Capstone: A meditation studio for all levels by Dillon Chou

Table of Contents

0. Key Image

1. Executive Summary

2. Vision Statement

2.1 Should Do

2.2 Can Do

2.3 Can Know

2.4 Forms

3. System Scenarios

3.1 Stakeholder Diagrams

3.2 Concept Sketches

3.3 Scenarios of Use

4. Process

4.1 Predispositions

4.2 Research

4.3 Insights

4.4 Concepts

4.5 Prototypes

4.6 Strategies

5. References

0. Key Image A person wearing EEG headset and adjusting the environment setting of the meditation pod on his phone.

1. Executive Summary

something to join, keeping in touch with other learners. The featured meditation pod and record app are both distinct from current market that allows Halo! to offer a more holistic service. Each person can find their place here and connect with other people sharing the same habit. Gradually, Halo! will become a community for different kinds of meditation lovers.

Halo! is a meditation studio that offers diverse meditation classes, events and featured immersive meditation pod. The record app coordinating with the pod will give personalized suggestions for improving meditation performance. This idea is formed after a series of research on meditation. The research shows that meditation is becoming popular in recent years due to multiple effects it offers, including destress, improving distraction and anxiety.

2. Vision Statement 2.1 Should Do

However, many people find it difficult to keep meditating since it takes time and effort to reach a deep meditation state. “It is just like working out, which also takes time and effort to see the effects”, said by a meditation teacher joining the interview. For many beginners, even though they have learned the techniques of meditation, it is still hard to meditate well. “I often fall asleep during meditation”, said by an interviewee who has meditated for four years. Another frustrating thing is getting lost in the path of endless practice. They become confused. “I don’t know if meditation has any benefit even I have meditated for two years. I may be changed but I am not sure”, said by another meditation learner. Due to these problems, many new learners give up quickly.

Meta themes: Here Primary themes: Improving health

2.1.1 Predispositions

Mental illness is a serious problem in modern society since the competition is more and more severe. It is necessary for everyone to learn some techniques dealing with stress. Meditation is a good tool to relieve common mental illness, including stress, anxiety and depression.

2.1.2 Motivation

I started to study meditation as the competitive environment often makes me stressed. Besides, many of my friends suffer from different types of mental illness. This experience motivates me to design something related.

To help meditation learners quickly see the effects of meditation and the improvement on themselves, Halo Is developed. It is a meditation studio for all levels. For beginners, meditation classes are offered to equip them with essential techniques. The classes are diverse in order to keep their curiosity and passion on meditation. Besides, meditation pod and record app helps them to shift from beginner to senior, quickly improving the meditation performance and see the progress. The user testing shows that people feel immersive while meditating in the pod, and the record app encourages them when they see the progress. Moreover, Halo regularly holds events, including speeches, outdoor meditation, vegetarian cooking classes and so on, that skillful people will also find

2.1.3 Vision

I hope the solution can relieve people’s mental illness and help them develop a more positive attitude when facing difficulties.

2.2 Can Do

Meta themes: Change, Persuade Primary themes: Scaffold Behaviors

2.2.1 Concept

Meditation is a good tool to improve personal mental health. But it is hard to form this habit since it takes time to see the effects. And the progress is not much explicit. Therefore, my design concept is to offer a supportive community and immersive environment to help people

who want to develop the habit of meditation but find it difficult to do it.

of light, volume and type of music, and the strength and type of scent to personalize the environment. (Photo 1)

2.2.2 Approaches

• Diverse Meditation Classes To motivate beginners keep meditating, meditation classes should be diverse so that beginners always feel fresh. Classes can include different types of meditation, like loving kindness meditation, sound bath and aromatherapy treatment. Each session should be short enough that beginners can complete with moderate effort.

Besides, people will wear an EEG headset while meditating in the pod to record their mind state. The headset is connected with the pod so that the pod can adjust the ambience in response to the users. When users are focusing, the pod will turn down the ambience to avoid interruption; when users are distracted , the ambience will blink for a second to remind them to concentrate on meditation. (Photo 2)

• Meditation Pod After beginners learn meditation techniques, their focus should shift to practice and sharpen the meditation performance. However, even those who have meditated for years find it difficult to meditate at home since it is easy to be distracted. Therefore, a meditation pod offering immersive environment will help them reach a better performance. The pod will have several themes to build different ambience. Each theme has its own light, music and scent setting. People can connect their phone with the pod and adjust the brightness and color

• Record and Share App After each session of meditation in the meditation pod, people will receive their meditation quality on their phone. The quality is presented in a visual way to make the outcome less stressful. The image is a sky with clouds. The more clouds, the more clouded users’ mind are during meditation. The best performance will generate a sky without any clouds; the worst performance will generate a sky fully covered with clouds. (Photo 3) Another function on the app is to do the self-as-

Picture 1. Theme for the meditation pod

Picture 2. Responsive ambience in the meditation pod

2.2.3 Strategies

sessment testing, for example, stress measurement testing. When people complete the test, the app will show the result to compare with previous result. The amount of meditation done in between is shown as well so that people can easily see the improvement within this period of time. (Photo 4)

One of my strategies is to provide holistic services that attract different people to come and form a meditation community. However, the benchmark against Hong Kong meditation studios shows that diverse classes and events and activities have been developed by many competitors. To distinguish from them, I turned out to focus more on developing the “Immersive meditation pod” and “Record & Share app”.

