Finding North - Marrying the Physical and the Emotional to Process Trauma

Finding North Marrying the physical and the emotional in order to process trauma

1 | Introduction

Finding North Marrying the physical and the emotional in order to process trauma

Oscar de la Hera Gomez MFA Products of Design School of Visual Arts

Finding North: Marrying the Physical and the Emotional in order to Process Trauma This publication accompanies the MFA Products of Design thesis project of Oscar de la Hera Gomez conducted at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Oscar de la Hera Gomez Author Designer Jay Drinkall Editor Allan Chochinov Chair, MFA Products of Design, School of Visual Arts Thesis I Instructor Mentor Abby Covert Thesis II Instructor Š 2016 Oscar de la Hera Gomez All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing from the author.

To see more visit www.oscardelahera.com To get in touch feel free to write me an email to oscar.delahera@gmail.com Follow me on social media @Delasign School of Visual Arts MFA Products of Design 136 West 21st Street New York, NY 10011-3212 www.productsofdesign.sva.edu

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Preface As an explorer of the psyche, I have always been obsessed with achieving a better understanding of my mind and those of others. This obsession has gone hand in hand with the desire of creating a world that is better for all of us. A utopia where all of us were able to coexist and transition through unfortunate events in harmony.

Unfortunately, it appears that we are yet very far away from this dream [1].

We are unable to coexist with one another, often unconscious of the damage that we inflict on each other.

A damage that is often overlooked and undermined, and results in emotional trauma.

I have personally witnessed emotional trauma in myself and others, as well as its effects on our vitality, activity and joy. It is an event so frequent, powerful and painful that I was compelled to conduct my thesis with the purpose of helping alleviate the pain of those who are transitioning through emotional trauma. This is a challenge that I believe is greater than a single thesis, and one that I hope I can begin to resolve through products of design. It is a quest that I hope will help both myself and those around me overcome these emotional hurdles with greater ease and confidence.

Finding North

Perhaps I am naive in this quest, however I believe in the power of design. Design is a ubiquitous superpower that allows designers to deliver tailored experiences to the masses. Referred to as a ‘virus’ by Pepin Gelardi, design has the potential to manipulate or influence the world into changing their behaviours, resulting in more desirable outcomes [59]. Design is a tool for change, a tool for a better world. A tool that in conjunction with my passion to change lives, I hope to use to successfully shift the mental paradigm of those who have suffered to a brighter, healthier state of mind.

However, before we begin, it is important to note that our fearless leader, Allan Chochinov, stated that as designers we must be “Hippocratic before Socratic,” and that designers must remember that every design decision is multiplied by the thousands.

This thesis is no exception, and should take greater consideration to the health and lives of those involved [10].

These are not regular products of consequence. They are products of design dreamt to touch the fibers of humanity, with the hope of healing and restoring joy to those who have suffered. The consequences exceed that of any ordinary product. The consequence is the vitality of the minds of the people that we all know and love.

Preface

Table of Contents Introduction

1

Goals and Objectives

7

Mind Change Control Perspective Empathy Breathing Coalescence Build, Measure Learn Unity Function-all

9 10 11 13 15 16 17 18 19

Perspective

21

Challenges

25

Consciousness Hacking

27

Research and Methodology

29

Areas of Interest Spirituality Neurolinguistic Programming Neurofeedback Cognitive Behavioural Therapy EMDR

31 33 35 37 39 41

Landscape Research Philosophy Kübler-Ross Model for Grieving Symptoms and Effects Breathing Resonant Breathing

43 45 47

Finding North

49 51 53

Screen Apnea Modes of Action Brainwaves Meditation Empathy

55 57 59 61 63

Products of Consciousness Muse MindSong HeartSync Pause Táctica

65 67 69 71 73 75

Expert Interviews Jessica Wolf Emily Roberts Enrique Simó Javier Iglesias Coll Pepin Gelardi

77 81 85 89 93 97

Design-Centered Research and Development

101

Stasis Inspiration Brainwaves and Mind Wandering

103 105 107

Mind Wandering and Emotional Trauma

108

How Brainwaves are Measured and Analysed

109

Brainwaves within Mind Wandering

110

Ensuring a Clean Signal Regions Affected by Mind Wandering

111 112

Design Constraints Design Systems and Their Value

113 115

Brainwave Consistency Across the Vertex

117

Deciphering the Ideal Location

119

A Critique of Stasis

121

Project Spiro Inspiration System Overview

123 125 129

Spira Determining the Ideal Sensor Constructing the Algorithm

130 131 135

Building Spira Selecting Spira’s Technological Components

137 139

Selecting Spira’s Fasteners Raising Spira’s Fidelity

140 141

Spiro Lumi Solace

143 145 151

Solace Solace: Meditation for All Solace: The Light in All of Us

169 171 177

Audience, Stakeholder & Markets Audience Stakeholders Markets Explorative Lenses

187 189 191 193 195

Workshop

197

Service Design tune-in Lucid

203 205 207

Designing for Screens Stasis Spiro Reduce

211 213 217 221

Designing for Social Value Aspire

227 229

Products Spiro I Spiro II Finito Alivio

235 237 241 243 251

Campaign

257

Table of Contents

Products of Design Stasis Solace: Meditation for All Solace: The Light in All of Us Lumi Empatia Future Stasis Project Spiro

265 267 277 289 307 317 325 327 329

Gracias

333

A Critical Assesment of Products of Design

335

References

Finding North

337

Table of Contents

Lexicon

Finding North

Image Source: [154]

Lexicon

Term:

Action-Replay

Description:

The mental paradigm in which an individual is repetitively reliving particular moments in time.

Synonym:

Recapitulate, Repeat, Remember, Rerun

Term:

Alexander Technique

Description:

The Alexander technique (AT), named after Frederick Matthias Alexander, is an educational process that teaches people how to avoid unnecessary muscular and mental tension.

Synonym:

N/A

Term:

Biofeedback

Description:

A technique you can use to learn to control your body’s functions, such as your heart rate. With biofeedback, you’re connected to electrical sensors that help you receive information (feedback) about your body (bio).

Synonym:

feedback, response

Term:

Cognitive Overload

Description:

The phenomenon in which an individual’s mind has reached and surpassed the limit of its capacity.

Synonym:

Absorbed, Obsessed, Consumed, Fatigued

Term:

Consciousness

Description:

The state of awareness on a particular topic or situation.

Synonym:

Awareness, Comprehensions, Enlightenment, Perception, Mindfulness

Finding North

Term:

Consciousness Hacking

Description:

The use of technological or other means as a way to gain awareness of your consciousness.

Synonym:

N/A

Term:

Devastating processing

Description:

A state of mind in which an individual is constantly processing a series of traumatic events in an attempt to try and find out where things may have gone wrong and is believed to be extremely detrimental to an individual’s health.

Synonym:

Absorbed, Obsessed, Traumatised

Term:

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Description:

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test that detects electrical activity in your brain using small, flat metal discs (electrodes) attached to your scalp. Your brain cells communicate via electrical impulses and are active all the time, even when you’re asleep. This activity shows up as wavy lines on an EEG recording.

Synonym:

N/A Defintion from: http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/eeg/basics/ definition/prc-20014093

Term:

Emotional Trauma

Description:

The psychological and emotional condition resultant of a particularly distasteful experience such as the breach of a harmonious relationship, the loss of a loved one or professional failure.

Synonym:

Confusion, Anguish, Damage, Injury, Upheavel, Shock, Wound, Stress, Suffering, Disturbance

Lexicon

Term:

Inner Peace

Description:

A state of bliss in which the individual is at ease with his present situation and his direct environment and has no need to change anything.

Synonym:

Balance, Unity, Union, Calm, Harmony, Concord, Content

Term:

Lens

Description:

A perspective or direction which can be explored by the thesis.

Synonym:

Field, Scenario, Area of Interest

Term:

Lost their North

Description:

The situation in which an individual loses their sense of direction and thus, their mind and is consequently, acting out of place.

Synonym:

Loss of North, Loss of Mind, Loss of Center

Term:

Minimum Viable Product

Description:

The least developed version of a product that can be tested and ideally, taken to market.

Synonym:

N/A

Term:

Motion Artifacts

Description:

Bodily artifacts that move such as the eyes or ears.

Synonym:

Eyes, Ears, Jaw, Mouth, Tongue

Term:

Neurological behaviour

Description:

The activity or patterns shown by the nerves or nervous system.

Synonym:

Mental Activity, Mental Patterns

Finding North

Term:

Outlier

Description:

A data point on a graph or in a set of results that is very much bigger or smaller than the next nearest data point.

Synonym:

Anomaly, Irregularity

Term:

Paradigm

Description:

A consistent pattern, state or model.

Synonym:

Pattern, State, Mode

Term:

Perceptual Positions

Description:

Placing yourself in a specific position or perspective, in the case of this thesis, with the purpose of helping you understand and empathise with a situation.

Synonym:

First Person, Third Person, Out of Body

Term:

Psyche

Description:

The mental or psychological structure of a person, especially as a motive force.

Synonym:

Mind, Soul, Spirit, Self Definition from: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/psyche

Term:

Pursuit of North

Description:

The phenomenon after a traumatic event in which an individual is seeking to regain mental, physical and spiritual balance.

Synonym:

Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Restoration, Readjustment

Lexicon

Term:

Run of Show

Description:

A document or map created to help an individual plan an event.

This often involves time and can be done to the scale desired by the individual.

Synonym:

Plan, Script, Map

Term:

Social Construct

Description:

A psychological set of rules created by an individual or group of individuals.

Synonym:

Rules, Laws

Term:

Social Interventions

Description:

Interventions such as discussions or therapy from individuals that include friends, family and licensed professionals such as spiritual leaders, psychotherapists, psychologists, neuro linguistic programming experts, life coaches, transformational coaches amongst others.

Synonym:

Therapy, Meditation

Term:

Stakeholder

Description:

A person with an interest or concern in something, especially a business.

Synonym:

Investor, User, Advertiser, Promoter, Designer, Engineer

Term:

State of Duality

Description:

A phenomenon by which an individual is physically present but their mind is elsewhere.

Synonym:

Lack of presence, absorbed

Finding North

Term:

The Observer

Description:

An individual that separates himself from his mind and allows his thoughts to flow, analysing each of them without judging them.

Synonym:

N/A

Term:

The Transition

Description:

The series of events that occur between when an individual is emotionally traumatised to when they are living a balanced, healthy lifestyle with a peaceful state of mind.

Synonym:

Process, Journey, Shift, Evolution, Metamorphosis, Transit

Term:

Vertex

Description:

The Crown of the head.

Synonym:

Crown

Term:

Vitality

Description:

The state of being strong and active; energy.

Synonym:

Life, Energy, Strength, Stamina

Lexicon

Introduction In Spain, we have a saying “ha perdido su norte” or “they have lost their north”, to describe when a person has lost their mind or is acting out of place.

This statement may occur due to a wide variety of reasons. The concept of ‘finding north’ has been previously mirrored by John Bowlby’s ‘search for the lost object’, which he places at the center of any mourning response and refers to the psychological condition faced after the loss of a loved one. This psychological condition was described as the scenario where a person goes over every single detail leading up to the loss, in a kind of compulsive ‘actionreplay’, in order to determine what mistake was made and what could have been different [11].

Time has shown me that finding north is a pursuit that occurs within all of us at one stage or another. A sentiment that was confirmed by the worlds largest epidiomelogical study, which suggested that these experiences happen to 60% of US civilians at least once in their lives [155]. Furthermore, having travelled the world and had the opportunity to meet people of all backgrounds and cultures, it can be confirmed that the pursuit north is a multicultural phenomenon that design must attend to [12].

Finding North | 1

2 |Finding North

In particular, this thesis is focussed on attending those who have recently lost their north due to a emotional trauma. The designer believes that this phenomenon catapults the individual to a state of duality where they are continuously ruminating, often uncontrollably, in a Bowlbian quest for their lost one and is known to cause exhaustion, insomnia and loss of appetite amongst other effects [11,19].

The designer is still fascinated by the lack of products of design in this field. Products that would allow users to overcome this emotional hurdle without the need of medication, selfhelp books or professional guidance.

The very few that have been developed, such as Muse, MindSong or HeartSync, are discussed from page 65 onwards.

Finding North | 3

Although licensed professionals in the field have suggested that the voyage to find north is one that should not be taken alone, the designer seeks to create products of design that may complement current social and medical interventions. Furthermore, the designer seeks to create solutions that help individuals gain greater introspection as well as gathering understanding of their psyche and neurological behaviour.

That said, there have been considerable advances in various other fields that can be used to process emotional trauma. These are described in research & methodology section (page 29 onwards) and range from scientifically backed methods such as Neurofeedback and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), to scientifically discouraged methods that are only empirically proven such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and bilateral stimulation techniques [7,13,14,15,16,37]. Additionally, other services often used to attend to this this cause are yoga and meditation studios, which allow the individual to gain a better connection to themselves and their thoughts.

Finally, the goal of Finding North is to create a suite of products of design that can help those who have recently suffered emotional trauma to ‘hack their consciousness’, learn from their experience and break the imbalance caused by the Bowlbian ‘search for the lost object’ [11]. Furthermore, I believe that gifting individuals with objects to hack their consciousness will empower them to overcome their trauma with or without professional help[20]. This vision came to me after watching Mickey Siegel founder of the Consciousness Hacking movement, describing the importance of helping users find inner peace during his TED Talk on Enlightenment Engineering, and the pivotal role that technology will play in this process [18].

4 | Introduction

Peace eases transition

Finding North | 5

Thesis Statement

6 | Thesis Statement

Goals and Objectives Finding North has an array of goals and objectives that the designer believes necessary to adequately execute the thesis statement, and thus allow individuals who have recently suffered emotional trauma to transition into a state of peace and ease. These goals and objectives are discussed at length in the following sections. All came to light during the research period through a series of interviews with experts (page 77), as well as a series of conversations between the designer and Pilar Gomez Castillo, Paco Gomez Gallardo, Alain Garrido Rodriguez, Christian Jakenfelds and Daniel A. Gomez.

Consequently the designer deems the following goals and objectives fundamental in order to address the needs of his target audience (Page 192) and has incorporated them into Finding North’s products of design:

Finding North | 7

1. Mind Change: Assisting individuals in successfully shifting their mental paradigm.

2. Control: Allowing individuals to reduce their emotional intensity and gain control of the present moment.

3. Perspective: Helping individuals gain a better situational awareness.

4. Empathy: Teaching and practicing the ability to empathise.

5. Breathing: Exhibiting the innate ability that our breath carries in facilitating healing.

6. Coalescence: Enabling individuals to establish a better mind-body connection.

7. Build, Measure, Learn: Testing and iterating the products of design to deliver value.

8. Unity: Uniting all of Finding North’s stakeholders together under a platform.

9. Function-all: Engineering to deliver functionality.

8 | Goals and Objectives

Mind Change: Assisting individuals in successfully shifting their mental paradigm.

Finding North aims to deliver products of design that assist individuals in successfully shifting their mental paradigm. This goal was one of the founding motions behind the thesis and came to life during the summer of 2015 when the designer was processing an emotional trauma of his own and reading Mind Change by Susan Greenfield.

Experiencing and discussing emotional trauma on a broad range of occasions throughout his life has taught the designer that one of the key pain points that the thesis’s target individual faces is the inability to shift the mental paradigm.

This inability to shift the traumatised state of mind can result in the individual suffering a constant ‘action-replay’ – a major part of Bowlby’s ‘search for the lost object.’ In this scenario the individual is wandering their mind endlessly, analysing and replaying a past series of events in a vicious cycle of thought, with the purpose of discovering mistakes that had been made, hoping to change the past events [11].

Finding North | 9

This state of mind causes what the designer coined ‘devastating processing’ and results in cognitive and physical exhaustion, altered breathing, professional and social problems as well as depression [24,19]. Additionally, this state of mind creates a paradigm by which it is more difficult for an individual to overcome the traumatic event, as they fixated on fighting the issue with their mind. A motion that, given the mental paradigm, the designer believes is detrimental to an individual’s health and must be altered and understood in order to transition.

Furthermore, in agreement with Rorty and de Sousa, the designer believes that the heightened emotions that arise during ‘devastating processing’ make certain aspects of the situation that gave rise to the emotional trauma more prominent in memory, giving them more value in our memory than if they would have in the absence of emotion, further distressing the vitality of the individual [47,48].

Control: Allowing individuals to reduce their emotional intensity and gain control of the present moment.

Finding North aims to enable individuals to gain control of their mind and body by executing a suite of products of design that allow individuals to reduce their emotional intensity and gain control of the present moment.

