Community
Emotion Cloud
Brief
With an aim of balancing connection and solitude at a learner-centered high school, we designed a check-in platform that promotes student well-being, encourages the community to label and recognize emotions, and supports awareness of presences in the school.
Format
12 weeks, 2024
Team members:
Katherine Niu
Yilin Li
Canwen Wang
Skills
UI/UX
Learning design
User research
Figma
Students as Experts
Through a co-design process, my team and I worked directly with students, teachers, and staff at City of Bridges to deeply understand the needs of the community and gather insights to guide our design decisions.
City of Bridges High School
City of Bridges is an independent, learner-centered, and community-focused high school in Pittsburgh, PA. It prioritizes fostering a personalized learning environment, providing hands-on experiences, and encouraging active engagement with the community.
THE PROBLEM
As the school transitions to a larger building, they face the challenge of maintaining the same sense of closeness within the community while balancing needs for solitude and alone time.
REFRAMING
We're reimagining attendance as a meaningful act of care and opportunity for emotional expression. Built into the school routine in a light-weight and persistent way, students are encouraged to build emotional intelligence.
Stepping Inside the School
Using contextual inquiry methods, we immersed ourselves in the school environment to understand the atmosphere first-hand, observe interactions, and conduct interviews with community members.
AEIOU Models
Not Enough Alone Time (or Space)
Through the contextual inquiry and synthesis of the models, we learned:
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Most spaces in the building are shared.
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There are limited boundaries between private and primarily group-oriented spaces.
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There is an overlap of intensity in various interaction zones.
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Boundaries between teachers and students are sometimes blurred.
Students' Perspectives
Using design probes, we wanted to encourage students to creatively reflect on their personal experiences at City of Bridges, understand the social and emotional landscape of the school, and learn how and where connection manifests.
MOVING FORWARD
How might we...
Crafting the
Brand Identity
Everymind’s visual language is approachable, soft, and exciting. Its colors exude a sense of calm, joy, peace, and optimism—all aspects of the brand’s vision: optimal well-being and human thriving.
Takeaways
Everymind is my life’s mission. This was my biggest idea yet, and bringing this concept to life showed me my dreams are achievable. Because of its scale, I also learned that designing for everyone is designing for no one; start with a subset of people, and the greater population will follow. This process showed me that a world where everyone has the tools to achieve optimal well-being and deepen their connections is closer than ever. I can’t wait to live in it.