Moreover, the app will recommend music, techniques, classes, and events that cater to the users so that users can also learn from the app. On friends’ page, the events they recently joined, recommended classes and music will also be shown so that people not just learn something from their friends but find more things to talk to. (Photo 5) • Related Activities For seniors, they have been skilled in meditation and only need to maintain this habit.One helpful support is to make them stay with people who meditate as well. To motivate seniors staying in the community, different kinds of activities and events are provided. They can join the speeches, outdoor meditation, vegetarian cooking classes, and so on.

Picture 3. Meditation performance on the app

Picture 4. History self-assessment and meditation performance

Picture 5. Recommend page and friend profile

2.3 Can Know

2.4 Forms

Meta themes: Measurement Primary themes: Amount and quality

Meta themes: Physical, Virtual Primary themes: Interactive Product, Mobile App

To offer interactive meditation pod, display meditation performance, effectiveness, recommend music, techniques, and classes, the system needs to acquire data from users, which includes brainwaves data from EEG headset, meditation pod setting, and answers of self-assessment.

This design focuses on two points: offering immersive environment and recording performance of meditation. To reach these goals, the form consists of interactive product and mobile app. In the user testing for choosing suitable form of design, the interviewees showed more interest in physical studio and mentioned that environment affects meditation performance a lot. This is the core reason for developing a physical meditation pod. On the other hand, mobile app is a relatively convenient way to set up the meditation pod, record the meditation performance, send recommendation and check friends’ profile.

The interactive meditation pod needs input from EEG headset. So does meditation performance. On the other hand, the effectiveness of meditation is the combination of the outcome of self-assessment, meditation amount and quality. Lastly, the recommendation, including music, techniques and classes, is generated by analyzing meditation pod setting and EEG data.

3. System Scenarios

cushion sellers, music production companies, and landlords are in this zone.

3.1 Stakeholder Diagrams

Wider environment covers people and companies in related fields that can be our cooperation partners.

The core stakeholders are those who use the services and manage the studio, including learners, teachers, studio staff, and system developers. Indirect stakeholders are potential consumers and suppliers: mentally ill people, scent sellers,

Table 1. Stakeholder diagram covering core, indirect stakeholders and wider environment

3.2 Concept Sketches

Picture 6. Meditation pod in the studio

Picture 7. Interfaces of the meditation record app

3.3 Scenarios of Use

1. John is a hard working office worker. Since he always wants to achieve outstanding performance at work, He works overtime everyday. Recently, he often feel tired and anxious. But he doesn’t care too much.

2. Anxiety really disturbs John a lot. He decides to see the doctor and adjust his lifestyle. He reads an article online showing that meditation is a good approach to treat anxiety. And there is a meditation studio nearby called Halo!. He plans to take a look after work.

3. In the studio, the staff suggests him to join the meditation classes first to learn the basic techniques. Since John knows less about meditation, he just follow staff’s advice. He choses plenty of classes to explore.

4. Most of the classes only last for 30 minutes, so John doesn’t feel difficult to catch up. After a month, John finds mindful breathing is the most suitable type for him. He always feels refreshed after the class. So he gradually focuses on this type of meditation.

5. John really likes the meditation pod in the studio since there is quieter than home. He can connect his phone with the pod to adjust the ambience, including the light, music and scent. The environment is really immersive that he often reaches a deep meditation state.

6. An EEG headset used to detect meditation performance and adjust the ambience is offered. When John is very focusing, the ambience will turn down to avoid interruption. When he is distracted, the ambience will blink for a second to remind John to concentrate on meditation.

7. After each session of meditation, the pod will generate a sky image revealing John’s meditation performance. The more cloud in the sky, the more clouded his mind is. John likes this kind of expression as he doesn’t feel too stressful.

8. The app also records the meditation amount in a period of time and asks John to do a self-assessment about stress level. It is very useful as he wants to know if meditation improves him. After meditaing for 30 days, he finds that his stress level decreases, which is encouraging.

9. The app will also recommend music based on John’s preference. Besides, many useful techniques about mindful breathing are also shown. Recently, the app recommended John to join a talk. He met a new friend called Bella. He added Bella into his app friends.

10. In Bella’s profile, John found that she has joined the studio for five years and is really good at mindful breathing. So John checked the classes and music she recommended and her habitual pod theme. He adopted one pod theme she used and found it great.

11. Gradually, John has stayed at the Halo! for years. He is now a senior meditation learner and can meditate without extra support. Although he doesn’t need to use the meditation pod or join any class, he still likes to join different types of events, especially the speeches held regularly. He still likes to share his meditation experience with other learners. His connection with other meditation learners makes him easier to maintain this habit.

4. Process

Table 2. Progress table

4.1 Predispositions

ductions were found in the TM group compared with controls for all of the main outcome variables: perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and teacher burnout. Medium to large effect sizes were observed, with the largest effect on perceived stress.”