This goal came to life during a series of expert interviews (page 77) with psychotherapist Emily Roberts and breathing expert Jessica Wolf, both of whom claimed that it is incredibly important to reduce the heightened emotions experienced by an individual when processing emotional trauma.

Both Roberts and Wolf suggested that this reduction of emotional intensity is fundamental, as it enables the individual to regain control, allowing them to cope with the situation better [65].

This is a critical objective to the thesis as throughout his life, the designer has struggled to process emotional trauma due to his impulsive nature.

Furthermore, based on Rorty and de Sousa, the designer believes that these heightened emotions make certain emotionally traumatic memories more prominent, giving them more value than they would have in the absence of emotion, further distressing the vitality of the individual [47,48].

Having interviewed individuals who have recently suffered emotional trauma and personally witnessed the events and actions that are engaged in by them, it is clear to the designer that a key part of the detrimental consequences that can arise are due to heightened emotions. With these arguments in mind, the designer can conclude that enabling these individuals to regain control of their present mind and body is fundamental to Finding North.

10 | Goals and Objectives

Perspective: Helping individuals gain a better situational awareness.

Finding North aims to help individuals to understand the events that occurred around the traumatic experience, with the purpose of relieving stress and anxiety, reducing cognitive overload as well as granting individuals a greater situational understanding.

This goal became apparent during the interviews (page 77) with Roberts and Wolf, as well as one with writer Rob Walker. It was also informed by a series of conversations between the designer and Pilar Gomez Castillo, Alain Rodriguez Garrido and Christian Jakenfelds. In particular the conversation with Jakenfelds during the summer of 2015. Jakenfelds and the designer discussed at length the fundamental nature of understanding a situation and its ability to influence an individual’s perspective and through this help them transition past an emotionally traumatic experience.

This ability to change perspective was later discussed with Walker, who suggested that instead of mind change, the designer was attempting to help individuals switch their perspective and that he believed that this was a fundamental element to enable the transition past the trauma.

Finding North | 11

As part of this conversation between the designer and Walker, the writer suggested that the trauma is often overcome much faster than an individual perceives and that perhaps raising awareness of this phenonmenon could help individuals transition to peacefulness faster.

The designer later linked this suggestion to Bowlby’s ‘search for the lost object’ [11]. With this in mind, the designer derived that perhaps a greater understanding of the situation would lead to a shift in perspective that could perhaps break the Bowlbian quest and consequently, help individuals transition.

This notion was disseminated further in a series of interviews with Roberts, who informed the designer that reducing emotional intensity would enrich and advance the process by which individuals place the right pieces of the ‘puzzle’ together, resulting in a shift of perspective.

Image Source: [143]

12 | Introduction

Empathy: Teaching and practicing the ability to empathise.

Finding North aims to teach empathy and enable individuals to practice it on a regular basis.The purpose of this is to help individuals rationalise situations, bridge the gap between an individual’s perspective and reality, and push towards a more unified society.

This goal came to life during the summer of 2015 when the designer came across a quote by Albert Einstein stating that “problems cannot be solved with the same mindset that created them” [87].

Throughout the subsequent week, the designer questioned what Einstein meant by this suggestion.

At the time, the designer was also immersed in Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now, which dwells in depth on the fundamental nature of thinking with a non-judgemental perspective [2]. Tolle suggests that through empathy we can bridge the gap between our egoistic perspective and the reality that we live in, enabling society to unite.

Finding North | 13

Tolle takes this ideology further in his book A New Earth: Awakening to your Life’s Purpose, where he suggests that as human beings we have reached a fundamental point in our journey and that if we do not change our ways and empathise with ourselves and planet earth, we are surely doomed [1].

This notion has been translated by the designer to apply to emotional trauma: if we choose not to empathise with ourselves and the situation, we are destined to extend the stress, anxiety and pain that is felt as a result of processing trauma.

Although these ideas were powerful and pushed the designer to believe that empathy was a fundamental element to finding north, it was unclear to the designer exactly what Tolle meant by ‘empathy’. This doubt was later cleared when the designer was reading Tom Hoobyar’s and Susan Sanders’s NLP: The Essential Guide to Neuro-Linguistic Programming. This book takes a deep dive into the territory of empathy, discussing how it effects both our physical and mental health, as well as human potential [7].

Learning about NLP has taught the designer that empathy involves the ability for a human to recollect a situation, whilst simultaneously separating themselves and their ego from it. Once this was established, NLP suggests that empathy involves three phases or facets: empathising with yourself, empathising with the opposing party and finally, empathising with both users as though you were an innocent bystander [7]. Additionally, Hoobyar’s and Sanders’s concept of empathy is suggested to help shift an individual’s mental paradigm and gain a greater situational understanding, which could potentially lead to a healthier and happier society.

Additionally, the designer believes that this concept of empathy is heavily linked to the concept of the observer (Lexicon), a term that was introduced in Tolle’s The Power of Now. This concept is shared by the spiritual community as a fundamental component of meditation, by which an individual separates himself from his mind [2].

Additionally, this element is considered fundamental to meditation and has proven to shift an individual’s mental paradigm, enhance wellbeing and raise sharpness [88].

Finally, the designer would like to highlight another conversation with Roberts, which discussed at length the necessity for individuals to empathise with themselves and the situation from all sides. As part of this conversation, the designer discovered that although empathy is a word used often, there appears to be a great lack of understanding as to what empathy means and how it is being practiced. Thus, in the light of the findings described above, the designer intends to build a product of design that can be used to teach and facilitate empathy. The designer considers this an important distinction as a product cannot practice empathy as it is an inanimate object but may facilitate that practice in humans though.

14 | Goals and Objectives

Breathing: Exhibiting the innate ability that our breath carries in facilitating healing.

Finding North carries the intention of exhibiting the innate ability that our breath carries in helping us heal, with the purpose of allowing individuals to calm down, find peace and relief and reduce emotional intensity . As described in page 10, this last benefit is believed to be fundamental for the thesis.

This objective was also initially uncovered during the summer of 2015, in a moment when the designer was struggling with a series of personal events that had catapulted him into a state of cognitive overload and mental disparity. The effects of his heightened emotions had charged the designer’s body with instability and pain.

At this very moment the designer decided to pause, sit down, meditate and breathe. And it was the breath that enabled the designer to achieve a greater mind-body connection (page 16), reduce emotional intensity (page 10) and rationalise the situation, as well as enabling him to empathise with the moment (page 13). This simultaneously shifted his mental paradigm page 9) and perspective (page 11). Due to this particularly memorable moment, the designer believes that breath is fundamental for vitality and recovery.

Finding North | 15

This point was confirmed during a series of interviews with Jessica Wolf, a world-renowned breathing expert and the author of The Art of Breathing.

During these interviews, Wolf informed the designer that “breath is the vitality”.

Furthermore, Wolf informed the designer of the health hazard she believes that society will shortly face due to ‘screen apnea’ – a phenomenon experienced by the majority of society, in which individuals do not breath in front of screens. Wolf also informed the designer that the majority of individuals do not practice diaphragmatic breathing and that this is detrimental to health. Finally, she suggested that diaphragmatic breathing is a key element in helping individuals reduce emotional trauma and find peace (page 10).

Coalescence: Enabling individuals to establish a better mind-body connection.

Finding North carries the intention of enabling individuals to establish a better mind-body connection, with the purpose of allowing individuals to pause, return to the moment and understand what is going on in their body.

This objective was initially uncovered during the summer of 2015, struggling with the series of personal events described in section 1.5. The findings that were uncovered as part of this moment in time were later confirmed by thesis experts Emily Roberts, Enrique Sim贸, Javier Iglesias Coll and Pilar Quera, as well as through a series of conversations with Pilar Gomez Castillo.

In particular, the designer would like to bring to light a conversation with psychotherapist Emily Roberts. As part of this conversation, Roberts ran through one of the techniques that she uses as part of her therapy, which involved pushing the designer to use his mind to sense different part of the body [65]. Due to this experience, the designer felt a greater mind-body connection, which empowered him to relax and think more clearly and calmly.

16 | Goals and Objectives

Build, Measure, Learn: Testing and iterating the products of design to deliver value.

Finding North carries the intention of testing and iterating all products of design that will arise from this thesis in order to learn from stakeholders and build on these findings, with the purpose of delivering value.

This objective came to be during the summer of 2014 when the designer was working at Level39 (Europe’s largest technology accelerator) where he was building “ShOut” – a social network with the vision of revolutionizing the event industry.

This experience, in hand with Eric Reis’s book Lean Start-Up, informed the designer’s views on creating a successful product for the market as well as the fundamental nature of prototyping, learning from your stakeholders and iterating [89].

Finding North | 17

Thus, when the designer watched the Products of Design thesis presentations of fellow designers Clay Kippen, Damon Ahola and Richard Clarkson, he made it his goal to create a thesis that executed Reis’s Lean philosophy to greatest extent possible.

Unity: Uniting all of Finding North’s stakeholders together under a platform.

Finding North carries the objective of uniting all of its stakeholders under a platform with the purpose to create a trustworthy, supporting and healthy environment where individuals can go to process their emotional trauma.

This objective arose in the final semester of Products of Design and during Steven Dean’s class Service Entrepreneurship, which took place in the spring semester of 2016. As part of this class, the designer was pushed to develop a service for his thesis, which resulted in the project Spiro (page 123).

As part of this development process, the designer carried out a series of follow-up interviews with experts in order to validate Solace the service and discover additional vertical markets for it (page 193).

As a result of these interviews, the experts pushed the designer to make Solace into a platform that could incorporate a wide array of products and services.

Furthermore, this notion was strengthened during a series of conversations with Alain Garrido Rodriguez, Daniel A. Gomez and Mark Paetz, who informed the designer of their perspective on the state felt by those who have suffered emotional trauma and how important it is to have a support in these times, suggesting that a platform able to unify stakeholders would be critical to helping individuals transition into a peaceful state of mind.

18 | Goals and Objectives

Functional-all: Engineering to deliver functionality.

As suggested by the title, Finding North carries the intention of engineering a suite of products of design to be fully functional, with high-fidelity resolution and quality products of design that deliver the intended functionality, result and experience to the end user.

This final objective of the thesis is particularly important to the designer as he personally believes that the contemporary designer must be wellrounded, with engineering as one implement in an extensive ‘toolbox’.

Finding North | 19

The designer strongly believes that simply employing design as a vessel for breaking boundries is not enough.

Furthermore, the designer believes that pushing this discipline as a means to achieve the impossible is unholy and disrespectful to professional collaborators. This said, the designer deems it important to break boundaries in real-time by building on state-of-the art foundations: pushing the limits and capabilities of society in time with the industry.

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20 | Goals and Objectives

Perspective Having been blessed from a young age, the designer has had the luxury to travel around the world and meet individuals of all colours and races. This experience showed the designer that regardless of how positive society may want to be and how well they may act, inevitable collisions and ego-driven events will lead to the fracture human bonds. As a consequence, emotional trauma is experienced.

This experience, alongside with recent events, serves as a constant reminder of the ubiquitous nature of emotional trauma: how it affects our vitality, activity and joy. If this weren’t enough, emotional trauma has been known to be a catalyst for making or breaking relationships, with friends often choosing either to help or part ways with the traumatised individual.

This series of painful events can result in a series of mind-body manifestations, including cognitive overload, stress and anxiety. This leads individuals to lose their direction – or in the voice of this thesis, their north.

Finding North | 21

22 | Introduction

During the transition by which the individual regains balance by processing emotional trauma, the designer believes that the given individual is in pursuit of north. The pursuit of north is a complicated topic.

This became apparent during a series of conversations held between Alain Rodriguez Garrido and the designer, which brought to light the delicate nature of this pursuit: how an individual regains their center, balance and joy as well as what is necessary to help individuals overcome their trauma.

The first insight from these conversations is the symmetry between the exploratory creative process and the pursuit of north. As a result of this conversation, the designer believes that the pursuit of north is very similar to the ‘double diamond’ model (Appendix x), in the sense that after a traumatic event an individual must initially explore a vast space of opportunity to regain their balance.

However, it is important to note that as part of this pursuit the individual will partake both good and bad experiences, which in turn result in the narrowing down of what they desire.

The designer believes that this process will bring great relief and temporary balance to the individual’s life, but will eventually result in the individual returning to a narrower exploratory phase, in what could be considered his second diamond. A diamond that the designer believes will lead the individual to great personal satisfaction, joy and balance.

The second insight is the spectrum of assistance that is necessary for an individual to reclaim their north. In particular, the conversation brought to light the idea that pursuing a purely ‘western’, social or a purely ‘eastern’, introspective healing dynamic is not the most effective, but rather that an individual should practice a dynamic that takes both into consideration.

“The argument goes that if the past has uncertain effect on the present, there is no need to dwell on the past. And if the present has no effect on the future, present actions need not be weighed for their consequence.”

– Alan Lightman, Einstein’s Dream [25]

Finding North | 23

The designer believes finding a mixed dynamic is fundamental to the recovery process: an individual alone will never be able to identify all the elements for what they are or what they should be, let alone the wide array of elements that could exist within the context of the traumatic experience.

However, although a ‘western’, social dynamic may help in gaining awareness, deciphering and processing the traumatic experience, it would be inauthentic to take other opinions or visions as one’s own during this time.

Thus, the designer believes that in order for individuals to gain an ideal vision in line with the elements that may decipher the traumatic, they must also partake in an eastern, introspective dynamic, as a vision will not influence an individual if it is not their own vision.

As a result of these two insights, the designer believes that the recovery process is like an extremely intricate puzzle, whose pieces have been scattered in unknown locations that must be explored through time.

Further puzzle pieces that were initially unavailable will be gained throught time and understanding. However, the designer believes that holding all the pieces to the puzzle is only half the quest and that in order to solve the puzzle, an individual must practice a combined social-introspective dynamic with friends, family and professionals, in order to successfully complete the puzzle.

24 | Perspective

Challenges The biggest challenge that is expected to be faced during this thesis is the stigma between spirituality (page 33) and technology. To many, spirituality excludes technology and that it is a boundary that should not be crossed.

However, Mickey Siegel (of the Consciousness Hacking movement) believes that “we are in an incredible time both culturally and technologically, to have a technological renaissance�

[18]. Due to the current impact caused by projects such as MUSE, Headspace and Pause, the designer believes that technology has already started to make its way in this field. In this light, the thesis will attempt to use design as an tool to adequately execute technological products of design that will help ease individuals process the emotional trauma.

Finding North | 25

Image Source [75].

“If it was possible to become free of negative emotions by a riskless implementation of an electrode without impairing intelligence and the critical mind – I would be the first patient.”

– The Dalai Lama [20].

Another expected challenge is how the designer will inject the research carried out into the products of design, and how that will create significant change. This is particularly challenging with areas such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Cognitive Behavioural therapy and changing the actions of individuals, as are they are heavily reliant on the individuals’ will. However, the designer hopes to successfully inject these areas into products of design through iterative prototyping and testing as well as running the products past experts in the relevant fields.

26 | Challenges

Consciousness Hacking Consciousness Hacking is the movement that inspired the thesis, which is aimed at changing the way we interact with ourselves and the world.

Consciousness Hacking is currently held in 17 cities around the world and has over 100,000 members, that are pursuing the cause through hackathons and meet-ups.

Consciousness hacking is defined as a “hands-on approach to making new tools for self-exploration in order to positively change the way we think, feel and live. It’s an inside-out perspective on how technology can serve us by changing our relationship to both ourselves and the world” [20].

Finding North | 27

Image Source [74]

28 | Introduction

Research and Methodology

Finding North | 29

30 | Introduction

Areas of Interest

Finding North | 31

32 | Introduction

Spirituality Spirituality is an individual practice of wellbeing and has to do with having a sense of peace and purpose. It also relates to the process of developing beliefs around the meaning of life and connection with others. [30].

Eckhart Tolle is a leader in this field, and discusses in depth the state of consciousness of society, how our body and mind are out of sync and the ego in The Power of Now and A New Earth. In The Power of Now, Tolle discusses the importance of observing our thoughts, rather than being led by them. Furthermore, Eckhart Tolle states that “a study of madness will not create sanity”, which targets insanity as the result of the Bowlbian search for the lost object that occurs after an emotionally traumatic event (page #) [2,11].

In A New Earth, Tolle discusses the impact of our lack of awareness, stating that “most people do not inhabit a reality but a conceptualized one” and that spirituality is the step towards freedom from this [1]. This insight has been previously suggested by Einstein and Peter L. Berger. It is particularly useful towards this thesis, as it suggests a considerable demand for products of design to help reconnect individuals to reality [1,4].

