This project was framed by a holistic approach to experience design, aiming to bridge the gap between digital, analog, service design and behavioral change. The chosen group of focus is intentionally a social cohort that is completely removed from my personal perception: young women who actively practice a religion.
The research and ideation process focused on understanding their complex identity, especially in regards to their spirituality, their community, but also their friends and their presence on social media.
The poignant and dichotomous nature of their identity – trying to fit in as a teenage girl, while being faithful to God – prompted me to employ a more ethnographic and emotive approach to user research. Interviewing several individuals, attending religious services, collecting artifacts, developing graphic and textural explorations, etc, i wanted to see the world from their perspective and understand why and how religion occupies a fundamental place in their life.
Brainstorming and discussion with fellow students from a variety of backgrounds, religious and atheist, allowed for diverse 'what/if' statements, thoughts, and concepts to emerge.
The need to be open about about their faith, to be able to express their voice, and to interact and exchange with people that have other spiritual beliefs were determined as the main project goals.
The proposed strategy is a 'safe-space', an interactive installation supported by a mobile app. Offering an alternative communicative space, the system creates a dialogue that allows for both public and anonymous self-expression and combines diverse views, opinions, questions, and perceptions of religion.
The installation displays content generated through the app, while offering a unique and immersive environment that initiates and prompts exchange and acceptance between visitors.
Both abstract and realistic visualizations of the imagined space/installation allowed for a comprehensive expression of the project.
Individual project done in the context of Prof. T. Klinkowstein's User Experience studio, Pratt Institute, Winter 2016.