Mental illness is a serious problem in modern society since the competition is more and more severe. It is necessary for everyone to learn some techniques dealing with it. Meditation is a good tool to relieve common mental illness, including stress, anxiety and depression.

• Literature 02 Mindfulness-based stress reduction: A literature review and clinician’s guide Sharon Praissman, MS, CRNP Access to Wellness Program, Community Psychiatry Program, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners 20 (2008) 212–216

4.2 Research 4.2.1 Scientific Evidence of Benefits of Meditation

Objective: What are the benefits of meditation proven scientifically? • Literature 01 Effect of Transcendental Meditation on Employee Stress, Depression, and Burnout: A Randomized Controlled Study Charles Elder, MD, MPH, FACP; Sanford Nidich, EdD; Francis Moriarty, EdD; Randi Nidich, EdD The Permanente Journal/ Winter 2014/ Volume 18 No. 1

Quotations: “With practice MBM (Mindfulness-based meditation), he accepts that negative emotions, thoughts, and feelings arise but they also quickly pass and do not define his mind. He is then able to relax and enjoy life.” “The research discussed above has quantitatively and qualitatively shown MBSR effective at reducing stress and anxiety.”

Quotations: “TM (Transcendental Meditation) program was effective at four-month follow-up in reducing psychological distress and burnout in employees working in a therapeutic school for students with behavioral problems. Significant re-

• Literature 03 Open Hearts Build Lives: Positive Emotions, Induced Through Loving-Kindness Meditation, Build Consequential Personal Resources Barbara L. Fredrickson, Michael A. Cohn, Kim-

Table 3. Map of the research done

berly A. Coffey, Jolynn Pek, Sandra M. Finkel J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008 November ; 95(5): 1045–1062.

“Reasons for learning meditation are diverse, some people come to learn as they suffer from Insomnia, stress; some people come after seeing our concert held in central library regularly; some people are invited by relatives or friends.”

Quotations: “Results showed that this meditation practice produced increases over time in daily experiences of positive emotions, which, in turn, produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms). In turn, these increments in personal resources predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms.”

Meditation equips people with ability of controlling emotion and thought. “Meditation can give us a switch. We can choose to stop thinking or start thinking. It brings us peace.” Yoga and meditation pursue similar state. “The perfect mental state that the ancient yoga book: Yoga Sutra describes is what we are pursuing.”

Conclusions: What are the benefits of meditation proven scientifically? 1. Mind becomes quiet and calm. 2. Focusing on the present moment. 3. Increasing positive emotion and thought, including relaxation, joy, purpose of life, life satisfaction. 4. Reducing illness symptoms, including depression and anxiety.

It may motivate people if they can feel the effects of meditation in a short time. “What you get is more than time you save. If you know it is worth a try, you will do so.” Many people have better meditation perfor mance in group than alone. “Group meditation is different from doing it alone. Some students say that when they meditate in the class, they are calmer.”

4.2.2 Perspective from Experienced People

Objectives: What are the benefits of meditation? What are the common reasons for learning meditation? How to improve meditation skills? • Interviewee 01 The interviewee has practiced Sahaja yoga for ten years. She is now one of the teachers in this group. Sahaja yoga is a method of meditation invented in India in 1970. It is a static yoga which is similar to meditation. Sahaja Yoga Hong Kong is an approved charitable institution in Hong Kong which promotes and shares their knowledge about self-realisation, meditation and healthy lifestyle. Design Vision: People want to learn meditation for diverse reasons.

Picture 8. Interviewee 01

• Interviewee 02 The interviewee is the teacher in Ananda Marga who has taught meditation and yoga for over 25 years all over the world. He completed his training in india in 1989. Afterwards, he started to teach in Europe. In recent ten years he served in Asia, covering Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Japan, and so on. Ananda Marga is a socio-spiritual organisation and movement founded in India in 1955. Nowadays, Ananda Marga has established branches all around the world. Their branch in Hong Kong offers diverse courses to join, including yoga course, meditation course, vegetarian cooking class, and detox workcamp.

point is being mindful” Maybe methods gyms attract people to keep working out can be applied to meditation industry. “Meditation is just like work out. Many people give up. But if we can persistently do it, we will see the change. It needs effort. Things will not just come freely.” • Interviewee 03 The interviewee has played tai-chi for four and a half years following the same teacher. Design Vision: Tai-chi teaches people how to take control of their body and mind, which is similar to the benefits of meditation. “Tai-chi is motion meditation, which calms my mind and makes me focus on the present time and only necessary things.”

Design Vision: The benefit of taking control of our mind makes meditation different from other methods for relaxation. “Shortcut of stress relieving can be running, shopping...etc, which can rest our brain. But if people want to take control of their mind, they need to practice meditation for a longer time.”

Learning tai-chi and meditation in the class are better than self-learning. “Having company with others while doing taichi or meditation is better.”