Another important point that is discussed by many spiritual leaders is the requirement to ‘surrender to the now’ [2,60,61,62,63]. ‘Surrender’ is a phrase that carries significant stigma and has previously been claimed as ‘fatalistic’ [2]. However in this case, surrender has been described as the ‘simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life,’ suggesting that a deep acceptance carries subsequent relief and lightness of being [2]. This insight is believed to carry significant weight towards my thesis and was converted into a campaign (page 257).

“An illusory sense of self is what Albert Einstein reffered to as “an optical sense of consciousness.””

– Eckhart Tolle [2]

Finding North | 33

Image Source [144].

34 | Introduction

Neuro-linguistic Programming Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a therapeutic and neurological approach to communication, personal development and psychotherapy, and was originally created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the 1970s, in their book The Structure of Magic.

NLP is defined as “the study of the structure of subjective experience and what can be calculated from that, and is predicated upon the belief that all behaviour has structure” [31].

NLP is a growing field and is practiced by ‘transformational coaches’ around the world due to its alleged ability to influence human behaviour through its three most influential components: neurology, language and programming [32].

NLP is of particular interest to this thesis as it is centered around understanding human nature, and due to its attempt at allowing an individual to program behaviour through observation of their thoughts.

Additionally, NLP covers the three experiential positions required to achieve empathy: ‘through your body, through the body of the other and through an outside observer’ [7]. These experiential positions of empathy are of interest to the thesis, as they are believed to grant an individual the ability to overcome an emotionally traumatic event by understanding an experience through multiple lenses.

Another interesting component of NLP are the ‘neurological levels of change’ described by Robert Diltz. Originally created by anthropologist Gregory Bateson in his 1957 article A Theory of Play and Fantasy, neurological levels (Fig. 1) are a concept used to analyse how behaviour can be used to create meaningful change [33]. These levels are of interest as they grant the designer the analytical ability to understand an individual’s emotionally traumatic situation and determine at what level of intervention the product of design must act.

“A man who has control over his mind is able to realize its full potential.”

– The Sama Veda [7]

Finding North | 35

Furthermore, the model allows the designer to speculate how their intervention or product of design could change a system. If this model is given to individuals alongside the intervention or product of design, the individual could help the designer find the levers of change within the system, ideally creating a tailored product of impact.

Level 5

Finally, although the designer would like to inject this field’s knowledge into a suite of products of design, he is aware that the knowledge can only have true impact if the individual is fully committed [62].

“Spiritual” Getting outside the system into the larger “system of systems.”

Level 4

Identity Changes in an entire system of beliefs and values or a shift to another system.

Level 3

Values/Beliefs Shifts in the overall behavioral approach due to a reinterpretation of the context.

Level 2

Capabilities Adjustment or enrichment of behaviours due to refinement of internal representation.

Level 1

Behavior A particular behavioral response in a particular environment.

Level 0

Environment Figure 1: Neurological Levels of Change [33]

36 | Areas of Interest

Neurofeedback Neurofeedback (NFB), also known as neurotherapy or neurobiofeedback is “an operant conditioning paradigm where participants learn to influence the electrical activity of their brain” and has been scientifically proven to have considerable clinical value [34].

Having been proven to be clinically viable to the symptoms of ADHD, phantom limb syndrome and epilepsy, NFB is a type of biofeedback that uses electroencephalography to display a patient’s brain activity in real-time [34,35,36]. NFB uses this real-time biofeedback to help individuals gain awareness of their brain patterns and use this information to create change.

Finding North | 37

NFB is of interest to this thesis due to its ability to help individuals change their behaviour through awareness.

Furthermore, NFB is state-of-the-art technology that has yet to make its way into the general population, granting great opportunities for designers.

Image Source: [79]

38 | Introduction

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that was originally designed to treat depression but has since advanced to treat a number of mental disorders.

CBT is a problem and action-orientated

therapy that carries the purpose of changing current thought patterns to help people overcome depression or anxiety [14]. As these two factors are relevant to emotional trauma, the designer is interested in incorporating CBT methodologies in conjunction with NLP to create products of design that will help individuals ease through the transition to peacefulness.

“What is neccesary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.”

– Abraham Maslow [7]

Finding North | 39

Image Source: [80]

40 | Introduction

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of bilateral stimulation that was originally published by Dr Francine Shapiro in the Journal of Traumatic Stress in 1989 [15, 17,37]. EMDR has been empirically proven, uses an eight-phase approach to help reduce long lasting effects of distressing memories by developing more adaptive coping mechanisms.

An example of this is demonstrated in Fig. 2, which makes users follow a figure 8 for a period of time and was incorporated into the project Finito (page 243) [7]. This eye movement has four main effects: a relaxation effect including decreased physiological arousal, an increased attentional flexibility, a distancing effect and decreased worry [37].

In its simplest form, EMDR makes an individual shift their eye movement from right to left in order to achieve bilateral stimulation, which causes the brain to move between the rational and emotional side of the brain.

Due to its effect and success, the designer seeks to implement EMDR and bilateral stimulation into a series of products of consequence that will help individuals transition past an emotionally traumatic experience. The designer has implemented its methods into the projects Finito (page 243) and Reduce (page 221).

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Figure 2: Figure 8 [7]

42 | Areas of Interest

Landscape Research

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44 | Introduction

Philosophy Emotional trauma and emotions go hand in hand. Therefore in order to gather a greater understanding, the designer decided to research into the philosophy behind this territory. As it turns out, classical philosophers such Plato, Aristotle, Descartes and Hume had their views on emotions. However, after a short departure, emotions have become the focus of vigorous interest in philosophy and cognitive science [39].

An interesting finding of this voyage of research is that while not all emotions are multicultural, emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger and fear are universal [12]. Furthermore, in agreement with the findings of my interviews with Jessica Wolf and Jane Guyer Fujita, Anthony Kenny urged that emotions should be viewed as intentional states, suggesting that they are the body’s reaction to the present situation [40,64,65].

This point was theorised by William James in his famous James-Lange Theory of Emotion, where he claims that “emotions follow on, causing voluntary or involuntary body changes, which are held to express it” and can be used to explain the ‘pain-body’ state that occurs after an emotionally traumatic event. [2,41].

Another finding of direct relevance to the thesis is the contextual dependence of emotions. According to Bedford and Harre, emotions are social constructs that are dependent on given scenarios [39,42,43,44]. This view was later favoured by Naomi Scheman and Sue Campbell, who argued that “emotions are not primarily viewed as individual characteristics of the person whom they are attributed to but to the dynamic social interaction where they emerge from” [39,45,46].

“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”

– William Shakespeare [7]

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This statement suggests that emotions arise due to specific scenarios, as social constructs [4]. However, it must be noted that these views and opinions do not confirm or suggest that emotions are continuous after an event or how they alter through time.

A third finding is Plato’s Euthypro, which discusses how perspective plays a part in emotions [39]. This point was later discussed by Nussbaum (1990) and Thomas (1989), who suggested that “a lack of adequate emotional responses can hinder our attempts to view the world correctly and to act correctly in it” [26,27,39]. Another point of view was demonstrated by Rorty and de Sousa, who stated that “emotions make certain features or arguments more prominent, giving them a weight in our experience that would have lacked in absence of that emotion” [39,47,48].

Additionally, Rorty and Solomon took this view further and suggested that emotions had directive powers over perception, leading us into hasty or emotional judgements and actions [28,39,47].

The final finding of direct relevance to this thesis is the redirective nature of emotions. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia, “poets have always known that the main effect of love is to redirect attention” [39]. This point was discussed by Greenspan, who said that “it is easier to think of something than to not think about it” [39, 49]. These points support Bowbly’s search for the lost object, suggesting that a successful product of design is required to help redirect the attention of emotionally traumatised individuals to a better place. These ideas were later integrated into the project Stasis (page 103,267) [11].

46 | Landscape Research

Kübler-Ross Model for Grieving The Kübler-Ross model for grieving (Fig.3) describes the stages experienced by survivors of emotional trauma and includes five phases: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance [50].

The model was originally introduced in 1989 by Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s book On Death and Dying, and was inspired by her work with terminally ill patients [50]. This model is of interest to the thesis due to its ability to inform the design process, allowing the designer to discover where their product can carry the most impact.

Stage 5

Acceptance

The individual embraces mortality and the inevitable future.

Stage 4

Depression

The individual becomes silent, often avoids guests or contact and spends mayority of time mourning.

Stage 3

Bargaining

The individual will attempt to avoid grief and later create changes to their lifestyle.

Stage 2

Anger

Once the denial is over, the individual becomes frustrated.

Stage 1

Denial

Individuals cling to a false preferable reality.

Figure 3: Kübler-Ross Model for Grieving [50] Finding North | 47

Image Source: [82]

48 | Landscape Research

Symptoms and Effects As the thesis is dealing with a psychological phenomenon, it is important to be aware of the main symptoms and effects in order to inform the design process. The common symptoms shown by those who have suffered an emotionally traumatic event include exhaustion, insomnia, loss of appetite, diarrhea, indigestion, headaches and chest pressure [51, 52].

The effects of emotional trauma are known to lead to depression and in some cases Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and suicide [24,29,52,66]. In particular, one study uncovered that after an emotionally traumatic event, 24% of individuals were depressed after 2 months, 23% after 7 months and 14% after 25 months [24].

The staggering information uncovered as part of the research process demonstrates the importance of the issue and will be used to inform the design process.

“The harder the mind struggles to get rid of the pain, the greater the pain becomes.� – Eckhart Tolle [2]

Finding North | 49

Image Source [76].

50 | Landscape Research

Breathing Emotional trauma results in stress and anxiety, both of which can reduce breathing [24,29,52,64,66]. The positive effects of breathing mindfully have been known for centuries and are of direct relevance to this thesis as “if we are talking about vitality, we are talking about breathing” (Jessica Wolf, 2015).

According to the literature, many the benefits of breathing mindfully include increased mental and bodily function, calmness, an activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, enhanced concentration and confidence as well as a reduction in emotional intensity and reduced stress and anxiety [2,53,54, 60,61,64].

Additionally, this type of breathing has been confirmed to be synced to the vagus nerve (the tenth cranial nerve), which supplies motor parasympathetic fibers to the organs [55]. Greater activation of the vagus nerve, and thus breathing, has been known lead to a reduction in heart rate, blood pressure and emotional intensity [2,55,64,65].

Due to the simple, free, beneficial and ubiquitous nature of breathing, this thesis will attempt to create products of vitality aimed to help users process emotional trauma by utilising the breath.

“The diaphragm is the muscle of emotion and it must maintain ongoing motion.”

– Jessica Wolf [64]

Finding North | 51

52 | Introduction

Resonant Breathing As part of the research and development of Finding North and project Spiro (page 123), the designer came across resonant breathing.

A resonant system is a system that when stimulated at a given frequency produces a high-amplitude oscillation [90,91]. This definition can be applied to breathing, suggesting resonant breathing as the phenomenon that produces the highest amplitudes of blood pressure oscillation.

Resonance occurs in the cardiovascular system at approximately 0.1 Hz and has been recorded as having very little variability across a wide range of human beings [91,92,93,94,95,96].

However, although resonant breathing does manifest itself in response to breath, it is not have exclusive control over this phenomenon and can be affected by any source of rhythmic stimulation that may affect the cardiovascular system.

Finding North | 53

Examples of validated sources of rhythmic stimulation include rhythmic muscle tension as well as rhythmical presentation of emotion-inducing pictures [91,92,93,94,95].

Furthermore, as a result of resonant breathing the highest amplitudes of blood pressure oscillations are achieved [96]. As the blood pressure increases, blood vessels dilate; as the blood pressure decreases, the blood vessels constrict. This has been known to create a strong blood flow in the body [90,91,96].

Having researched resonant breathing, in interest of learning about it’s potential for Spiro (page 123) and for those who have recently suffered emotional trauma, the designer decided to research the effects of resonant breathing biofeedback.

According to Purwandini Sutarto et al., resonant breathing biofeedback is a form of heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) and “works by teaching individuals how to recognize their involuntary heart rate variability and to control patterns by psychological means� [90].

Thus, in the light of this research, the designer deems resonant breathing an essential tool for those who have suffered emotional trauma and has sought to incorporate its fascinating capabilities into Spiro (page 123) as well as the giveaway for Solace - The Light in All of Us (page 177, 289).

According to the literature, HRVB has been succesfully used to treat a variety of disorders as well as for performance enhancement [90,97].

Furthermore, sources state that individuals with low heart rate variable have generally impaired function, such as physical [91,98,99] or emotional [91,100,101,102,103] sickness. When greatly physically compromised, these individuals are at a greater risk of dying [91,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,1 12,113,114]. Results from experiments on individuals who practiced resonant breathing indicate that depression, anxiety and stress are significantly decreased [90].

54 | Landscape Research

Screen Apnea As part of the research and development of Finding North and Spiro (page 123), the designer came across ‘screen apnea’. This phenomenon which was brought to light during the interview with Jessica Wolf, who informed the designer of the condition that involves individuals not breathing when they are in front of a screen [64,119,120].

called ‘present shock,’ coined by Douglas Rushkoff and referring to the phenomenon of attempting to constantly be “in the moment” scanning for tweets, Facebook posts, and other social media. Furthermore, this constant flow of information can make individuals agitated, cause undue stress and even lead to depression [119].

According to the Huffington Post, this phenomenon is linked to a state

“Be aware of your breathing as often as you are able.”

– Eckhart Tolle [2]

Finding North | 55

Image Source [145].

56 | Introduction

Modes of Action This section of the thesis investigation was sparked by my interview with Javier Iglesias Coll, a leading transformational coach who suggested that in order to create significant change there must be a shift in human behaviour.

He suggested that the current paradigm was to act, think and then feel, and should be reversed. In a later interview with MIT neuroscientist Laura Liguori, the designer discovered that Coll’s suggestion was real and that the existing paradigm was known as a topdown approach and that the reverse, known as a bottom-up approach, has been scientifically linked to genocide [56].

Although the evidence behind this association is strong, the designer believes that a bottom-up approach may be fundamental to helping individuals process emotional trauma and will seek to implement a paradigm shift in its products of design.

“One could say that the sociological understanding of “reality” and “knowledge” falls somewhere between that of a man on the street and of a philosopher.”

– Peter L. Berger, The Social Construction of Reality [4]

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Image Source: [83]

58 | Introduction

Brainwaves Recent scientific evidence has demonstrated that the human brain produces a series of brainwaves depending on our mental state.

According to the designer’s research there are five kinds of brainwaves: alpha, beta, theta, delta and gamma, which if mastered, are capable of helping individuals in healing from serious illness [57].

As shown in Fig. 4, delta brainwaves are in the 0.2-3hz frequency range, are found in deep sleep and are responsible for healing. Theta brainwaves are in the 3-8Hz frequency range, are found in light sleep and meditation and enable us to learn and access our memory.

Alpha brainwaves are in the 8-12Hz frequency range, are found during

light thinking and aid overall mental coordination, calmness, and mind/ body integration. Beta brainwaves are in the frequency range of 12-38Hz and dominate the normal waking state of consciousness. Beta waves are associated with alertness, judgment and decision making.

Finally, gamma waves are in the 3842Hz frequency range and are related to the rapid processing of information.

Furthermore, Gamma waves are associated by many with expanded consciousness and spiritual emergence [57,58].

“Each modern Neuroscientific breakthrough was proven through yoga by the Sutras de Patanjali 6000 years ago.”

– Javier Iglesias Coll [62]

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Figure 4: Diagram Describing the Brainwave Spectrum

60 | Landscape Research

Meditation As part of the research and development of Finding North and Project Spiro (page 123), the designer set out to experience the effects of meditation. This occurred during the summer of 2015, during the designer’s struggle with a series of personal events that had catapulted him into a state of cognitive overload and mental disparity.

Heightened emotions had charged the designer’s body with instability and pain. At this moment the designer decided to pause, sit down, meditate and breathe. It was the practice of modulated, conscious, deep breathing that enabled the designer to achieve a greater mind-body connection (page 16), reduce emotional intensity (page 10) and rationalise the situation, as well as enabling him to empathise with the moment (page 13) simultaneously shifting his mental paradigm (page 9) and perspective (page 11).

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In order to validate the effects felt during the meditation experiences, the designer dove into the internet to see what the world had to say.

According to this research, meditation is within the top five most popular mind-body practices and has grown since 2002 to have a current market size of about 25 million individuals in the US alone [142]. Furthermore, meditation has been known to improve emotional and physical responses to stress, strengthen the immune system, lead to greater happiness, reduce overall levels of stress and anxiety and improve concentration [115,116,117].

