CODARTS ROTTERDAM
The new Student Life Monitor is a tool designed to help performing art students in maintaining their mental and physical health. By having a short and sweet daily moment of reflection, the student becomes aware of behavioural patterns in their daily routine which influence their overall health. The Monitor also offers advice in relation to these patterns, to turn their awareness into actions.
Assignment
In art, passion is the enemy of good health. This is exemplified in the performing art students of Codarts University, who sacrifice sleep and mental well-being to put on the best stage performance they possibly can. Sleep deprivation and stress follow, which then ironically work against the student’s desire for perfection. How do we break this vicious cycle? How do we make sure the students start prioritizing their health?
80%
80% of Codarts students experience sleep deprivation and/or stress due to pressure and expectations.
THE MODEL OF INTEREST DEVELOPMENT
The Student Life Monitor is designed to assist the user in gaining the determination to independently work on their mental and physical health. In realising this, I applied the model of interest development by Hidi and Renninger (see image below) by letting the user go through phase 1 to 3 (image above showcases phase 2 and 3), in which the user ends up being motivated to work on their own health.
Phase 1, a short-lived motivational boost, is found in a notification about the positive influence good health can have on their (stage) performance. Phase 2, continued interest through external motivation, is achieved in a short and sweet moment of daily reflection on their health. These daily reflections are laid out in an overview, letting the user recognise the personal patterns which influence their health.
In this process, the user gains a personal interest to seek out more information (phase 3), which the app provides through tips and advice on sleep and stress.
1.
Triggered Situational Interest
Initial, short-lived attention to subject of interest, sparked by something novel, surprising, or engaging in the environment.
2.
MaintaIned Situational Interest
3.
Emerging Individual Interest
4.
Well-developed Individual Interest
A stable, enduring interest that is integrated into the individual’s identity, displaying deep curiosity and perseverance.
Habit-building through Gamification
Inspired by apps popular with the students of Codarts, such as Duolingo and Pikmin Bloom, I designed functions which motivate consistent usage through gamification. My product sends the user a daily reminder to rate their stress and sleep (see image underneath), allowing them to reflect on their health in a short and sweet manner, and turning health awareness into a habit.
The daily smileys will be integrated into a streak-inspired system, where students are motivated to fill in the overview (see image underneath), preferably a happy smiley to represent good health. These systems serve as external motivation for maintained situational interest, and aim to build a personal, self-driven interest in good health.
The influence of desire
Essential in the early phases of this project is understanding why the students are driven to overstep the boundaries of their health, and what the exact consequences are. Through extensive surveys and interviews with students of various studies, I discovered how much performers love for their hard work to be recognised by an audience; the more effort, the more self-satisfaction.
“There’s no better feeling than literally putting your whole body into a performance, and being able to showcase all that effort to an audience.”
2nd year student at The Codarts Bachelor Of Dance
This search for recognition tremendously raises the student’s own expectations, caused by the expectations they imagine the audience, their co-performers and teachers to have. Combine that with a physically intense study, resulting in a lack of sleep and a surplus of stress experienced in 80% of Codarts students.
Persona for target audience (in Dutch)