Yoga and meditation pursue the same thing. “Yoga and meditation are the same. The main

Picture 9. Interviewee 02

Picture 10. Interviewee 03

It may be valuable to help beginners focus on the present moment and reduce random thoughts. “When beginners are doing tai-chi, they are thinking about what food to buy after the class. They are thinking about either the future or the past but not present.”

cused. “When I was meditating in a group, I can stay awake more often.” • Interviewee 02 He started meditating decades ago. He often does a five-minute meditation when feels stressed.

Conclusions: What are the benefits of meditation? 1. Taking control of our mind. 2. Helping people to focus on the present time and reduce random thoughts. 3. Always being mindful.

Design Vision: One of the motivations to do meditation is stress and depression. “I became more stressful due to heavy workload and break-up in the third year in university. So I started to meditate regularly at night.”

What are the common reasons for learning meditation? 1. They want to be healthier physically and happier mentally.

There are several forms of meditation which can be used in different situations. “I usually clear overloaded random thoughts by diverse forms of meditation, including walking alone and mindful breathing. I am always energised by meditation.”

How to improve meditation skills? 1. Meditating together helps reaching higher quality of meditation compared with doing it alone. 2. It may motivate inexperienced people if they can clearly understand the benefits of meditation.

Having small session of meditation before stressful events is helpful. “When I was playing squash last month, before starting the game I went to the corner, breathed deeply to reduce me scare. This method is really useful to relax.”

4.2.3 Perspective from Junior Learners

Objectives: How do they meditate? What are situations they face? What are useful methods for dealing with situations faced?

Interactive device may be helpful for relieving. “I want to have a device helping me to fall asleep. The device should detect my state and play relaxing music in response to it. For example, the volume will turn down when I become sleepy.”

• Interviewee 01 The interviewee used to meditate for two years, two times per week. Now he has quit.

• Interviewee 03 She learned meditation several years ago. Now she meditates frequently. Sometimes two to three times everyday, 5 mins for each.

Design Vision: The trigger of this person to do meditation is the requirement from teacher.

Design Vision: Recording the time staying calm after meditation is also useful for seeing the progress. “Everytime I learn new kind of meditation, I feel the improvement on focus in the beginning. I also feel calm and relaxed, less anger more happiness. But after practicing for five times, I

The progress needs to be recorded to show the effects. “Maybe I was changed by this habit but I didn’t notice.” Meditating in a group makes people more fo-

cannot feel the continuous improvement.”

ly get bored if there is only one method.”

Meditation is easier than yoga for beginners. “Meditation is easier for me even though I am easily distracted, I only need to focus on breathing. Yoga, instead, requires me to focus on both breathing and body movement.”

Online course is helpful to people having basic domain knowledge. “The youtube channel: Boho beautiful, is clear enough to learn by myself since I have practiced yoga for a period of time.”

Several sessions of meditation with shorter time for each is easier and effective. “Meditation is not difficult for me since I only do it for 5 minutes each time and I can already see the effect. My method is to just focus on breathing. The frequency is about 3 times a day. 5 mins for each.”

• Interviewee 05 He has meditated for five years, two to three times each week, thirty minutes each time.

Design Vision: Quality of comfort affects the quality of focus. “I don’t like the meditation class I went to before as the pose we were asked to do was uncomfortable and made me hard to focus.”

Design Vision: Attractiveness is more important than time management. “I know the benefits of meditation but I am too lazy to do it. I don’t put meditation in priority. I always like to play phone instead of meditation.” “I don’t think people are too busy to meditate as it only takes little time. Five minutes can also meditate.” Environment matters to the quality of meditation. Do it with others may also be motivating. “When I meditate with other people, the quality is normally great.”

Multiple methods for meditation add more fun. “I have a what-to-do list for relaxation as I easi-

It is hard for many people to insist on meditating everyday.

• Interviewee 04 She learned meditation two years ago. Now she does yoga everyday and meditates for five minutes when stressed or cannot sleep.

Picture 11. Yoga youtube channel: Boho beautiful

• Interviewee 01 He read some articles about meditation before and found it trendy in recent years. He is Interested in it but hasn’t taken any action.

“Many of my friends in meditation organization want to improve their meditation quality but can not regularly do it.” Let people track the progress of meditation is important since people can be encouraged by their improvement. “From my facebook post, I found my change before and after meditation. Before, I was an angry and aggressive person. Now I become calmer and more peaceful. Helping people to track their progress is a good idea.”

Design Vision: Some people who are interested in meditation may lack of a trigger to take action. “Meditation is attractive to me a little bit. Recent years it is trendy. But I never try.” First-time experience is important. It will affect the beginners’ willingness of sticking to meditation. “I put meditation in lower hierarchy of my todo list. If I try once and find it effective, it will enhance my willingness a lot.”

Conclusions: How do they meditate? 1. Meditating in a group makes people more focused. 2. Some people like to meditate at home as they prefer a private and unrestrained space.

• Interviewee 02 He heard meditation from religious articles and wuxia novel. But he is not interested in exploring more.

What are situations they face? 1. Don’t know if meditation has changed them. 2. Know the effects but still lack motivation.

Design Vision: Not everyone needs meditation, it’s more reasonable to target people in need. “It may improve the quality of concentration and mental well-being, but I have been good enough. So I don’t really need meditation.”