Of particular interest to the designer was an early study that compared 3 groups of meditators vs a group of non meditators. The study demonstrated that meditators had higher 60-110Hz gamma amplitude [127]. This higher abundance of gamma waves (the wave linked with focus and unity of conscious perception) suggests that meditators have different attentional processes [127]. In particular, the designer concludes that these results indicate that meditators have greater ability to focus.

Image Source: [146]

62 | Introduction

Empathy Throughout his life the designer has heard the word ‘empathy’ many times but was often left wondering exactly what this concept entailed and how it should be practiced. It wasn’t until reading Neurolinguistic Programming: The Essential Guide by Tom Hoobyar and Susan Sanders that its meaning became clear.

Finding North | 63

According to Hoobyar and Sanders, to true empathy involves considering a situation from three perspectives or ‘perceptual positions’: from your own body, from the other opposing person’s body and finally,from the point of view of a bystander [7]. From visualising these three perceptual positions the designer believes that an individual can gain a clearer view of the emotionally traumatic situation, leading to faster processing of the trauma.

Image Source: [147]

64 | Introduction

Products of Consciousness

Finding North | 65

66 | Products of Consciousness

Muse Muse is a ‘personal meditation assistant’ that helps users reflect in real time how well that are meditating through a series of sounds. This product-service pairing is composed of an EEG enabled headset and an app.

Finding North | 67

Please note that the images shown belong to InteraXon Inc. [67]

Adjustable 3 Reference Sensors

2 SmartSense Conductive Rubber Ear Sensors Power / Pairing Button

LED Lights 2 Charging ports

2 Forehead Sensors

Muse Breakdown [67].

68 | Products of Consciousness

5.3.2 MindSong MindSong is a product-service pairing designed to help individuals find a calm and clear state of mind. Mindsong works by reading signals from the Interaxon Muse, or MindWave mobile EEG headset and turning those into a changing soundscape.

Finding North | 69

The sounds are created by your brain activity; moving towards silence as calmness is achieved [68].

Image Sources:

Top: [69] Right: [70]

70 | Products of Consciousness

Heartsync HeartSync is an audio/visual experience designed by Mickey Siegel, which guides a group towards a synchronised state of calm and balance through a wearable that determines an individuals heart beat.

Finding North | 71

The experience is represented through an animation that determines the synchronicity of the group and reflects it through an image and sound.

Image Source: [71]

72 | Products of Consciousness

Pause Pause is a popular product-service pairing designed and created by UsTwo and PauseAble. With the purpose of helping individuals reduce stress and achieve mindfulness, Pause comprises of a mobile app paired with music that requires users to interact with the screen via their thumb.

Finding North | 73

As the user pulses the screen a bubble slowly consumes it, displaying the state of mind of the user.

Image Sources:

Top & Right: [72]

74 | Products of Consciousness

Táctica Táctica is a personal planning system that was developed by Oscar de la Hera as part of the class ‘Deconstruction/ Reconstruction’, led by Ayse Birsel.

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Táctica helps individuals plan and analyze their life by allowing them to place twelve objective tokens into three sections: ‘Aspire’, ‘Control’ and ‘Protect’.

76 | Products of Consciousness

Expert Interviews

Finding North | 77

Image Source [86]

78 | Introduction

As part of the development of Finding North, the designer interviewed experts from a broad range of fields and has selected those that were fundamental to the thesis.

Finding North | 79

The designer would like to inform the reader that as part of the process, the designer opened up to the experts and explained in detail the nature of the experiences that had led to the designer to be pursuit of his own north. The experts with their fields and expertises are listed below.

Ishac Bertran, Designer at Google Creative Labs Elia Chesnoff, Musician and Magician Javier Iglesias Coll, Transformational Coach and NLP Expert Pilar Querra Colomina, Spiritual Leader Robin Emmerich, Transformational Coach Catherine Fitzmaurice, Founder of Fitzmaurice Voicework and TremorWork Jane Guyer Fujita, Director of Voice and Speech at NYU Pepin Gelardi, Partner at Tomorrow Labs Saul Kotzubei, Buddhist Monk and Voice and Public Speaking Coach Laura Ligouri, Neuroscientist at MIT SaxoLabs Patricia Meyer, Spiritual Leader and Reiki Master Ilse Pfeifer, Certified Fitzmaurice TremorWork Coach Eric Posen, Naturopathic Physician Emily Roberts, Psychotherapist Deirdre Sierra, Psychiatrist at Hospital de Cantabria Enrique Sim贸, Transformational Coach at the Oxford Leadership Academy John Sultana, Spiritual Guide and Astrologist John Thakara, Writer at Doors of Perception Ljiljana Todoro, Psychotherapist at International Court Tribunal Theodore Ullrich, Partner at Tomorrow Labs Maja Vujinovic, O Group Rob Walker, Writer at Yahoo Tech Ethan Weiss, Social Worker Jessica Wolf, Author of the Art of Breathing

80 | Expert Interviews

Jessica Wolf Author of the Art of Breathing Jessica Wolf is an internationally recognized teacher of the Alexander Technique. She is one of a handful of Alexander professionals in the United States, and has been teaching for 35 years.

Finding North | 81

She has been exploring and conducting research in respiratory function and breath throughout her career.

The following section is aimed at discussing the highlights from the series of interviews that were held between Wolf and the designer.

The first insight that the thesis would like to bring to light is Wolf’s statement that “breathing is the inspiration for vitality” [64]. This statement came as a response to the designer’s was description of his purpose, and how he wanted to help emotionally traumatised individuals regain vitality. This phrase of Wolf’s was essential in motivating the designer through the process.

The second insight was Wolf’s belief that individuals’ breathing can be altered, sometimes permanently, due to environment and damage to the psyche. Wolf went on to suggest that screen apnea (page 55), emotional trauma and unhealthy relationships can be considered key factors in altering breathing in a way that can be considered detrimental to an individual’s health.

In light of these arguments, the designer was compelled to consider breathing as a factor in recovering from emotional trauma.

Furthermore, the designer made a connection between altered breathing and Diltz’s neurological levels of change (page 36), suggesting that environment and variations in breathing can impact people on a spiritual level and that perhaps this could be solved through meditation (page 61), therapy or NeuroLinguistic Programming (page 35).

The third insight was Wolf’s statement that “if we are really interested in finding procedures to relax and stay energized in life, we have to unlearn misconceptions and start again” [64].

This statement resonated with the designer as it speaks to the nature of finding north and suggests that the products should incorporate an element that allows individuals to unlearn misconceptions and start again. Given that this is a very tricky objective, the designer has analysed the territory that he mapped out during the research period and believes that professional support as well as family support, in hand with meditation could be a viable solution and later incorporated this philosophy into the Project Spiro (page 123).

82 | Expert Interviews

The fourth insight that arose during this interview suggests that each individual has a breathing rhythm of their own.

This idea was thought-provoking to the designer. Research on resonant breathing (page 53) states that there is a breathing rhythm of 0.1Hz that has been proven to be extremely beneficial to individuals, in particular those who have suffered emotional trauma [90,91,96]. However, resonant breathing is not a realistic rate for individuals to breathe on a daily basis.

The designer believes that there must be a particular rhythm that individuals can carry out naturally, and still be greatly beneficial for their health. With these arguments in mind, the designer plans to create a product of design that works with this idea in the future (page 235).

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“Prehistorically, we had the fight or flight instinct, because we had to defend ourselves from animals but these days when we go into the real world there is nothing that serious that we have to worry about, which is why it is interesting that so many of us have so much fear. It’s not a fear of something that’s so imminent, something that is life or death associated and yet many of us still respond as if it is and we go into increased levels of hormones and the breath stops” [64].

The designer connected this idea Rorty and de Sousa’s belief that heightened emotions make certain features of a memory such as arguments more prominent, giving them more value in our memory than if they would have in the absence of emotion, further distressing the vitality of the individual [47,48]. Thus, the designer believes that perhaps through raised awareness and understanding of their direct environment, individuals might be able to reduce the frequency of activation of this instinct.

84 | Expert Interviews

Emily Roberts Psycotherapist Emily Roberts is a Psychotherapist, Parenting Consultant, Educational Speaker and Published Author.

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Her books Express Yourself: A Teen Girl’s Guide to Speaking Up and Becoming Who You Are will be released in spring 2015 by New Harbinger Publications.

The following section is aimed at discussing the highlights from the series of interviews that were held between Roberts and the designer.

The first insight that the designer would like to bring forward is a topic that Roberts brought up around The Blame Game, a beautiful animation presented by Brené Brown [66, 118].

The Blame Game states that blaming another individual is the equivalent of discharging discomfort and pain, and that it has an inverse relationship to accountability. In this video, Brené states that: “blaming is very corrosive in relationships and it’s one of the reasons we miss our opportunities for empathy because when something happens and we’re hearing a story, we’re not really listening - we’re in the place she was, making the connections as quickly as we can about whose fault something was [118].”

The second insight was Roberts’s suggestion that individuals cannot sit with their emotions and that, in symmetry with The Blame Game, it can seem more gratifying to discharge them on others. She stated that individuals should empower themselves by blaming themselves.

Furthermore, Roberts went on to suggest that emotions are a natural reaction of the body and that they should be taken into consideration rather than dismissed. This view – which was later shared by Jane Guyer Fujita during her interview as well as Tolle in The Power of Now – suggests that emotions are an indicator of what the body is feeling [2,65].

These statements provoked the designer to ideate a system that could be used by individuals to help them wrestle with and understand their emotions.

The thesis acknowledges blaming as a potential cause of emotional trauma, but considers it out of the scope of the thesis.

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The third insight was Roberts’s suggestion that a product must be created that connects individuals to their body. As part of this suggestion, Roberts stated that a wide range of individuals were so consumed with their minds that they often forgot to live and feel their body.

As part of this conversation, Roberts ran through one of the techniques that she uses as part of her therapy, which involved pushing the designer to use his mind to sense different part of the body. Due to this experience, the designer felt a greater mind-body connection, which empowered him to relax and think more clearly and calmly.

In light of these argument and experiences, the designer concludes that achieving a greater mind-body connection (page 16) is fundamental to achieving behavioural change, processing trauma and thus, for finding north.

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The fourth and final insight that the thesis would like to bring forward is Roberts’s philosophy that human beings are always seeking a quick fix, instead of fighting their issues. This philosophy, which the designer believes aligns with the modern paradigm of instant gratification, goes hand-in-hand with the previous insight regarding individuals’ inability to sit with their emotions.

After discussing this philosophy to a great extent, Roberts suggested that the solution lay in granting individuals the ability to rapidly reduce their emotional intensity and that through this reduction, individuals would process trauma faster, enabling them to regain control, understand, wrestle and cope with the situation better.

This dialogue would later inspired the designer to build the projects Finito (page 243) and Project Spiro (Page 123).

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Enrique Sim贸 Transformational Coach at the Oxford Leadership Academy Enrique Sim贸 is a fellow of Oxford Leadership. He is an executive coach, an organisational consultant trainer and a recognised speaker and writer in the fields of human resources and corporate development.

Based in Spain, his clients include

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Telefonica, Santander, Ferrovial, Almirall, Bayer, 3M and Vodafone.

The following section is aimed at discussing the highlights from the interview that was held between Simó and the designer.

The first insight was Simó’s belief that our attention is our energy and that our energy is our life. As part of the conversation, Simó probed the designer with a simple question “where is your mind?”. Struggling to grasp what he meant, Simó moved on to suggest that it was a difficult question to answer and that through meditation we may find the answer.

Furthermore, Simó suggested that where an individual’s mind is will determine what they will do and what will drive them. This provoked the designer to associate this philosophy to the cognitive overload and mental instability that arises during emotional trauma and later pushed the designer to believe that a shift in an individual’s mental paradigm is fundamental for processing emotional trauma.

[24,29,52,66].

The second insight was Simó’s belief that as individuals, we are the creators of our own history, our own path, and thus north. As part of this conversation, Simó probed the designer with the interesting idea that individuals should ask themselves who is in the driving seat or more explicitly, in the control room of their mind.

Furthermore, Simó went on to suggest that an individual could achieve this type of mind change (page 9) through meditation (page 61). Given the cognitive overload that arises due to emotional trauma, this fascinating idea can be directly associated with a potential remedy that could be used by an individual to help them process the trauma faster. This is a philosophy that the designer will hope to be able to provide to society through Solace’s ceremony feature (page 285).

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The third insight that the designer would like to bring to light is an idea that Simó brought to the table, suggesting that technology was initially created to release the mind rather than to absorb it.

This idea was brought forward when the designer probed Simó for his thoughts on technology and whether it could be used to ‘hack consciousness’ (page 27). Simó stated that he did believe it could be possible but that it would require a significant behavioural change. Before moving on, the designer would like to discuss the idea that was laid on the table by Simó. It is an interesting thought, to have created something that has backfired to the point that it has negatively affected our behaviour and our ability to remember things. It makes sense for us to have a cleaner, healthier and more relaxed mind by being able to store things on devices.

However, what is worrying is that these devices have only brought new stresses and anxieties into our lives, things that would have been considered absurd in a different time. With this in mind, the designer would like to state that the purpose of the technology created behind the thesis is to facilitate an individual’s transition as they process emotional trauma, as well as freeing their mind, renewing their energy and regaining balance.

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The fourth and final insight that the designer would like to share is Simó’s statement that “silence is the language that connects the soul to god.” This statement arose as Simó and the designer were discussing Tolle and his teachings in The Power of Now including nature of silence, nature and meditation. These points along with a debate about what it meant to truly observe your own mind without judgement and how that could be taught, led Simó to suggest that silence was the key. In the light of these findings, the designer would like to clarify that he believes that, in line with the teachings of Tolle, when Simó suggested ‘god’ he meant the empowered version of the individual in question [2]. Furthermore, the designer would like to state his belief that achieving silence, both internally and externally, can be extremely freeing and relaxing and thus help individuals process trauma.

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Javier Iglesias Coll Transformational Coach and NLP Expert Javier Iglesias Coll is a strategic intervention coach, a specialist in business growth and a sales consultant. Coll has worked with over 80 organizations in 22 countries, in four languages on topics around enhancing results and productivity as well as

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executive coaching. Coll has thousands of hours of experience as a personal coach as well as an executive.

The following section is aimed at discussing the highlights from the interview that was held between Coll and the designer.

The first insight that the designer would like to share is Coll’s statement that “technology is an enabler of transformation” [62]. This point arose due to the designers interest in transformational technology, for which the designer considered Coll an ideal expert to query on the topic as he is a transformational coach.

Coll’s statement is of incredible value as it confirms the designer’s belief in the incredible power that technology has over society. This belief was later translated into Project Spiro (page 123).

The second insight that the thesis would like to bring forward is Coll’s belief that as individuals “we are what we choose to be” [62] . As part of this conversation, Coll and the designer discussed at length the incredible power and quality that neurolinguistic programming (page 35) can bring into our lives. Coll then moved onto discuss Gregory Bateson and later Diltz’s neurological levels of change (page 36) and how individuals can use this structure to transform themselves.

These levels are of interest to this thesis as they grant a designer the analytical ability to understand a situation and determine at what level their intervention or product of design must act. The model allows designers to speculate how their intervention or product of design could change a system. Moreover, if this model is given to individuals alongside the intervention or product of design, the individual could help the designer find the levers of change within the system, ideally creating a product of impact that could help individuals process trauma faster.

The third insight that the thesis would like to bring to light is Coll’s philosophy that if we are to advance in society, that we must all change our way of thinking.

Coll suggested that society lives in the paradigm of thinking, acting and then feeling, which is good for certain things.

However, in the world of personal transformation, the paradigm should be reversed: feel, think and then act.

The fourth insight was Coll’s philosophy that points at connecting individuals to the truth. The thesis values this philosophy highly as it shares the designer’s objective of shifting an individual’s perspective (page 11) with the purpose of helping the individual process trauma faster.

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The fifth and final insight was Coll’s wisdom on resilient thinking and living as well as the amount of negative thoughts that a regular individual experiences on a daily basis. Coll informed the designer that approximately 85% of average individual’s thoughts are negative and that “the most resilient people have as much as 0-15% on negative thoughts.

This is because they focus on what they want and nothing else” .

Coll shared that these resilient individuals have 4000–5000 thoughts a day, instead of 50-60,000, suggesting that on the whole, the are peaceful present.

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These arguments fascinated the designer for a very long time, as the designer previously believed that a highly successful individual was one that would be able to process more information faster, and that if this was true, that an individual with this quality would be able to process trauma faster. However, in the light of Coll’s arguments, it makes sense that the most successful and resilient individuals have less thoughts as it suggests that they think purposefully as well as longer on each thought, allowing them to reach better, more critical solutions faster. As a result, the designer believes that this is a key element that could help individuals process trauma faster and that this could be achieved through prolonged meditation.

