CODARTS ROTTERDAM
The 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 various advices.
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
Sustained attention and engagement with a topic over a longer period, still supported by external factors.
3.
Emerging Individual Interest
The interest becomes more personal and self-driven. The individual actively seeks out information on the topic.
4.
Well-developed Individual Interest
A stable, enduring interest that is integrated into the individual’s identity, displaying deep curiosity and perseverance.
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.
Habit-building through Gamification
My design philosophy is to start by building upon what is already effective. In this case, Duolingo is my ground floor. The language-learning app is extremely popular with the international Students of Codarts, as Duolingo turns a user’s ambitious desire into something easily achievable. Through gamification, functions which motivate consistent usage, and a personal touch, Duolingo turns learning into a habit.
I also researched Pikmin Bloom, an app which motivates me to get my daily steps in. Through a short but sweet moment of daily reflection, the app keeps the user’s mind actively thinking about walking, passively building a habit. I integrated similar habit-building functions into my product.