What are useful methods for dealing with situations faced? 1. Tracking and showing the progress clearly will motivate people to insist on doing meditation. 2. Comfortable and immersive environment enhances the quality of meditation. 3. Introducing multiple meditation methods instead of one. 4. Short time (5mins) + several sessions (3 times each day) = easy and effective.

There are several ways to improve the quality of concentration and mental well-being, meditation is not always the first choice for everyone. “Playing video games is also relieving.” Externalizing the internal effects of meditation is an effective way to convey with inexperienced people. “Currently I still doubt the effects of meditation since the effects only show internally. If there are some methods externalizing the effects and illustrating clearly about the change, I may memorize it and will try when I need to deal with stress, anxiety, distraction.”

Possible solutions: 1. Interactive device which helps people to fall asleep in response to their body state. 2. Clock radio with sleep feature.

4.2.4 Perspective from Lay People

Objectives: What are the concerns of inexperienced people about meditation? How to encourage inexperienced people to start meditating?

• Interviewee 03 She doesn’t know what meditation is but she doesn’t mind to know more about it.

od definitely makes me relieved.” Design Vision: For people who are working, it is very hard to find even 15 minutes to meditate. “I would like to try but I have to find time to do it. Maybe I can do it while I am commuting or just arriving at the office. But I am worried to be disturbed. I need to schedule it.”

Facing pain is a trigger for trying meditation or related activities. “I listened to guided meditation on youtube for relieving my toothache. The video is quite easy to follow as it is short. And it is useful for relieving pain since I was told to focus on breathing or specific points in my body instead of the pain.”

How to make meditation more interesting is an issue to attract lay people. “I relax by going shopping, listening to music, chatting with boyfriend or just sleep.”

The environment affects the quality of focus. “When I need to focus but cannot, I will change the workplace. I usually go to different cafe to work. I think it is helpful.”

• Interviewee 04 She has tried meditation for five to six days a month ago for relieving toothache. After recovering from the pain she never did it anymore.

• Interviewee 05 She doesn’t know what meditation is but she doesn’t mind to know more about it.

Design Vision: Several simple and short methods are useful for relieving. “When I cannot fall asleep, I listen to white noise. It is effective.” “I have also tried box breathing by Navy SEAL. It is basically inhale, hold, exhale, hold, 4 second for each. I do it when I am nervous. This meth-

Design Vision: It is very hard to promise an amount of time for meditation since the future is unpredictable. “To find fifteen minutes everyday is actually difficult. I used to develop the habit of exercise but in vain. When I am busy, even five minutes is difficult. It is hard to predict if I have time

Picture 12. Boxing breathing developed by former U.S. Navy SEAL Mark Divine

• Literature 01 The Lululemon Lifestyle: Millennials Seek More Than Just Comfort From Athleisure Wear Jeff Fromm | July 6, 2016 | Forbes

everyday.” Online class for meditation with the forum for asking questions is helpful. “I used to buy an online IELTS class. There is a forum for asking questions, which is helpful and similar to physical class.”

Design Vision: Young people are interested in healthy lifestyle that yoga / meditation can offer. “Lululemon embodies a healthy lifestyle for mind, body and soul – something millennial consumers are extremely passionate about, and something they feel they can be a part of by wearing the brand’s apparel.”

How to increase the hierarchy of meditation in people’s schedule. “It is a matter of insistence and time scheduling. Maybe I cannot meditate on the weekend as I plan to hang out with friends.” Conclusions: What are the concerns of inexperienced people about meditation? 1. For people hardly knowing meditation, the effectiveness is doubtful. 2. It is helpful to clearly specify the effects of meditation to them. 3. If they can feel the effects in their first-time experience, they are more likely to keep doing it.

A holistic community supporting people to develop a healthy lifestyle is what lululemon consumers want. “While style, fit and comfort may be the driving forces of an initial purchase, it’s the offering of a lifestyle that these brands give to consumers that garner loyalty.” • Literature 02 Lululemon is jumping on the cozy trend by opening a homey library space in one of its stores. Here’s what it’s like to visit. Jessica Tyler | Dec. 27, 2018, 9:53 AM | Business Insider

How to encourage inexperienced people to start meditating? 1. Even inexperienced people realize the effects of meditation, they still lack motivation to do it until they need to improve the quality of concentration or mental health. 2. People suffering from physical pain, stress, ADHD have more motivation to meditate.

Design Vision: The trend of athleisure is gradually focusing more on leisure. “Even though Lululemon is associated with athleisure, the new pop-up library space seems geared much more towards “leisure” and feeling cozy than anything else.”

Possible solutions: 1. A display which externalizes the internal effects of meditation to convey with inexperienced people. 2. Online meditation class with a forum for asking questions.

There is a trend of self-improvement, finding joy and similar subjects. “Even the books in the space were reflective of the trend. Many of the books were focused on self-improvement, yoga, finding joy, and similar subjects.”

4.2.5 Popular Yoga Clothing Brand: lululemon

Objectives: Why is lululemon so popular? How does lululemon build their community?