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Pepin Gelardi Partner at Tomorrow Labs Having studied Industrial Design at Scuola Politecnica di Design, Milan and Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University, New York, Pepin Gelardi leads product design strategy at Tomorrow Lab, articulating user insights, defining product benefits,

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exploring appropriate technologies and inventing new features and interfaces.

In his spare time, Pepin works with Nuit Blanche New York to create night-time site-specific art installations.

The following section is aimed at discussing the highlights from the interview that was held between Gelardi and the designer.

The first insight was Gelardi’s belief that design is a virus. Gelardi informed the designer that he was “fascinated by design and the idea that we have a conflict that are manipulating people or are we creating better habits.

There’s this idea that we design for a better outcome and if we do a really good job then that thing is almost like a virus. It’s almost like a machine that consumes the human”.

This belief is thought-provoking and the designer agrees with Gelardi in that good design should be like a virus.

Furthermore the designer believes that behavioural change is at the center of design and thus, in relation to this thesis, finding north. Therefore the designer believes that his products should become addictive as well as shift mental paradigms. In doing so they will ideally, not only help individuals process trauma faster but also deliver healthy, long-lasting habits.

The second insight is one that that Gelardi shared suggesting that that as designers, we create and deliver tailored experiences to individuals.

Gelardi stated that “everything you buy is a created experience, a landscape that is designed for you” and that as a result, most products are a created experience.

Furthermore, Gelardi went on to suggest that design is not about mind control but rather about giving people more options and thus, life.

As may be apparent to the user, mind change (section x.x) is one of the thesis’s objectives and as a result must consider and debate Gelardi’s arguments.

Thus, the designer believes that it is fundamental for the thesis to achieve behaviour change and thus, must create tailored experiences that give people options. Furthermore, as the products of design are aimed at helping individuals process emotional trauma, it is fundamental that they give people options and as a result ‘life’.

However, this said, given the intricate nature of humanity, it is unclear exactly what tailored experience may be adequate for those w processing emotional trauma. A suite of products of design must be tested extensively to determine exactly what the desired experience is.

The third insight that the designer would like to bring forward is the concept of cognitive overload. When discussing the nature of emotional trauma, Gelardi and the designer reached an agreement that there was a clear mental overload that arose as part of the experience.

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At this point, Gelardi informed the designer that this phenomenon had been coined as cognitive overload and could come down to something as simple as a decision over which toothpaste to purchase. Gelardi suggested to the designer that an individual’s “brain can only do so much at the end of the day” and that “the reason we are so tired is because of the work the brain does throughout the day” [59].

Gelardi went on to discuss the nature of mental fatigue stating that in society, there are a lot of things that individuals do that they don’t want to do.

Furthermore, as a result of discussing emotional trauma, Gelardi informed the designer that “one of the things that you’ll find exhausting is to find your partner pissed at you or you’re pissed at them and your brain is working on this emotional social problem and you’ll find that you’re struggling to get your work done because your brain is loaded at that point as it is constantly working on this problem” [59].

This last argument in particular was very inspiring to the designer and speaks of the mental paradigm that can be observed in those who have recently suffered emotional trauma. As a result, the designer believes that if his thesis is to be successful, the suite of products of design should help individuals reduce this cognitive overload.

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The fourth insight was the concept of ‘symbolic realities’. This concept was raised by Gelardi when asked whether quantum mechanics and spirituality intertwine. After discussing a series of points, Gelardi moved on to state that “as humans we build a completely symbolic reality with our brains, and we actually have no idea what reality actually is. We are essentially innate holograms and that particles and physics are just methods for us to understand the world around us” [59].

This concept fascinated the designer as the designer believes that it is in line with the human nature. Everything that an individual does is based on a representation of what they have witnessed through time, and the actions that they choose to take are then linked to their individual observation and understanding of the situation and thus, their symbolic reality.

Furthermore, if it were not for the field of science, there would be nothing to tie our realities together. These arguments can be linked to emotional trauma, as part of the transition from trauma to balance involves an individual changing their mental paradigm (page 9). Thus, as a result of these arguments, the designer believes that shifting an individual’s symbolic reality is fundamental to the thesis and that in some form or another, it should be incorporated into the suit of products of design.

The fifth insight was the notion that as designers, we are designing for emotions. When discussing the emotions that arise during emotional trauma Gelardi went on to say: “knowing how something makes people feel is the ultimate insight when it comes to a design. It is knowing that you want something to engage with someone’s emotions in a certain way, and you’re willing to go beyond ‘it makes them feel good’. It’s not just about heightening emotions, it’s about knowing what emotions are going to be felt throughout time and making sure that they’re the right ones” [59].

As a result of this argument, the designer will ensure that he determines as many emotions as possible that are felt during an episode of emotional trauma, as well as the emotions that should be felt during and after the transition. The designer will then use this knowledge to create a suite of products of design that should carry enough impact to successfully help an individual process their trauma faster.

The sixth and final insight that arose during this conversation was the divide between technology and humanity.

When discussing whether it were possible to make technology heal us and bring us together, Gelardi informed the designer that as contemporary technologists “we are generally trying to make technology calmer and that is a key emotion that we try and bring some perspective to. I think calmness and warmth are two things that technology has done very bad at and they’ve made things very noisy and cold” [59].

Thus, with this insight in mind, the designer believes that in order for technology to be accepted by the spiritual community and those who have suffered emotional trauma, it is fundamental for the design to be ‘warm’ and ‘calm’.

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Design-Centered Research and Development The following section will discuss the process of developing and producing the products that arose from this thesis, in particular Stasis (page 103) and Project Spiro (page 123).

Stasis is a product-service pairing that the designer intends to create for this thesis, aimed at helping individuals achieve focus through the sound of music or rain, whilst Project Spiro utilises a suite of smart lamps and a wearable to convert an individual’s breathing into light. Both were developed for an experience as well as for mass market.

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102 | Introduction

Stasis Stasis is a forthcoming product-service pairing aimed at helping individuals achieve focus through the sound of music or the sound of rain.

To achieve this, Stasis makes use of a wearable that works in tandem with a music-driven smartphone app to measure an individual’s brainwaves, determine when their mind is wandering and subsequently alert them if their mind has wandered too far.

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Stasis is envisioned to help those who have suffered emotional trauma regain their center and their focus faster by informing them of the state of their mind.

104 | Introduction

Inspiration The following section describes the inspiration that went into Stasis, and the reasons why the designer believes it could help individuals who have suffered emotional trauma.

The designer would like to begin with “music is fundamental for inner immersion,” a statement that was shared by Elia Chessnoff, Enrique Simó, Theodore Ullrich and Jessica Wolf. This particular statement could be considered the root of Stasis, and one that the designer strongly believes in. As a passionate music lover, the designer believes that music is a beautiful gateway for many things, including the recollection of moments in time, the reliving of emotions and the maintaining of focus.

The designer would like to focus on the last of these effects, which is at the center of Stasis. Having experienced many emotionally traumatic episodes across his life, the designer is aware of the incredible ability that music has to funnel out external influences, allowing individuals to regain temporary balance and if needed, focus on the task at hand. The most recent example of this occurred to the designer at the beginning of the final year at Products of Design and the birth of Finding North.

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At this time the designer was under pressure to decide what his thesis would be, and was having a hard time focussing as his mind kept wandering to the emotionally traumatic events that had occurred in the summer of 2015.

The emotions felt by the designer were powerful, and often meant having to take a break to clear his mind. After attempting to fight it, the designer decided to listen to Rainymood, which under the slogan “Rain Makes Everything Better” is a website that enables the individual to listen to the sound of the weather whilst simultaneously offering “today’s music.

Thus, after combining Rainymood with ‘Divenire’ by Ludovico Einaudi, the designer managed to relax his mind, temporarily find north and focus on the task at hand.

As a result, the designer believes that environmental sounds in tandem with music could be helpful in helping those who have recently suffered emotional trauma temporarily regain peace, balance and if needed, focus on the task at hand.

Before proceeding, the designer would like to consider a powerful element of music that could be counterproductive to those who have suffered emotional trauma. In particular the incredible ability that music has to enable an individual to relive an experience and its emotions. Although this effect is extremely powerful and if experienced with care, could be an extremely beneficial catharsis the designer believes that it could also carry negative consequences that may negatively catapult the designer into a destructive mental paradigm. Consequently the designer should be wary of how he chooses to market the product.

106 | Stasis

Brainwaves and Mind Wandering The following section will discuss ‘mind wandering’ as related to emotional trauma, as well as brainwaves, how they are measured and analysed, which brainwaves are important to consider for mind wandering, what effects stasis-based brainwaves as well as which regions of the brain should be considered in mind wandering.

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Mind Wandering and Emotional Trauma The designer would like to start the series of sections by discussing mind wandering and emotional trauma.

In the light of the research that was uncovered (page 29), it is apparent that emotional trauma and mind wandering are intertwined. This is an opinion that was commonly shared between the designer and his subject matter experts (page 77), and is one that the designer believes occurs due to the Bowlbian search for the lost object [11].

As described in the introduction, the phrase ‘search for the lost object’ describes a scenario wherein an individual wanders their mind endlessly, analysing and replaying a past series of events in a vicious cycle with the purpose of discovering mistakes that have been made, with the hope of changing the outcome [11].

The designer believes that mind wandering is abundant in cases of emotional trauma and attempts to help individuals reduce their mind wandering through Stasis.

108 | Stasis

How Brainwaves are Measured and Analysed Brainwaves are measured via a process known as electroencephalography, which makes use of a noninvasive electrode known that measures the voltage fluctuations resulting from an ionic current’s interaction with the neurons of the brain [121,122,123,124, 125,126,127,128,129,130].

These signals are then band-pass filtered (1-40 Hz) and are sampled between 128 Hz and 256 Hz. Consequently, the signals are converted into the time domain via a fourier transform [122,123,124,125,126,127,12 8,129,130].

Subsequently the designer discovered that in terms of scientific research, the state-of-the-art analytical system for analysing brainwaves informs the use of a Neurosky headset (Fig 5), which derives a signal to be amplified at the scientists discretion.

Figure 5: Neurosky Headset [148]

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Brainwaves within Mind Wandering A higher frequency of beta waves is suggested to be proportional to greater awareness, attention and focus, whilst beta waves occur in scenarios of higher cognitive demand [122, 123] . Furthermore it is known that “theta and delta EEG activity increased during mind wandering whereas alpha and beta decreased [124].”

Additionally, the designer would like to touch on an interesting discovery that was uncovered as part of the previously-mentioned experiment that compared 3 groups of meditators to a group of non-meditators and demonstrated that meditators had higher gamma amplitude (page 60) [127].

However, the key insight for Stasis lies in the following finding from an array of EEG and FMRI studies on measuring activity in different EEG frequency bands (i.e. those allocated to brainwaves), which indicates that the fluctuation between beta and theta/ alpha state is linked to mind wandering.

Furthermore, it is suggested that the longer this fluctuation stays in the theta/alpha realm, the longer the mind has wandered [124,126,127].

A higher abundance of gamma waves, which are correlated with focus and unity of conscious perception, suggests that meditators have different attentional processes [127].

In particular, the designer believes that these results indicate that meditators have greater ability to focus and believes that this will strengthen Stasis’s proposition.

This also indicates that mind wandering has previously shown that the brain’s responses to external stimuli changes with the sleep stage or degree of vigilance [127]. The designer believes that this finding adds to the value proposition of Stasis.

110 | Stasis

Ensuring a Clean Signal The following subsection will discuss a conversation with Adam Turnbull, a masters student of Neuroscience at Yale University. Turnbull helped identify what factors could distort the registered signal and how the designer could avoid these situations.

As part of this conversation, the designer discovered that the placement of the EEG sensor is far more fundamental than the algorithm used to interpret the signal. This brought the designer back to his time at Imperial College where he used a mechanomyogram: a sensor that measures the acoustic vibrations produced by muscles when expanded/ contracted. As part of this process, the designer realized that the most important part of the design is locating a spot on the vertex that executes the project correctly. Therefore, the designer then carried out analytical research to determine where the EEG should be placed.

Turnbull warned the designer that the scientific research currently done in this sector has a long way to go to reach real-world success, as all the research is being done in a lab environment and doesn’t take into consideration the fluctuations and improvisations of the real world.

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As part of the warning, he stated that noise will highly affect the signal, and that the designer must create a system that takes this into consideration.

Furthermore, he warned that research into mind wandering is its early stages of research and has a long way to go. Potential false positives in mind wandering should be taken into consideration, perhaps with a machine learning algorithm that learns through introspective user input which mind wandering states are true and which are not.

Two further findings from the research that should be acknowledged to ensure that Stasis achieves a clean signal include the fact that EEGs are easily affected by electrical potentials generated by muscle contractions [122,126] and that EEGs are greatly affected by motion artifacts (e.g. eyes) [122,123]. With these findings in mind, Stasis must attempt to place the EEG in a location that is distant from motion artifacts, with minimised electrical potential and muscle motion.

Regions Affected by Mind Wandering Mind wandering has been associated with lower levels of alertness and vigilance [131], a mental state with limited external information processing where attention is decoupled from the environment [124,132].

Due to this, the designer proceeded to discover where this regions are found within the brain (section x.x.x.x) and will attempt to place Stasis at these locations to ensure maximum success.

112 | Stasis

Design Constraints Before proceeding to decipher the ideal location for Stasis, the designer set a series of design constraints to enable what the designer believes is a well constructed, thoughtful and functional design. The design constraints that the designer employed are as follows: 1. Stasis must use a dry electrode, noninvasive EEG (section x.x.x.x) to ensure ease of use, reliable functionality and reusability.

This constraint was inspired by a conversation that occurred with Dr Richard Woodward during the designer’s time at Imperial College London, regarding EEGs and dryelectrode EEGs. This conversation arose whilst discussing Myo, a gesture control armband [133], at which point Woodward informed the designer that the state of technology for EEGs was very far from commercial use given that they were not reusable and needed to be be stuck to the individual’s head using a gel. Unsurprisingly the biggest issue with this is that it requires expert knowledge to adequately place the electrode.

Woodward then moved on to inform the designer of how a new type of dry-electrode EEGs were currently being researched (and used in the Myo) [133], which could be reused

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and placed without the need of a gel.

With these arguments in mind, and given that two years has passed since that conversation, the designer will implement one dry electrode, non invasive EEG into the design of Stasis.

2. Stasis must be placed in a location that has minimized muscle motion to ensure a clean signal.

As part of this journey, the designer learned of the delicate nature of MMG and EEG sensors and thus, will use these argument to dig deeper into determining valid Stasis locations, which have minimized muscle motion, to ensure an ideal signal.

3. Stasis must be placed a location that is distant from motion artifacts.

As the designer envisions stasis to be placed on overear headphones, it should be possible to distance Stasis from most of the body’s motion artifacts. In the light of the research,

the designer will ensure that Stasis is placed in a location that is distant from the eyes and ears.

4. Stasis must be able to be placed on any set of overear headphones The final design constraint is that Stasis must be able to be placed on any set of overear headphones. This constraint was selected as the designer would like to create a universal design that can be used by anyone as well as marketing Stasis as an accessory to the user’s favourite headphones.

Additionally, the designer believes that these headphones eventually evolve to form part of an individual’s identity, making it difficult for an individual to wave farewell. Thus the designer believes that attaching to the individual’s headphones is fundamental for the design’s success.

The designer believes that this point is fundamental to Stasis is success as, given his passion for music, the designer is well aware of the attachment that exists between individuals and their headphones.

114 | Stasis

Design Systems and Their Value The following subsection is aimed at discussing the design systems that are available to the designer for Stasis, as well as their value.

The designer would like to start by pointing to figure 6 and figure 7, which represent the international 10-20 system and 10-10 system respectively.

The international 10-20 system has stood as the de facto standard for electrode placement in EEG for half a century, suggesting that this is the system for which there must be the most data [126]. The 10-10 system was created as an extension to the original 10-20 system with a higher channel density [126,128].

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Furthermore, the research indicated that further systems, such as the 10-5 or the latter modified combinatorial nomenclature, have been developed to further extrapolate the exact locations that may be researched [126,128,129].

Taking figure 6 and figure 7 into consideration, it is clear that the 1010 system offers a wider range of possibilities and the designer will use this system to proceed with Stasis.

Figure 6: International 10-20 System

Figure 7: International 10-10 System

116 | Stasis

Brainwave Consistency Across the Vertex The following section is aimed at discussing the research carried out into discovering whether brainwaves are consistent across the vertex.

