fight or flight response too frequently to recover between episodes. This means your nervous system is constantly aroused, which is not good for your health.
Causes of Stress
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Environmental
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Individual
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Work
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Social
Symptoms of Stress
Cognitive Symptoms of stress include:
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Constant worrying
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Racing thoughts
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Forgetfulness and disorganization
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Inability to focus
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Poor judgment
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Being pessimistic or seeing only the negative side
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Emotional Symptoms of stress include:
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Becoming easily agitated, frustrated, and moody
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Feeling overwhelmed, like you are losing control or need to take control
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Have difficulty relaxing and quieting your mind
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Feeling bad about yourself (low self-esteem), lonely, worthless, and depressed
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Avoiding others
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Physical Symptoms of stress include:
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Low energy
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Headaches
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Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation, and nausea
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Aches, pains, and tense muscles
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Chest pain and rapid heartbeat
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Insomnia
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Frequent colds and infections
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Loss of sexual desire and/or ability
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Nervousness and shaking, ringing in the ear, cold or sweaty hands and feet
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Dry mouth and difficulty swallowing
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Clenched jaw and grinding teeth
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Behavioral Symptoms of stress include:
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Changes in appetite -- either not eating or eating too much
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Procrastinating and avoiding responsibilities
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Increased use of alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes
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Exhibiting more nervous behaviors, such as nail biting, fidgeting, and pacing
Domain Study
RELAXATION
It's a process that decreases the effects of stress on your mind and body.
Some Criteria of Relaxation
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Lower heart rate
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Lower breathing rate
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Reduced muscles tension
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Some Relaxation Techniques
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Breathing
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Imagery
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Progressive Muscle Relaxation
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Some Relaxation Practices
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Listen to music
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Take a walk
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Sleep
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Meditation
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Excercise
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Hobbies
VIRTUAL REALITY
Benefits
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It’s been long established that going outdoors can boost well-being. For example, a 2016 University of Queensland study in Scientific Reports found that people who visited green spaces had lower blood pressure and lower rates of depression.
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Software developers are taking advantage of this link by creating VR environments that can relax users with music, animations, and real or simulated natural environments.
Drawbacks
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Lack of clinical data showing that VR experiences can be as effective as actually being in natural surroundings
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Whether people will replace taking a walk in the woods with strapping on a VR headset
Argument
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VR will inspire people to eventually seek out real nature
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It caters to people to see places which they might never get to see in real life, like Mount Everest.
TREND RESEARCH
COMPETITIVE STUDY
Psious is a virtual reality therapy platform for mental health professionals
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5.2 Million USD with 12 Investors
Founded in 2013
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Advantages
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Measuremnents and reporting
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Huge number of immersive enviornments
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Limitations
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Cost not transparent
OxfordVR develops psychological interventions for treatment and deliver them using VR
17.2 Million USD with 8 Investors
Founded in 2017
Advantages
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Automated therapy
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Sucessfully treat many psychological disorders
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Also boost social engagment
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Limitations
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Helpful only when people are aware of the disorder
149 responses
UNDERSTANDING USER
1
How old are you?
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What is your current status?
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What is the approximate duration of break you usually get at college and/or work?
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What do you usually do during your college and/or work break for relaxation?
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Which theme would you like to see in a virtual environment?
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What style would you like to see in a virtual environment?
CONCEPT
We propose a short virtual reality experience to relieve stress and relax people during breaktime in colleges and offices due to long working hours in the same space.
In today’s fast paced world, students and working professionals deal with stress related issues on a daily basis.
Due to long working hours in the same space and less or no time for breaks, it becomes difficult to do stress relieving activities like meditation or going for a walk. Studies have shown that higher levels of stress in students and employess result in a decrease in academic performace and work efficiency respectively. Research also shows that taking regular breaks while working helps in improving the productivity of the students and employees. The majority of people were using their break time for either eating (66.4%) or spending their time on phones (65.8%).
Therefore, we thought of replacing the screen time with virtual reality experience which will help relaxing in a short span of time.
VALUE PROPOSITION
Often the way in which office work spaces are designed is very formal and monotonous. It is important to have a calm and peaceful mindset for all the employees and for that, they need a change in space which is not always possible due to the lack of space in the cities.
To provide a change of space, there are a few pockets for relaxation that are created around the office, in between the long working hours. Similarly, there may be working studios or labs, incubation centers and co-working spaces in colleges.
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Our idea is to give students and employees better and more qualitative relaxation during these small break times, in a way that it can fit into every office and college constraint.
DEVELOPMENT
Next we started creating the virtual space.
Process Followed
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Creating assets in blender and composing the space
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The camera to create the video
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Rendering the Frames
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Combining the frames in After Effects
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Compiling the overall video in Premiere Pro
Rendered Frames
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Exporting every frame at a high resolution (4k) so that the experience is seamless and realistic. The frame rates were customised according to the HMD to create the video.
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STEPS FOLLOWED BY USER
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EXPERIENCE
“ I had to hold the headset because it felt blurry .”
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“ I was cautious for vertigo. ”
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“ The visuals can be improved. ”
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“ I was aware of the surroundings. ”
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“ The volume was too loud. ”
RESULT AND ANALYSIS
By comparing the emotions marked in Russell’s Core Affect Model, the ratio of pleasant to unpleasant emotions increased from 2.95 before the experience to 19.25 after the experience. This shift from unpleasant to pleasant emotions indicates that VR was able to effectively induce positive emotions in the users.
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BEFORE
AFTER
EDA ANALYSIS
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The below graphs of all the participants are shown in Fig. The values on the x-axis show the data points throughout the experiment while the person is wearing the device. Since each user took a different amount of time to complete the experiment, this value varies for each participant giving distinct endpoints for every graph. The values on the y-axis show the normalized value of EDA which lies in the range of -1 to 1 where 0 is the starting point for every user. An increase in the final baseline of the majority of the participants can be seen as compared to the initial baseline showing emotional arousal.
The below graphs of participants who mentioned at least one unpleasant emotion in the pre-test survey and mentioned only pleasant emotions in the post-test survey from Russell’s Core Affect Model are segregated in Fig. An increase in the baseline at the end of the experience can be seen as compared to the beginning indicating a positive EDA change.
BUSINESS MODEL
“ The global mental health market size was valued at $383.31 million in 2020, and is estimated to reach $537.97 million by 2030, growing at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 3.5% from 2021 to 2030”
Our service helps offices who wants to improve employee well-being to increase productivity and efficiency and reduce stress related to work.
FUTURE SCOPE
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Further improving the quality and resolution of the render frames to make the experience more realistic and immersive.
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The area in which the users were told to relax could be more comfortable.
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Multiple virtual environmrnts could be created if needed, considering each user.