Lululemon not just focus on selling clothing but also build diverse touch points with consumers. “Most recently, Lululemon has teamed up with Penguin Random House to create a mini-library space in its HUB Seventeen community space in

its Flatiron store.”

other consumers.”

• Interviewee 01 The interviewee is the staff of lululemon Hong Kong. She has worked in lululemon for half of a year. Recently she just held a running activity for their community.

Conclusions: Why is lululemon so popular? 1. There is a trend of enhancing mental wellness recent year. 2. The community that lululemon is building garners consumers’ loyalty.

Design Vision: lululemon tries to connect with their end consumers via people they know (their coach). “Those who work in sport industry can ask for joining lululemon ambassadors. Once they become ambassadors, they will get the discount and be the medium of us and the end consumers. They can help us to understand the needs of consumers.”

How does lululemon build their community? 1. With the community, lululemon offers not just clothing but a holistic service that helps consumers to develop a desired lifestyle. 2. To develop a community, it is better that each member has some connection with other members. 3. With the support from the community, people are more engaged in specific activities.

lululemon community emphasizes on building local relationship. Many people joining their events are their neighbors. “Our shop just held a running event in tung chung recently. Our community is independent since our shop is in the airport. Most of the participants are residents in this area. We got 17 participants. Some were our consumers some were not. All the classes are free.” “Actually the amount of people joining is just ok as we don’t promote our events that much. Our participants are organically gathered. They know the event information from our staff or

Picture 13. lululemon Hong Kong often holds different exercise activities

4.3 Insights

Table 4. Map of the insights

4.3.1 Conclusions of Research

likely to be adopted.

Since this project aims to persuade and help people develop the habit of meditation, Fogg behavior model is a suitable tool to conclude the research. (Table 5)

4.3.2 Vision Statement

How might we offer a supportive community and immersive environment to help people who want to develop the habit of meditation but find it difficult to do it?

• Motivation Here are some potential directions to gain people’s motivation of doing meditation: 1. Building connections with others who meditate as well. 2. Offering diverse meditation methods to keep meditation fresh. 3. Helping them record meditation progress so that they can clearly see the improvement. 4. Specifying the effects of meditation to lay people who don’t trust it.

4.3.3 Design Criteria

• Ability Here are some helpful methods for equipping people with ability to meditate well: 1. A supportive community that offers company and instructions. 2. A private and immersive meditation environment. 3. Quick meditation with multiple sessions is easy and effective. • Trigger A common trigger for meditation learners is suffering from physical or mental illness, which s not suitable to be included into my solution. The other trigger is regular class, which is more

•

Diversity: If the forms of meditation diverse and interesting.

•

Immersion: If the ambience of the environment conduces to immersion.

•

Record: If the improvement be recorded and clearly displayed.

•

Community: If the community provides satisfactory education and company.

Table 5. Fogg behavior model

4.4 Concepts

Table 6. Map of the concepts

4.4.1 Form Testing

voice-guided classes to learn. People can see how many students are meditating in the classroom. It is also allowed to ask questions to the teacher and discuss with classmates by sending messages. Everyone is an icon with brief profile.

Based on the insights from previous research, the current design concept is to develop a meditation class. However, I still need to find out the form of the class. Therefore, I design four forms of the classes, two are virtual; the other two are physical, and conduct user testing to decide my further direction. I invite three participants having meditation experience to join the test.

Finding: Design A provides enough privacy, especially using icons instead of photos to represent the users. However, it doesn’t provide enough motivation to help people developing the habit of meditation.

• Design A: Online Meditation Community An online meditation community with several

Picture 14. Design A: Online Meditation Community

Picture 15. Design B: Online Live Meditation Class • Design B: Online Live Meditation Class A meditation live streaming providing diverse classes to learn. People can see other students and the teacher during the class and meditation via live camera. Discussion board allows everyone to have real-time interaction. Although people can see each other, there is no any physical interaction. Finding: Design B is more reliable as people can see the teacher. However, it doesn’t provide enough motivation to people. Moreover, it is uncomfortable to be stared at by strangers and show personal space to others. •

Design C: Meditation Studio with Individual Meditation Space A physical meditation studio holding diverse classes in the big room. People meditate solely in the small room, which has adjustable environment catering to each person. Finding Design C provides better learning quality as it is taught face-to-face. At the same time, the meditation room is private enough. However, it is too private during meditation to feel other people’s company.

Picture 16. Meditation spaces in Japan and Canada

Picture 17. Design C: Meditation Studio with Individual Meditation Space

Picture 18. Design C: Meditation Studio with Individual Meditation Space •

Design D: Meditation Studio with Certain Private Space A physical meditation studio providing diverse classes. People will have classes and meditation with others together. The curtain is placed in between each student to provide personal space. They can choose to draw the curtain or not.

Finding Design D makes people feel a sense of company. But the current interior design is not appropriate. People are forced to have eye contact with other people. Besides, the room should provide immersive ambience, which is not clear in current design.

Picture 19. Design D: Meditation Studio with Certain Private Space

Picture 20. Design D: Meditation Studio with Certain Private Space Conclusions: 1. Physical meditation studio is more motivational and supportive as it offers more interaction with other people. 2. The ambience affects the emotion and meditation quality a lot. It includes the sound, smelling, lighting, and so on.