This research was done with the intention of ensuring that Stasis can be used as a wearable for over ear headphones as well as to determine whether brainwaves are locationspecific and/or serve a location-specific purpose. The designer also aimed to discover whether there are specific locations that Stasis should target to ensure that it is functional and well executed.

As part of this process, the designer learned that the pursuit of determining whether brainwaves are location sensitive was particularly challenging and that, in agreement with the conversation Adam Turnbull, the state of science is yet very far from being able to accurately derive this functionality, and cannot accurately state that brainwaves and their functions are location sensitive.

Finally, the designer would like to cover the remaining research that was carried out, which was targeted at confirming the beliefs behind the conversation with Turnbull.

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As part of this pursuit the designer discovered that brainwaves play a critical role in the communication between different parts of the brain [130]. MIT neuroscientists have found that two brain regions that are key to learning — the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex — use two different brainwave frequencies to communicate as the brain learns to associate unrelated objects. Whenever the brain correctly links the objects, the waves oscillate at a higher beta frequency, and when the guess is incorrect, the waves oscillate at a lower theta frequency [130].

This suggests that the brainwaves produced by different brain areas carry different meanings, and suggests to the designer that he should research the regions of the brain to determine which is most relevant.

Thus, in the light of these findings the designer believes that the EEG can be positioned anywhere, but will carry out deeper research to determine the strongest position.

Image Source [153]

118 | Stasis

Deciphering the Ideal Location The following subsection is aimed at discussing how the designer derived the ideal location for Stasis.

The designer would like to start this subsection by discussing the research that was carried out to determine the strength of brainwaves around the vertex, with the vision of ensuring that a strong signal is measured by the Stasis EEG sensor. As discussed in page 115, the present state of scientific research takes into consideration a maximum of 128 EEG points. The designer decided to take this insight and used it to direct his research and in the process found figure 8, which uses these points and transforms the data into a topographic map [124,126].

As indicated by figure 8 there is strong brainwave activity on the left hand side of the vertex, in particular in the region behind where headphones are normally worn.

In light of this research and the conversation with Turnbull, the designer believes that all locations on any international EEG system can be used to measure mind wandering and will design for the CP5 across to the CP6 locations. This way the artifact will be hidden behind the headphone, delivering a more fashionable and aesthetic result.

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Furthermore, the CP5 and CP6 locations are ideal as they are distant from motion artifacts such as the eyes and ears. Moreover, although the designer failed to find a scientific paper that backed this point, it makes sense that these locations would be ideal as there is minimal muscle motion during all executive functions.

Upon understanding figure 9, the designer began to introspectively speculate on mind wandering, emotional trauma and its effects on the human mind.

In the light of the thoughts from the introspective journey, the designer believes that mind wandering shifts the mind away from the body, resulting in fewer voluntary eye movements as well as a reduced visual spatial attention span. The designer believes that the selected CP5 to CP6 locations are ideal, and will further investigate exactly where these regions lie in relation to the 10-10 international region to make sure the EEG lines up as closely as possible.

In particular, the designer desires to design for the CP5 across to the CP6 locations as this way the artifact would be hidden behind the headphone, delivering a more fashionable and aesthetic result.

Figure 8: Time Frequency Decomposition from Mind Wandering to Breath Focus at Electrode Site Oz [124,126]

Figure 9: Brain Regions and their Functions [149]

120 | Stasis

A Critique of Stasis The following subsection will cover the intricate nature of Stasis, whether the product could be used by creatives, as well whether it is of actual value.

The first point that the designer would like to discuss is the intricate nature of Stasis. During his time at Imperial College London, which granted him the opportunity of taking a series of classes taught by the Royal College of Art and the School of Visual Arts, the designer has learned that it is fundamental for all design to be simple and intuitive.

This point was greatly defined by Dieter Rams in his famous ‘ten principles of good design’, by which he states that design must be understandable and as little design as possible [134]. In the light of this argument and given the intricate nature of Stasis, the designer believes that in order to make this product understandable and fully functioning, it must include a thorough tutorial that informs the user of how it works.

The second point that the designer would like to bring forward is whether Stasis could be used by creative individuals to enhance their profession.

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This point came to light during a discussion that was held between the designer, Brent Arnold and the class of 2016, which debated the creative process and whether alerting the individual that their mind has wandered would be detrimental to this creative process.

With this in mind, the designer developed a conceptual feature that would only alert individuals if their mind wanders for a considerable period of time. However, although this feature would fix the concern shown by the class of 2016, the designer believes that this feature may not be of valid use to creatives and should perhaps be targeted towards more executional professions such as engineering or accounting in order to ensure the product’s success.

vThe third and final point that the designer would like to discuss is whether there is an actual need for Stasis. This should be discussed as the designer admits that little user research has been done on the topic, and cannot say with certainty that it has a valid value proposition. Furthermore, although he has gotten interest from brief descriptions to individuals, the designer is aware that showing interest versus purchasing and uses are two different things. Thus, in order to ensure the value proposition and that there is a valid use case, the designer believes that Stasis should be built and prototyped.

122 | Stasis

Project Spiro Project Spiro is the overarching title for a project that makes use of an internet-enabled system – composed of a wearable known as ‘Spira’, a smart ‘Spiro’ lamp and a smartphone – to convert an individual’s breathing into light with the purpose of enhancing an individual’s meditation experience as well as establishing a greater mindbody connection through breath.

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Via ‘Solace’ – Project Spiro’s platform – the designer hopes to empower those who have recently suffered emotional trauma regain their center by enabling them to practice contemplative meditation by themselves, with friends and family, or with professionals around the world.

124 | Introduction

Inspiration The following subsection is aimed at describing the inspiration that went into Project Spiro and why the designer believes that it could help individuals who have suffered emotional trauma.

The designer would like to begin this section with an anecdote from the summer of 2015, when he was dealing with emotional trauma. Having recently been betrayed by a series of people in a short amount of time he was having trouble breathing, eating and even moving. His thoughts were all over the place and he was truly worried about his own state. At this point, the designer decided to try something new, which his aunt had promised him had incredible, short- and long-term effects: meditation.

Taking in the small amount of information that had been shared with him by his aunt, the designer sat himself in the lotus position (Image on the right), closed his eyes, and decided to focus on his breath. Then, in the light of Tolle’s teaching in The Power of Now the designer silenced his thoughts, became ‘the observer’ (Lexicon) and thus, began to observe his body and his thoughts.

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He noticed the extreme effect that stress and anxiety had on his body as well as what felt like floating islands producing what felt like constant vibrations whilst moving at will across his face and body. Each of these were slowly diminishing with each breath and as the designer decided to focus on each of these, he noticed that each had a story to tell: that each particular mindbody manifestation was its own event, waiting to be dealt with.

By observing the thoughts that came into his mind and following them across his body, the designer slowly began to deal with the nature of the trauma until eventually, he managed to greatly reduce the effects of the stress and anxiety to a point where he was happy and healthy.

Having successfully experienced the incredible power of meditation and its healing ability, the designer felt that this practice could be extremely beneficial to those who have recently suffered emotional trauma. However, although this explains the benefits of meditation and its link to processing emotional trauma, it does not explain the inspiration behind the light or why it is useful for meditation.

Image Source: [146]

126 | Introduction

For this, the designer would like to share a second anecdote from the same time The designer had just returned to New York from spending time in The Netherlands and was located in his apartment, when he reached a critical point in heightened emotions.

He was intoxicated and had not yet overcome one of the episodes of emotional trauma that had occurred in the previous months. The designer remembers very vividly how he walked into his room in a seriously emotional state. He wanted to cry: he felt like it would never end and that the situation couldn’t be solved. At this point the designer remembered the night that had occurred a few weeks back, in which he had managed to temporarily overcome emotional trauma through his first meditative experience. In the light of that success, the designer decided to see if he could achieve the same effect.

However, what occurred was far more powerful. Using the same practice as the previous occurrence, the designer achieved what Enrique Simó later confirmed was a deep, meditative state and one of the most powerful spiritual experiences in existence.

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In this state, the designer felt as though he was floating in what felt like a vast, never-ending space, full of a green gas in which he saw a network of crystals.

His soul began to float towards these crystals, until eventually he became one. Although this was powerful for the designer, what was more powerful was that for every resonant breath (page 53) that he took, a bolt of electricity would flow through the network of crystals, lighting each individual crystal up, with his crystal being lit up at the peak of the pulse. An experience that the designer will never forget and is considered vital for the inspiration of Project Spiro.

Having explained the inspiration behind the light, the designer would like to discuss its functional aspect. As may come as no surprise, Project Spiro came to life in the first three weeks of the thesis, at a point by which the designer was able to probe his experts and users with questions.

As part of this research, the designer discovered that many experts backed the project and that it could be extremely helpful to individuals who are learning to meditate. To expand on this last point: experts and users informed the designer that a lot of individuals struggle to meditate as they are unaware of how to become ‘the observer’. Furthermore, experts informed the designer that although breath is considered fundamental to meditation, it is simply a tool that an individual uses at the beginning to focus, silence the thoughts of their mind and gain a mind-body connection.

Once the individual has learned this ability, it is no longer vital.

However, this said that if the individual could have biofeedback of their breath in the form of light, it would be extremely powerful in helping individuals gain a steady breath, teaching them the initial steps behind meditation and empowering them with a strong mind-body connection.

With these arguments in mind, the designer believes that light can be an element of meditation and an element that is fundamental to Project Spiro (page 123).

128 | Project Spiro

System Overview As portrayed in figure 10, Solace is system is composed of Spira, a smart wearable that determines the individual’s breathing; Spiro, a smart lamp that mirrors the pace and intensity of breathing; and a smartphone app that connects Spira and Spiro together, whilst enabling them to connect to the Solace platform facilitate meditation anywhere in the world with the Solace community.

An individual

In order to make the system energy efficient (with the exception of the internet connection to the Solace platform) all components of the system use Bluetooth Low Energy.

Bluetooth Low Energy is of interest to the designer due to its ultra-low peak, average and idle modes of power consumption, its ability to run for years on standard coin-cell batteries, its low cost as well as its enhanced range.

A Spira Wearable Figure 10: Solace System Diagram

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A Spiro Lamp

Spira The following subsection is aimed at describing the developments that took place as part of the evolution of Spira, and will cover how the ideal sensor was determined, how the algorithm was constructed and how the ideal wearable was built.

130 | Spira

Determining the Ideal Sensor The path to determining the ideal sensor takes the designer back to the interview with technologist Pepin Gelardi (page 97), discussing which sensor should be used to execute the project. As part of this process, Gelardi and the designer used their knowledge of engineering to identify two potential solutions: a strain gauge or an accelerometer.

Figure 11: Strain Gauge Schematic [150]

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Initially, the strain gauge (Fig. 11) was believed to be the ideal solution for this project as it was originally designed to measure strain, such as that which would occur on a strap when the diaphragm expands. However, after researching potential solutions and sharing emails with Gelardi, the designer discovered that the strain gauge solutions that were available on the market were all heavy-duty, large in scale and expensive for the project.

Figure 12: Adafruit ADXL335 Accelerometer [151]

With this knowledge in mind the designer attempted to use an accelerometer (Fig.12) to measure the expansion of the diaphragm. As part of this process, the designer used Adafruit’s ADXL 33, 3 Axis accelerometer in conjunction with a PRJC Teensy 3.1 to measure the change of acceleration during the designer’s inhalation and exhalation.

The designer’s idea was to use the accelerometer in tandem with an algorithm to measure the linear acceleration (Fig. 13) of the chest at given locations [135].

Figure 13: Linear Acceleration Equation [135]

This task was envisioned to be simple given the designers extensive experience in accelerometers, gained during his time at Imperial College where he used Seb Madgwick’s x-IMU (Fig. 14) to create Stride: a wearable to help below-knee amputees train and rehabilitate. However, the inital testing process demonstrated that the accelerometer did not produce significant values during inhalation or exhalation. Consequently, the designer considered using an OpAmp to amplify the signal, but after further consideration decided to find alternative solutions.

Figure 14: x-IMU [135]

132 | Spira

Subsequent to these findings, the designer reached out to Becky Stern, Adafruit’s Director of Wearables, in hope of finding alternative solutions that could be used to execute Project Spiro. Stern guided the designer towards Adafruit’s conductive stretch cord (Fig. 15), but warned that although she did not have any direct experience with the conductive stretch cord, she believed that it would have a series of inconsistencies and potential irregularities that could arise but that all of these could be solved via Arduino software.

A conductive stretch fabric manufactured by Eeonyx had been successfully used by Michela Pelusio for a breathing corset (Fig. 16) as part of their Helix performance [136] and could perhaps be considered as a replacement for the irregular conductive stretch cord. After careful research, the designer believes that the Eeonyx conductive stretch fabric (Fig. 17) will be more comfortable and reliable than the cord, and that he has reached out to Eeonyx to attempt to gain the fabric for the second model of the Spiro wearable.

Finally, after months of developing an algorithm for the conductive stretch cord with a series of consultation sessions with Technician Boris Klompus, the designer was informed by Designer Joshua Corn of a sensor that could be used for the Spiro wearable.

Figure 15: Conductive Stretch Cord [135]

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Figure 16: Breathing Corset [136]

Figure 17: Close-up of Eeonyx Stretch Fabric on Breathing Corset [136]

134 | Spira

Constructing the Algorithm As described in page 131, the designer sifted through an array of sensors before landing on Adafruit’s conductive stretch cord. The following section will describe the process that was carried out to create the first working Spiro prototypes.

The designer proceeded to test the 3.3v solution as the fastest solution, and discovered that although this produced slightly more reliable results, the measurements produced by the Teensy were still inconsistent and would require a software solution.

Having been unsuccessful with the accelerometer and following the guidance given by Stern, the designer began his process by discovering the ability and consistency of the conductive stretch cord.

With this in mind, the designer consulted Klompus on what the potential software solution should include. Within this discussion, the designer learned that the ideal software solution would involve a moving average of points, and that through sampling the solution the noise or irregularities would be greatly reduced.

Additionally, Klompus recommended that implemented into the algorithm should be a thought process that would cancel out any logical points that would be considered outliers.

This involved making use of a multimeter to determine the potential difference in voltage that would occur when the cord was stretched. This task initially led to the insight that the stretch cord was very accurate and consistent. However, after attempting the same experiment on an PRJC Teensy 3.1, the designer discovered that the cord was irregular.

This led the designer to seek consultation from Boris Klompus and the Adafruit tutorial, both of whom informed the designer that these irregularities arose due to inconsistencies within the Teensy and could be solved through software or by using a regulated 3.3V power source provided through by the Teensy chipboard.

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In light of this discussion, the designer designed an algorithm that took these recommendations into account. This process resulted in a clear, smooth signal that could be used to prototype the first wearable. This wearable was first prototyped by maintaining a conductive stretch cord around the diaphragm with tape, which was later shifted towards more of a strap.

Before proceeding with the research, the designer would like to touch on a conversation with Gelardi from the infancy of Project Spiro.

As part of this conversation, Gelardi opined that the biggest challenge to be faced was how an individual could calibrate the wearable to accurately measure their breathing.

This suggestion would come into play in the next step of the development of the algorithm. From a series of tests on individuals, the designer discovered that the algorithm should be calibrated to determine the peak and trough of each individual’s breathing and that these should be mapped into maximum and minimum light intensities respectively.

Another finding from the research and testing was that the signal would fluctuate as a result of the movement of the diaphragm. The calibration solution should take this into account to produce a more stable signal, resulting in a more accurate biofeedback.

However, it wasn’t until further testing was carried out that the designer identified how this could be executed.

The research and testing informed the designer that the rate of change of breathing for each individual is different and that this should be taken into account to ensure that the signal

is clean, accurate and representative of the present state of breath of an individual. These findings were then successfully implemented into the algorithm, producing a clear, steady signal.

Finally, the designer would like to touch on a conversation that was held between Account Executive and Meditator Carolina Sanchez and the designer on the topic of meditating with Project Spiro.

As an experienced meditator, Sanchez concurred that the use of light would be beneficial to those who are learning to meditate. However, she also felt that for experienced meditators this effect would be distracting and that the algorithm should fade to black as the person achieves steady state breathing.

With this advice in mind, the designer proceeded to develop the algorithm further and began by using the range of breath determined by the algorithm to split the breath into sections, with the intention of determining the inhale and exhale period and thus, time. With this feature successfully implemented the designer used this information to build a function into the algorithm that determined the consistency of the breath. In the case of consistent breathing, the light will slowly fade to black.

136 | Spira

Building Spira

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138 | Spira

Selecting Spira’s Technological Components Having developed a functional algorithm, it was time to translate the prototype onto a wireless wearable that could be applied to any individual with ease.

The initial step in this process involved deciding which technological elements would provide the cheapest, lightest, most long-lasting solution.

After consulting the topic with Boris Klompus, Pepin Gelardi and Theodore Ullrich, the designer came to the conclusion that he would use a series of Adafruit products. This would ensure that the wearable would work efficiently and last longer than 3 hours, whilst working in tandem with an iPhone and a lamp to produce the desired result.

To determine the right battery life, the designer learned how to determine the total current used by the circuit under the guidance of Klompus, and then used this knowledge to select the ideal battery.

multimeter set to current Circuit

Battery life =

battery mA hours measured current

Figure 18: How to Determine the Battery Life

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Selecting Spira’s Fasteners Once the final working prototype had been built, it was time to develop the first Spira design. The working prototype had been attached onto the individual by tying a knot using the two strap ends.

The designer consulted designer Karen Vallensky, a first year Products of Design student with extensive knowledge in fabrics and clothing.

During a series of conversations with Vallensky, the designer learned of a series of potential fastening techniques, which included a belt fastener (with or without a belt hook), buttons, and finally, bra hooks.

After testing and iterating various prototypes using buttons and belt fastening systems, the designer decided to rely on bra hooks as this fastening system is almost universally understood and can be fastened at a series of locations, enabling the wearable to be used for a wider range of sizes as well as attached by the individual on themselves.

Figure 19: Top - Knot Fastener; Bottom - Bra Hooks Fastener

140 | Spira

Raising Spira’s Fidelity After selecting the final fasteners, the designer consultated again with Vallensky to make the strap both attractive and fully functional. Due to the nature of the product the strap had to be flexible and decided that black spandex fabric would be ideal for this element of Spira.

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142 | Spira

Spiro

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144 | Introduction

Lumi Lumi was developed as part of Three Dimensional Product Design 2, a class taught by Sinclair Smith that aims at helping thesis students deliver an outstanding product for their thesis as well as for the Wanted Design: Industry City show held on May 7th 2016.

Throughout this process, the designer first created Lagrima, a tear shaped Spiro (Fig. 21 & 22). However, after receiving a wide range of critique, the designer realized that that the Spiro looked like an air freshener and decided to redesign the Spiro.

As part of this adventure, the designer created Lumi. A Spiro aimed for mass production and envisioned to be the first of a suite of products for the designers platform, Solace - Meditation for All (page 277).

Thus, following the advice of designers Judy Chi and Adem Onalan, the designer redesigned the Spiro to follow the same language as the Solace lamp and created Lumi. Lump is powered

by Adafruits Neomatrix, which enables the designer to recreate an color at will and is connected to the platform via Adafruits Feather 32uLE chip.

Figure 20: Lagrima Sketches

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Figure 21: Initial Lagrima Model

Figure 22: Iterated Lagrima Model

146 | Spiro

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Figure 23: Renders of Preliminary Ideas

148 | Spiro

Fig 23 Lumi Final render

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150 | Introduction

Solace The following subsection is aimed at describing the developments that took place as part of the creation of Solace, the lamp that was used for the experience Solace: The Light in All of Us (page 289).

As part of the initial process of developing the Solace lamp, the designer had to determine the components needed to make the lamp a reality. To do this he consulted with designer and light expert Joshua Corn. Joshua and the designer debated between LEDs and light bulbs, with Corn suggesting that light bulbs are area sources and will light up a room equally.

The designer and Corn then proceeded to determine the right temperature for the bulb to ensure that the right colour is projected by the lamp. After careful consideration a 6000K light bulb was selected for its cool white colour.

Although the light bulb was the ideal light emitter for Solace, it added a technological complexity as the designer now needed to make the bulb dim in sync with an individual’s breath.

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Upon receiving this part, the designer altered the algorithm to make the system work with the bulb.

However, as part of this process the designer learned that a delay was required to enable to light bulb to be dimmed effectively: a minimum delay of 20 milliseconds was required to ensure dimming. This was particularly problematic for the function of Solace, as this delay will cause the system to function out of sync.

The designer solved this issue by using the Arduino’s inner clock to produce a series of asynchronous loops, enabling a real-time dimming effect without affecting the data received.

Finally, once all the technology was up and running, the designer proceeded to use Solidworks and the inspiration shown in section 5.5.x.x to design the lamp. The lamp was then ordered from Shapeways and built in the Visible Futures Lab.

152 | Introduction

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162 | Introduction

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164 | Introduction

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166 | Introduction

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168 | Introduction

Solace

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170 | Introduction

Solace: Meditation for All The following subsection is aimed at describing the inspiration and developments that took place throughout the creation of Solace: a platform envisioned to connect meditators around the world.

As part of the class Service Entrepreneurship the designer was challenged with developing a service for Finding North. Given that the designer knew that he wanted to create a thesis that was centered around a theme, the designer pushed towards creating a product-service pairing that would be centered around Lumi (page 307), a smart lamp that uses a wearable to turns an individual is breathing into light.

After a brainstorming session, the designer consulted designer Tahnee Pantig on how it could be possible to convert Spiro into a service. As part of this conversation, Pantig informed the designer that she often meditates with her mother and that it would be amazing if there was a productservice pairing that could enhance this experience.

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In particular, Pantig pointed out that what would make this service powerful is the ability to feel another individual’s breath. Furthermore, she suggested that itcould be more powerful if it could bring together, perhaps through the use of colour, multiple individuals in a single session. Thispoint was later confirmed by designer and meditator Julia Lindpainter, who stated that this interaction was not only new but also very intimate and powerful.

These conversations and their insights would lead to the creation of Kin, a feature that enables meditators to connect to any member of the Solace community and practice entrained meditation. This feature is believed to be beneficial to finding north as it enables individuals to find support, potentially shifting their mental paradigm through an intimate experience feeling the breath of another individual or group.

Furthermore, Solace as a platform could be greatly beneficial to those who have suffered emotional trauma as it enables them to find all forms of support without having to be in public or leave their ‘safe space’.

Additionally, the designer would like to expand on a unique experience that is integrated into the Kin experience.

This feature – which was conceived as a result of watching Mickey Siegel’s TED talk and later conversations with Steven Dean – implements the ability to determine when the members of an Kin session are breathing in sync, at which point Lumi will resonate a white light.

This experience hopes to occur when each of the individuals is performing resonant breathing. As detailed in page 53, this could be beneficial to all individuals, in particular those who have recently suffered an emotionally traumatic event.

In the light of this knowledge, the designer brainstormed what this service could be used for. From multiple conversations with experts, the designer recalled that all his individuals had one key desire: they wanted to be able to expand their reach. Given that the world is at a highly advanced point in this regard, they pushed the designer to develop a technological solution to make this possible. Thus, with this insight in mind, the designer developed the service to include Ceremony, a feature that would allow individuals to connect to spiritual leaders around the world.

Having developed the initial concept, the designer moved on to ideate Solace to function as a service. The designer knew that it was not enough to connect meditators around the world together and that the service had to have considerable, continuous, long-term value.

172 | Solace

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174 | Solace

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Individual 1

Individual 2

Individual 3

Colour of Spiro

Figure 24: Individuals Breathing with Respective Spiro Colour

176 | Solace

Solace - The Light in All of Us The following subsection is aimed at describing the inspiration and developments that took place as part of the experience behind Solace: The Light in All of Us. As part of Emilie Baltz’s class Design Delight, the designer was given the opportunity to develop an experience for Finding North. To center the thesis around Project Spiro, the designer proceeded to develop an experience by which individuals could experience the Echo feature of the Solace platform (page 277).

As part of this progress, the designer was tasked with developing a storyboard and invitation for the event, with the purpose of helping the class of 2016 visualize the experience and give critical feedback. As part of this process, the designer received criticism, suggesting that the meditation experience should last 5 minutes, as the invitees would not be experienced meditators. Furthermore, this time constraint ensured that the designer could maximise the number of individuals invited.

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Subsequently, the designer developed a production schedule as well as a list of the necessary clothing and items required to ensure that the experience would go smoothly. Furthermore, the designer moved to design a run of show, to ensure that the event would run smoothly as participants entered and left. As part of this process, the designer reached out to event coordinator Mark Paetz, team lead and Senior Program Manager at First Incentive Travel, who helped the designer create a reliable schedule to ensure that the event would flow smoothly. Paetz informed the designer that it would be a very nice touch to provide water for the participants, and have baskets in the space so that individuals can leave their gear as they experience Solace. This advice was taken in with the vision of maximising the hospitality offered to participants.

Consequently, under the guidance of Baltz, the designer moved on to design the giveaway for participants.

Baltz pushed the designer to create an interactive giveaway that would mirror the participants’ experience. With this in mind, the designer proceeded to successfully build a system that recorded the individual’s breath, which would later be created on a responsive website for the individual to reexperience at any moment.

Finally, in order to produce the cinematic experience that the designer had envisioned, the designer reached out to his friends Daniel A. Gomez and LFC Enterprises LLC to ensure that the experience would be filmed, as well as with the intention of forming a production team for the day. To do this the designer created a preliminary floor plan and proceeded to show the room with the intended lighting to the production team. This process helped the designer and the production team learn more about the space and the intended shooting schedule.

After a second viewing of the room, the designer and Gomez discovered that it would be very tricky to get all the shots in a single recording and that they use the abundant amount of guests to split shots. With this discovery in mind, the designer and Dan split the shots for participants and finalised the storyboard. This decision was also beneficial as it would allow participants to feel less intimidated as well as greatly reduce the number of SD cards that the designer would need.

178 | Solace

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180 | Introduction

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182 | Introduction

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184 | Introduction

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186 | Introduction

Audience, Stakeholder & Markets

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Image Source [78]

188 | Introduction

Audience As has been noted throughout the thesis Finding North carries the objective of helping and supporting those who have recently suffered emotional trauma, by helping them to transition past the trauma to a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

As dictated in the concept map (page 173), the thesis focuses on those who have suffered emotional trauma in the form of the death of a loved one, betrayal, the breach of a harmonious relationship or professional failure. It is important to focus on these people as there is a lack of products designed to help deal with the mind-body manifestations and consequential reduction in vitality that may arise.

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This is facilitated by providing a suite of products of design that are more focused on introspective healing. This focus arose after a conversation with Accountant Alain Garrido Rodriguez, which indicated that it is important to balance the healing process between a western, social approach and an eastern, introspective approach.

Image Source [77]

190 | Introduction

Stakeholders From the journey and interviews that were carried out for Finding North the designer is aware that processing trauma is a process that affects and involves a wide range of people: individual, to their family and friends, through to professionals of all sorts that may be enlisted to help. In the light of this, the designer considers the following individuals stakeholders to the process (Fig 25).

The designer understands that it is important to acknowledge that the emotionally traumatic events that the thesis is targeting involve an external individual to that mentioned above, which may be responsible for the trauma. However, the designer is excluding this individual from the stakeholder as he has designed a suite of products of design that do not involve that individual. Furthermore, the designer has done this as, in agreement with Diltz’s neurological levels of change (page 35), he believes that it is important to change the environment and behaviour to ensure a successful transition.

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Finally, before proceeding the designer would like to expand on the supporting professionals that the thesis believes could be fundamental to the transition process. From the research and interviews (section x.x) that were carried out as part of Finding North, the supporting professionals that are believed to be fundamental to any recovery and are envisioned to be incorporated into Solace’s Maestro feature are spiritual leaders, psychotherapists, psychologists, breathing therapists, Neuro-Linguistic Programming experts, transformational coaches and life coaches.

Individual with Trauma

Family

Designers

Kin

Engineers

Healing Professionals

Figure 25: Stakeholders

192 | Audience, Stakeholders & Markets

Markets Having derived the stakeholders and supporting professionals that the thesis believes are required to help ease the transition of individuals, the designer uncovered a series of potential vertical markets for Finding North’s Solace platform. However, before proceeding the designer wanted to validate whether these markets would be available and valid for the Solace community. As part of this process, the designer carried out follow-up expert interviews and confirmed the following vertical markets.

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Finally, a finding from all of the interviews that were carried out with experts: the designer can confirm that there is a strong demand from all of these supporting professionals to extend their reach. The designer believes that Solace will be a key element in this potential expansion.

Meditation

Transformational Coaching

NLP Healing

Psychotherapy

Screen Apnea

Breathing Therapy

Figure 26: Markets

194 | Audience, Stakeholders & Markets

Explorative Lenses

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196 | Introduction

Workshop The first lens that the thesis looked through was that of a co-creation workshop, which was facilitated by four members of my target audience: 25-35 year old professionals living in New York City.

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The four participants were first presented to, and then given a series of supplementary sheets of paper with the purpose of creating a product that could help ease an individual’s transition past an emotionally traumatic event.

After 45 minutes, once the participants were done creating, the participants presented their ‘product of change’ through a narrative.

The main insight gathered from the workshop is that the transition is the main pain point suffered during an emotionally traumatic experience, and it is this that should be designed for.

198 | Explorative Lenses

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200 | Introduction

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202 | Introduction

Service Design

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204 | Introduction

tune-in Tune-In is a service aimed at helping individuals process emotional trauma through a ‘safe space’ that allows them to engage in musicallyenhanced introspection combined with neurofeedback.

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The service – which would be offered to the American Psychiatric Association – is envisioned to be created in partnership with Emotiv, Audiotecnica and Airbnb and would be prototyped using studio headphones and Emotiv’s Epoc+ headset.

206 | Explorative Lenses

How tune-in works

tune-in’s algorithm shifts the individuals mental paradigm from a beta brainwave state to an alpha/theta brainwave state through music. These are the brainwaves that areresponsible for stress and calmness respectively.

During the process, the Emotiv headset records the individuals neurological activity.

At the end of every session, individuals are given access to an interactive analysis and record of their present and previous neurological activities and patterns.

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The system then informs the individuals of four color codes which represent certain neurological patterns as well as their significance and how they could influence an individual.

The next time the individual decides to tune-in, they are prompted with a colored visual cue to inform them of their present neurological pattern. With the purpose of raising consciousness and regulating the central nervous system.

208 | Explorative Lenses

Lucid Lucid is a service that aims to help individuals deal with emotional trauma through guided introspection, aiming to occur through lucid dreaming. Lucid is perceived to benefit individuals by helping them fight their trauma in their sleep, resulting in a more rested and vitalized individual.

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The service is envisioned to be partnered with hotels and hostels, and would incorporate a guide. The purpose of the guide would be to greet with the individual at the door, as well as discussing the individual’s current state and the progress that they wish to be made.

The guide would place the individual into a lucid state by pulsing them with a 25-40 Hz gamma ray before falling asleep [73]. In the morning the individual would be woken by the guide with a delicious, artisanal breakfast tailored to their taste, and would discuss the nature of their lucid dream as well as their thoughts and feelings.

Finally, the individual can track and journal their progress on the Lucid website, which also includes guide notes and entries from their previous sessions.

210 | Explorative Lenses

Designing for Screens

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212 | Finding North

Stasis Stasis is a product-service pairing that aims to help individuals remain in focus.

Stasis, which is defined as a period of equilibrium, allows individuals to find stasis through the sound of music or nature, and through the sound of thunder alerts individuals when they lose focus.

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The service – envisioned to be partnered with Emotiv and Audiotecnica/Onkyo – would work via EEG enabled headphones and would be prototyped and tested using the Emotiv Epoc+ headset as well as a pair of studio headphones.

214 | Explorative Lenses

Figure 27: Stasis Menu and Aria Feature Screens

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216 | Introduction

Spiro Spiro is a product-service pairing that aims to help individuals gain awareness of their breath with the purpose of relieving stress and anxiety. The app would work in conjunction with the Spiro and would allow users to sync their breathing with the light being produced by the Spiro.

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218 | Explorative Lenses

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Figure 28: Spiro Menu and Pause Feature Screens

220 | Explorative Lenses

Reduce Reduce is an app that uses Google Cardboard and a moving ball on a smartphone to achieve eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR, page 41) with the purpose of reducing emotional intensity.

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Reduce was developed as an minimum viable product using XCode’s Sprite Kit, and carried a unique feature that granted the individual flexibility over the speed of the ball with the purpose of learning about the ideal movement speed of the ball.

222 | Explorative Lenses

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224 | Introduction

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226 | Introduction

Designing for Social Value

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228 | Introduction

Aspire Aspire is a speculative social enterprise that makes use of product-service pairing to enhance an individual’s awareness of their breathing, with the purpose of motivating people through the transition to vitality.