3. Adjustable environment catering to each person is interesting. But the operation should be easy and quick.

4.4.2 Ideation

and stay for a long time, which will help building the community. (Table 7)

To echo my vision statement which claimed to help people develop the habit of meditation, I started to focus on people’s needs in the path of learning meditation. I found that people have different needs in different stages. I separated the learning path into three stages: Beginner, Junior, and Senior. First group is Beginner. In this stage, their main focus is learning meditation techniques. Hence, the support can be diverse meditation classes that keep their passion and curiosity. Second group is Junior. They have known the techniques but need to practice more to see the effects. So the supports are immersive meditation pod to make meditation easier and record and share app to see the effects. Third group is senior They have been skilled and only need to maintain this habit. The support is related events and activities for them to keep in touch with other learners. Since different learners can find their places in the studio, they are more likely to join

The concept includes four supports: Diverse Classes, Meditation Pod, Record & Share App, Events & Activities. To estimate if those supports fulfill my design criteria, I made a chart to inspect each of them. The result showed that the four supports, working together as a whole concept, cover all the design criteria. (Table 8)

4.4.3 Benchmark

However, the benchmark against Hong Kong meditation studios shows that diverse classes and events and activities have been developed by many competitors. To distinguish from them, I decided to focus more on developing the “Immersive meditation pod” and “Record & Share app”. (Table 9)

Table 7. Supports which the studio provides for meditation learners in different stages

Table 8. Cross checking the concepts with the design criteria

Table 9. Benchmarking against five local meditation studios

4.5 Prototypes

Table 10. Map of the prorotypes and user testing done

4.5.1 Meditation Classes and Events

Methods: A role=play testing that asks participants to act as meditation learners. They will be asked to choose classes they would go to, set up the meditation classroom, and comment on the activities the studio holds.

Objectives: What do people consider when choosing the meditation classes? What are people’s preferences for meditation classroom setting? Which meditation activities would people like to join?

Participants: One male and one female with experience of joining the meditation class.

Design Vision: What do people consider when choosing the meditation classes? 1. Since meditation is a calm activity, thirty-minute class is better than one-hour class. Or people will start to feel bored. “Yoga nidra 30 mins is fine. Too long will feel bored and lost.” 2. People tend to stick to few classes after exploring all the classes. “If i am good with one class i will go constantly.” What are people’s preferences for meditation classroom setting? 1. People have different needs and preferences for cushions. Diverse cushion should be provided. “I want to choose my cushion. In different class I will choose different cushion.” 2. Diverse scents should be provided to let people do something new all the time. “I like these five candles and want to try different scent all the time.” Which meditation activities would people like to join? 1. Charging fee is fine if the activities are interesting. “100 hkd for cooking class is fine. I can pay it.” 2. The aim of the activities is to make people know each other, so more interaction should be considered. “Speech cannot make people know each other”

4.5.2 Meditation Pod

Objectives: Is the provided environment immersive? Is the environmental change in response to brain state helpful for enhancing meditation quality? Which sense is more noticeable? Methods: Participants will wear an EEG headset and meditate for five minutes in the meditation pod. They can set up the light and music catering to personal preference. When they are focusing, the ambience will fade away; when they are distracted, the ambience will be stronger as a reminder. Afterwards, an interview will be conducted to understand participants’ experience. Participants: 3 females and 2 males with meditation experience.

Design Vision: Is the provided environment immersive? 1. Darkness, privacy and safety are important elements for meditation environment. 2. Scent is also a common tool to build a relaxing and immersive meditation environment. 3. To make the environment more immersive, music, light and scent can have coherent theme. Is the environmental change in response to brain state helpful for enhancing meditation quality? 1. The change of the environment following the brain state is helpful for meditation. 2. It is helpful to turn down the light and sound when people are focusing. They can be more focused. 3. To remind people when they are distracted, the light and sound can be louder for one second. Then turn back. If people still don’t focus, remind them after 10 seconds. Which sense is more noticeable? 1. Some people are sensitive to the light even when their eyes are closed. Others are sensitive to sound. So both interaction should be kept.

4.5.3 Record & Share 01

Objectives: Which information do people want to record and review? Which information do people want to see from friends? Methods: Participants will be given the mock-ups of two smartphone interfaces, one showing personal meditation record page; the other one showing friend’s meditation record page. Several cards showing different record data will also be given. The are asked to act as meditation learners in the studio and need to record their performance. They need to pick data for both interfaces and tell the reasons. Participants: 2 males and 3 females having meditation experience.

Design Vision: Which information do people want to record and review? 1. People are interested in meditation quality but doubt if It can be quantified. 2. The record shouldn’t bring stress but encouragement. 3. The record system should have output. For example, recommended music and scents and pod setting, suitable techniques, monthly overall analysis. Which information do people want to see from friends? 1. People want to learn something from other people’s pages, including good music, scent and light setting, recommended classes and reasons. 2. People don’t want to see too competitive information.