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Aspire is envisioned to be partnered with Hexoskin and corporations around the world with the purpose of raising awareness of employee vitality, resulting in less sick days and insurance costs as well as balanced workloads at adequate capacities. Additionally, Aspire would offer businesses an inter-company health ranking, with the purpose of creating a healthy competition between co workers.

Image Source [85]

230 | Explorative Lenses

Figure 29: Aspire Menu and Breathing Feature Screens

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232 | Introduction

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234 | Introduction

Products

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236 | Introduction

Spiro I Spiro I is a product-service pairing composed of a elastic strap and a lamp, aimed at helping users meditate by physicalizing their breathing with the purpose of relieving stress and anxiety.

Finding North | 237

Spiro makes use of a conductive stretch cord and a series of NeoPixels to determine the width of an individual’s diaphragm and translate this into intensity of light, where the minimum and maximum diaphragm with is equal to minimum and maximum intensity of light respectively.

Spiro’s design allows the ball top to be exchanged, allowing for a multitude of light patterns to be available for when users meditate. In the future, the designer intends for Spiro to work in tandem with a smartphone, allowing the user further flexibility over the smart object.

238 | Explorative Lenses

Finding North | 239

240 | Introduction

Spiro II After an interview with Jessica Wolf (page 81), it became apparent that individuals often suffer screen apnea when working in front of a computer.

Finding North | 241

Thus, Spiro II is a product-service pairing, composed of a elastic strap and a desk accessory, aimed at raising an individual’s awareness on their current level of breathing. Finally, the desk accessory would light up in red, green or blue in order to represent an individual’s level of breathing.

242 | Explorative Lenses

Finito.

Inspired by Neuro-Linguistic Programming: The Essential Guide, Finito is a product of design that incorporates drawing, bilateral stimulation and measured breathing with the purpose of reducing stress and anxiety [7].

Finding North | 243

Under the slogan ‘Draw for Relief’, Finito’s simple exercise requires the individual to take deep breaths while simultaneously following the tip of their pen/pencil with their eyes as they draw a figure 8.

Finito is intended to be handed out for free, with the aim of raising public awareness of how stress and anxiety can be eased through drawing.

244 | Explorative Lenses

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246 | Introduction

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248 | Introduction

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250 | Introduction

Alivio Alivio is a desk accessory designed to help users clear their mind by writing down their worries on paper. Alivio comes full of note paper then allow the individual to formulate a plan based on what they can and can’t control.

Finding North | 251

252 | Explorative Lenses

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254 | Introduction

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256 | Introduction

Spira The Surrender campaign was inspired by Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now, which states that “surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life and that the only place where this can be experienced is in the Now” [2].

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258 | Introduction

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260 | Introduction

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262 | Introduction

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264 | Introduction

Products of Design

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266 | Introduction

Stasis Stasis is a product-service pairing aimed at helping individuals achieve focus through the sound of music or the sound of rain.

Finding North | 267

To achieve this, Stasis makes use of a wearable that works in tandem with a sound-driven smartphone app to measure an individual’s brainwaves, determine when their mind is wandering and subsequently alert them if it has wandered too far.

Stasis is intended to help those who have suffered emotional trauma regain their center and their focus faster by informing them of the state of their own mind.

268 | Products of Design

Finding North | 269

270 | Introduction

Figure 30: Render of Stasis Wearable

Finding North | 271

272 | Introduction

Stasis invites the user to be greeted by name.

Then invites the user to place the Stasis wearable on their headset.

Then informs the user of the aria feature.

And of the clima feature.

The user is then informed of how to change settings.

And where they can access their metrics.

Figure 31: Stasis Tutorial

Finding North | 273

Tap to see metrics.

Tap for settings.

Tap to access Aria feature

Tap to access Clima feature

Figure 32: Stasis Home Screen

274 | Products of Design

Tap to return to home screen

Tap to see metrics.

Tap for settings.

Slide to change lightning volume.

Slide to change volume.

Slide to change amount that your mind can wander.

Tap to change music.

Tap to change alert sound/style

Figure 33: Aria Explained

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Tap to return to home screen

Tap to see metrics.

Tap for settings.

Slide to change lightning volume.

Slide to change climate volume Slide to change amount that your mind can wander.

Tap to change climate sound.

Tap to change alert sound/style

Figure 34: Clima Explained

Amount of time an individual has spent focused.

276 | Products of Design

Solace: Meditation for All Solace is a platform envisioned to connect meditators around the world.

The platform will make use of a suite of a products of design to enhance an individual’s meditation.

Finding North | 277

Solace, which is centered around a Spiro lamp, enables any individual to practice technologically-enabled meditation by themselves, or with an array of supporting professionals or with any member of the solace community.

278 | Products of Design

Solace

An individual

Family Kin Meditators Other

Figure 35: Solace Service Map

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Spiritual Leaders Healers Transformational Coaches Psycologists Other

Figure 36: Solace Lumi System

280 | Products of Design

Splash screen

Individual is asked to pair their smart Spiro lamp.

Figure 37: Solace Service Map

Finding North | 281

Individual is asked to pair their Spira wearable.

Tap for see friends.

Tap for metrics.

Tap for settings.

Add Friend

Return to main menu

Add Friend

Return to main menu

Figure 38: Solace Main Screen and Features

282 | Products of Design

Change Spiro brightness via this meter

Return to main menu

Figure 39: Solace Main Screen and Features

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Return to main menu

resonance is a feature designed to help individuals find a resonant breathing pattern through a simple excercise that

invites an individual to mirror a circle’s expansion and contraction via their breath.

284 | Products of Design

Community features

Invite screen

Figure 40: Community features screen flow

Finding North | 285

Kin/Ceremony screen

Kin is a feature designed to connect individuals to their family and friends allowing them to visualize eachother is

breath in real time. When their breaths are synced, their Spiros will resonate white to symbolise their unity.

286 | Products of Design

Finding North | 287

288 | Products of Design

Solace: The Light in All of Us Solace is an avant garde, audio-visual, technological experience that allows users to practice contemplative meditation.

Finding North | 289

Solace makes use of a technologicallyenabled lamp that uses a Spira wearable to translate an individual’s breathing into light, revolutionizing an individual’s meditation experience

290 | Products of Design

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292 | Introduction

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294 | Introduction

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296 | Introduction

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298 | Introduction

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300 | Introduction

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302 | Introduction

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304 | Introduction

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306 | Introduction

Lumi Lumi is a technologically-enabled lamp that uses a Spira wearable to convert an individual is breathing into light.

Finding North | 307

Lumi achieves this through a iPhone based calibration system that determines how an individual breathes, and maps this into light. To elaborate, as you inhale the light gets brighter and as you exhale the light gets darker.

308 | Products of Design

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310 | Products of Design

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312 | Products of Design

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314 | Products of Design

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316 | Products of Design

Empatia Empatia is a three part tower designed to teach individuals how to empathise with a situation through three lenses: as you lived it, as the other individual lived it and from a third person.

Finding North | 317

These blocks are envisioned to be available in the year 2050 and alter your brain patterns to make you think in each lens as you hold that lens is piece. Once all lenses have been considered, the tower is completed and carries the form of a human being.

318 | Products of Design

Third person perspective

Your perspective

Finding North | 319

The other individual is perspective

320 | Introduction

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322 | Introduction

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324 | Introduction

Future

Finding North | 325

326 | Future

Stasis Given that Stasis never made it past the design phase, the designer would like to touch on how he intends to develop this product in the future. As the designer had intended to build a fully functioning prototype, the designer invested in an Emotiv Epoc headset as well as an software developer kit.

With this gear the designer had intended to build a working prototype, and eventually expand out to a selfcrafted, Arduino-EEG prototype. As part of this process, the designer intended to use the headset (in tandem with continuous user research) to first confirm the findings from the research that has been carried out (page 122145), as well to observe first hand exactly how brainwaves fluctuate.

Furthermore, the designer intended to learn exactly how much the mind wandered by interviewing the individuals being tested at different points about their level of focus. The intention of this would be to use these findings to learn more about mind wandering and the value proposition of Stasis.

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Once the designer had carried out this research, the intention was to begin building an iPhone app that worked in tandem with the Emotiv Epoc headset. These would carry out the basic functionality of Stasis: alerting the individual that their mind had wandered via the sound of thunder.

With this prototype the designer intended to take the experience a step further as well as validate the value proposition.

Subsequently, once the app has been developed, tested and validated the designer intends to build the actual Stasis wearable. As the designer hoped to have done this during the final semester at Products of Design, he reached out to Advanced Control lecturer at Imperial College London Dr Mihalo Ristic, with the purpose of asking him how to build a state-ofthe-art fast Fourier transform (FFT) system, with subsequent notch filters to separate the desired frequency bands, to ensure that Stasis could achieve this functionality.

Ristic informed the designer that his best experience involved the use of FFTW, a free online library that has extensive research and is regularly updated [139]. Furthermore (to the designer’s delight) this library is Arduino compatible and can be used for a multitude of projects. Therefore the designer envisioned to build a custom FFT algorithm that could be used to deliver Stasis’s functionality. This algorithm would be implemented into the wearable that would be iterated a multitude of times until ready for market, at which point, the designer would seek a manufacturing partner and kickstart Stasis.

328 | Future

Project Spiro The following section will describe the future plans of Project Spiro and will discuss how the designer intends to redesign and test the system, build it for mass scale, test it at mass scale and finally kickstart. Additionally, the section will cover a conversation that was head between Robin Emmerich and the designer and how Stasis (page 102) could be repurposed to fit within the gamma of products that Solace (page 289) has to offer.

The first step that the designer would like to discuss is how he intends to redesign Spira, Project Spiro’s wearable.

Having gone through the process once, the designer is aware that in order to reach a high resolution that is appealing to users, the designer must minimize the size of the wearable. Thus,after analyzing the market for available chips, the designer landed on Adafruit’s Feather 32u4 LE (Fig. 41), which is a microchip that is bluetooth enabled and has a rechargeable battery port built in.

Finding North | 329

Additionally, the designer must create a range of straps that could be used by any individual on the planet. Thus, inspired by the work of Hexoskin (Fig. 42), the designer will create a manual with a size chart for individuals to know which size is their size. Please note that the designer intends to build this chart based on the navel area as this is where the Spira will be placed.

Once that the designer has redesigned Spira, he intends to take the product to Spain to share it with an array of spiritual leaders whom have already shown interest in Solace (page 289) to determine their true interest and begin to discuss Solace as a service. As part of these discussions, the designer intends to enlist these spiritual leaders on Solace’s board of directors as he believes that they are critical to the service is success.

Figure 41: Adafruit’s Feather 32u4 LE

Figure 42: Hexoskin Size Chart

330 | Future

Furthermore, as part of this visit to Spain, the designer intends to gift his aunt Pilar Gomez Castillo and mother, Mar Gomez Castillo, with a Lumi Spiro, with the purpose of beginning to test the Kin feature (page 286). This feature will be tested first with both individuals in the same house, then in separate houses, then in separate countries and finally in separate continents. From these tests the designer will iterate upon the algorithm and gain a deeper insight into what it would take to make Kin a great feature, as well as the true effects of Solace-based resonant breathing (page 53).

Once that this feature is perfected, the designer will begin to design the Lumi Spiro for mass scale, with the intention of producing a batch of 50 Lumi’s and Spira’s, to be sold to the closest contacts of Solace’s spiritual leaders.

Whilst the designer is doing this, he will begin to build Solace’s Ceremony feature (page 285) using Eric Reis’s Lean Start-Up philosophy [89] and the arguments are the detailed below.

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Having read a wide range of literature such as ‘The Lean Start-up’ , the weekly start-up digest for many years as well as entrepreneurial posts on medium, the designer is aware of the difficult and focused nature that is required for an entrepreneurial venture to succeed [89,140,141]. These readings taught the designer that it is fundamental to start extremely small, build a package that works and then slowly expand the network and finally, expand once everything appears to be ready for scale.

Thus, in the light of this knowledge, the designer aims to start Solace by create a internet phone call system that connects users to a wide range of meditators. This phone system will enable users to meditate with Ceremonys around the world in real time and will test the interest for this feature. At this point, the designer will offer the product to a small range of spiritual leaders and transformational coaches in Spain and the United States, with the purpose of creating a large user group upon which features and functions can be tested and, if successful, the designer plans to kickstart the Spiro MVP, offering Solace to the world

Finally, before proceeding, the designer would like to touch on a conversation that was held between Robin Emmerich and the designer, which was initially intended to validate whether Solace as a platform would be of interest to Robin’s practice and if Spiro would be of interest. As part of the interview detailed above, Robin confirmed that Solace would be of interested and that Spiro could be used in the future practice as a spiritual leader. However, Robin suggested that Solace should take into consideration a suite of products that could enable enhanced meditation and offered the designer the opportunity of collaborating together in developing a wearable that could be used to track an individual’s brainwaves in order to inform a spiritual leader that an individual is meditating right. Thus, the designer intends to take up this offer in the future and begin to build a suite of products for Solace.

332 | Future

Gracias Mar Gomez Castillo Pilar Gomez Castillo Antonio de la Hera Gomez Antonio de la Hera Martinez Mercedes Cremades Maria Pia Madrazo Abby Covert Allan Chochinov Andrew Schloss Alisha Wessler Marko Manriquez Gabrielle Kellner Adam Fujita Alain Garrido Rodriguez Arjun Kalyanpur Becky Stern Berk Ilhan Belen Tenorio Boris Klompus Brent Arnold Catherine Fitzmaurice Carolina Sanchez

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Christian Jakenfelds Christos Dimitroulas Cody Pfleging Daniel A. Gomez Deidre Sierra Elia Chesnoff Emilie Baltz Emily Roberts Enrique Sim贸 Eric Posen Ethan Weiss Gahee Donna Kang Gina Avalon Goldberg Ishac Bertran Ilse Pfeifer Jane Guyer Fujita Janna Gilbert Javier Iglesias Coll Jennifer Flores Jessica Wolf John Heida John Sultana John Thackara Josh Corn Laura Ligouri

Ljiljana Todoro Maja Vujinovic Mark Dudlik Mark Paetz Oscar Pipson Patricia Meyer Pepin Gelardi Pilar Querra Colomina Rob Walker Robin Emmerich Ryan Platt Saul Jotzubei Sean Lindert Sinclair Scott Smith Steven Dean Theodore Ullrich Yannis Dimitroulas PoD Class of 2016 PoD Class of 2017

334 | Introduction

A Critical Assessment of Products of Design The designer will like to start with acknowledging that the program changed him and shaped him, showed him the territory of design and offered him opportunities unlike anything he could have possibly ever imagined. As a result, the designer would suggest to any individual who feels up to it to apply and endure the incredible challenge of completing Products of Design.

However, this said, the designer would like to critique the final year at Products of Design.

In particular, because it is very difficult to make the other classes fit into the thesis. Moreover, the designer heavily questions the intention behind this choice. Given the tremendous task that it is to complete a thesis like Finding North, it is difficult for individuals to execute their thesis and classes well.

Thus, with this in mind, the designer would suggest to the program that they remove some classes, allowing individuals to be able to execute everything to standard.

There is a constant belief that ‘you are in charge of your thesis’ and that ‘you can do whatever you want’, however, the underlying structure dictates that your thesis has to be a lot of things and in particular, have an element of social good. Have seen individuals carry out theses that were not in line with this structure, it is apparent that the heavy workload that is applied through the classes does not benefit them, as they only benefit the structure.

Additionally, the conceptual nature of the program has at many moments frustrated the designer. For a program that carries ‘Products’ in its title, the program does not produce enough real, functioning products. A thought that the designer took to Allan, who informed the designer that they are working on changing it to ensure that more real, functioning products are created.

Furthermore, given that the third semester of the program is intended for learning and thus, only one class is given to thesis, the designer believes that all the students are at a disadvantage.

Finding North | 335

The designer would like to expand on the last point and would like to make clear that it is the program’s intention to provide the tools for the contemporary designer and leaders of the future.

Although the designer can confirm that to a large degree, the program does this excellently, it would like to question why it does not focus more on functionality rather than aesthetic execution. The designer believes that it is in the programs interest to do this as the designer believes that it is no longer OK for designers to create something and expect an engineer to make all their dreams come true.

Having had extensive conversation with members of the board of R/ GA, LittleBits as well as professors of Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, the designer believes that a designer is better and more complete if they are aware of the constructs that surround reality; why and how they are constructed as well as where they can be pushed.

This argument is one that the designer believes is truly at the root of the true contemporary designer and the leaders of the future, a point that the program has never brought forward and a point that must be attended to if they are to stay true to their mission statement.

336 | Introduction

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