4.5.4 Record & Share 02

Objectives: What should be recorded? How to show the effects of meditation from record? Methods: Participants will do a stress measurement test at first, and then record the meditation performance for a week. Afterwards, they need to do the stress measurement test again to see if there is any improvement. Then, an interview will be conducted to review the process and result. Participants: 3 males with meditation experience.

Design Vision: What should be recorded? 1. Since the improvement of meditation quality is hard to be observed, recording quality is more likely to reveal interesting information. 2. Helpful information: Percentage of calm and sleepy moment, brief self-comment. How to show the effects of meditation from record? 1. The comparison between pre and post stress measurement testing encourages people keep meditating. 2. Different kinds of meditation should have different measurement tests since the effects of each meditation is slightly different.

4.6 Strategies

vestors are found. The time is urgent for the studio has to start as soon as possible. After rolling out, there is only maintenance job left unless the system has a big change.

4.6.1 Social Values

In the dimension of social values, promoting the effects that the meditation studio can offer is a continuous task, especially in the initial stage for finding investors and members. Once the studio rolls out, feedback from the members will be collected as the reference for tweaking the system in the next season.

4.6.3 Enterprise

Finding the investors to support the execution of the plan is the first thing to do and will last until the studio becomes economically sustainable. Before rolling out in Q3, recruitment and space construction need to be completed. To create diverse events and activities, it is helpful to find the alliances, which will start with the opening of the studio in Q3.

4.6.2 Technology

The development of the meditation pod and the record app will be conducted once the in-

Table 11. Table of the planned strategies

5. References

Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jefffromm/2016/07/06/the-lululemon-lifestylemillennials-seek-more-than-just-comfort-fromathleisure-wear/#11d578f14d96 Horne-Thompson, A., & Grocke, D. (2008). The Effect of Music Therapy on Anxiety in Patients who are Terminally Ill. Journal of Palliative Medicine, Volume: 11 Issue 4. lululemon. (2019). Retrieved from lululemon: https://www.lululemon.com.hk/ Marin, M. M., & Bhattacharya, J. (2013). Getting into the musical zone: trait emotional intelligence and amount of practice predict flow in pianists. Mindset Brain Gym. (2019). Retrieved from Mindset Brain Gym: https://www.mindsetbraingym.com/ muon. (2019). Retrieved from muon: https:// muon.world/ PauseNow. (2017). Retrieved from PauseNow: https://www.pausenowbus.com/ SAHAJA YOGA. (2018). Retrieved from SAHAJA YOGA HONG KONG: https://www.en.freemeditation.hk/ Sharon Praissman, M. C. (2009). Mindfulness-based stress reduction: A literature review and clinician’s guide. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners 20, 212-216. Smith, S., Ownby, M., & Kim, Y.-K. (2018). The Rise of Athleisure and Its Impact on lululemon. International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) . Cleveland, Ohio. Tyler, J. (2018, December 27). Lululemon is jumping on the cozy trend by opening a homey library space in one of its stores. Here’s what it’s like to visit. Retrieved from Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/ lululemon-opens-cozy-library-space-photos-2018-12

(2014). Retrieved from Meetype: https:// meetype.com/ (2019). Retrieved from Pure Yoga Hong Kong: https://www.pure-yoga.com/hongkong (2019). Retrieved from Enhale Meditation Studio: https://enhalems.com/ (2019). Retrieved from Red Doors Studio: http://www.red-doors.com/ (2019). Retrieved from Kadampa Meditation Centre: http://www.meditation.hk/en/ Alice Chirico; Silvia Serino; Pietro Cipresso; Andrea Gaggioli; Giuseppe Riva;. (2015). When music “flows”. State and trait in musical performance, composition and listening: a systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 6, Article 906. Ananda Marga. (2019). Retrieved from Ananda Marga Meditation Centre: https://meditationcentre.hk/ Barbara L. Fredrickson, M. A. (2008). Open Hearts Build Lives: Positive Emotions, Induced Through Loving-Kindness Meditation, Build Consequential Personal Resources. J Pers Soc Psychol, 95(5): 1045–1062. Be Time. (2019). Retrieved from Be Time: https://www.betimepractice.com/ Boho Beautiful. (2019). Retrieved from Boho Beautiful: https://bohobeautiful.life/ Charles Elder, M. M., Sanford Nidich, E., Francis Moriarty, E., & Randi Nidich, E. (2014). Effect of Transcendental Meditation on Employee Stress, Depression, and Burnout: A Randomized Controlled Study. The Permanente Journal, Volume 18 No. 1. Divine, M. (2016). The Breathing Technique a Navy SEAL Uses to Stay Calm and Focused. Retrieved from Time: https://time.com/4316151/ breathing-technique-navy-seal-calm-focused/ Erkkila¨, J., Punkanen, M., Fachner, J., Ala-Ruona, E., ntio¨, I. P., Tervaniemi, M., . . . Gold, C. (2011). Individual music therapy for depression: randomised controlled trial. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 132–139. Fromm, J. (2016, July 6). The Lululemon Lifestyle: Millennials Seek More Than Just Comfort From Athleisure Wear. Retrieved from