ZenVR Extended Feature

The extended feature of ZenVR is a body-oriented meditation virtual experience embodied with Zen philosophy. Different from the audio-guided sitting mediation classroom in the original ZenVR, our feature, inspired by yoga and Taichi, better utilized the interactivity and multimodal feedback made available by VR platform, and provide a digital experience unique to most meditation software. Users will paddle a small boat and float in a breathing and responsive world, following a soothing pattern towards a clear destination.

This is a 5-month duo project with Sue Reon Kim for ZenVR, a VR startup who has shipped the Beta version of their virtual meditation educational app on Oculus Quest. The final deliverable is a Unity3D prototype that can be tested on an Oculus Quest headset.

#Immersive Experience   #XR Design   #3D Prototyping   #Participatory Design  

Contribution

  • Led competitive analysis, market research, and user research;

  • Brainstormed and designed three feature ideas in 1 week which were highly appreciated by our clients;

  • Took full lead on designing and developing interaction, user flow, wireframes, and prototypes;

  • Assisted with user/expert evaluation and product iteration.

Why this project?

While mental health and meditation has been a hot topic, current application market is flooded with homogenized products: a deep voice talking about concentrating on your body or asking reflective questions. However, not only do some users find it too abstract and aimless, it also only covers a tiny bit of traditional meditation approaches, excluding some of the most popular methods, such as yoga or Taichi.

This project explores alternative meditation approach that is more tangible and purposeful. It is also one of my earlier design experience in mixed reality.

01   Problem Space.

The current ZenVR app is a meditation classroom where users can learn about seated mediation with visual/audio guides. However, the app has a lower than expected retention rate.

Based on user feedback, the ZenVR team wants to better utilize the rich interactivity supported by Oculus Quest and creates an extended feature.

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Our task is to help the ZenVR team finds out the best way to incorporate interactivity with mediation, and seamlessly blended with their established aesthetic and vocabulary. The final deliverable need to be fully interactive, well-optimized for Oculus Quest, and accessible to all their user base.

02   Opportunity Discovery.

1   Research Methods.

Approach.

In order to comply with social distancing rule, all researches have been conducted remotely. We primarily looked at literature related to eating rate detection and behavior intervention method. User research participants were recruited through Slack and Reddit in the Georgia Tech community.

Key Findings.

Most of existing meditation apps are focusing on audio-guided seated meditation. However, such forms of mediation covers only about 50% of existing practices. Users find these guided meditation very abstract, and prefer something more tangible, such as yoga or Taichi.

One of the main source of relaxation is detachment from reality, according to research papers and user interviews, and otherworldly ambient visual/audio is very effective to elicit such feeling.

8
Semi-structured User Interviews

20 Questions, 60 min.
Recruited on Reddit.

12
Existing Systems Evaluated

Including commercial and academic projects.

14
ER Detection Methods Examined

Based on 27 research papers.
From ACM Digital Library.

8
Semi-structured User Interviews

20 Questions, 60 min.
Recruited on Reddit.

12
Existing Systems Evaluated

Including commercial and academic projects.

14
ER Detection Methods Examined

Based on 27 research papers.
From ACM Digital Library.


Detailed Insights.

Preparation stage:

Users want to understand how it can help/harm their health goal.

Users do not have sufficient understanding on the importance of eating rate. Even for users who have a vague idea on the importance, they are not associating their health goal with their eating rates.

Collection & Integration stage:

Users want a reliable method to evaluate their eating rate.

The unreliability of subjective evaluation has shown both in literature review and our user research. In order to get un-biased result and suggestions, users need an objective monitor method.

Reflection stage:

Users want to analyze their eating rate and to know how they can improve.

In addition to having an objective tracking method, users need to be able to understand the data and get insights on how to improve their habits based on their goal.

Action stage:

Users want to make real-time/long-term adjustment on eating rate.

Most importantly, users need a solution that can motivate and remind behavior change, both on a daily basis and on the long run.


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Our Design Should...

Catered to individual's heath goal, and provide personalized suggestions.

#strategy
#added value

Require minimal effort after initial setup to encourage retenion.

#learning curve
#retention

Provide actionable insights to help build a healthier habit.

#strategy
#PHI

Provide more personalized options for notifications based on preference and progress.

#mindless computing
#personalization

03   Ideation

1   Brainstorming.

Approach.

In order to comply with social distancing rule, all researches have been conducted remotely. We primarily looked at literature related to eating rate detection and behavior intervention method. User research participants were recruited through Slack and Reddit in the Georgia Tech community.

Key Findings.

Most of existing meditation apps are focusing on audio-guided seated meditation. However, such forms of mediation covers only about 50% of existing practices. Users find these guided meditation very abstract, and prefer something more tangible, such as yoga or Taichi.

One of the main source of relaxation is detachment from reality, according to research papers and user interviews, and otherworldly ambient visual/audio is very effective to elicit such feeling.

2   Concept Art.

Approach.

In order to comply with social distancing rule, all researches have been conducted remotely. We primarily looked at literature related to eating rate detection and behavior intervention method. User research participants were recruited through Slack and Reddit in the Georgia Tech community.

Key Findings.

Most of existing meditation apps are focusing on audio-guided seated meditation. However, such forms of mediation covers only about 50% of existing practices. Users find these guided meditation very abstract, and prefer something more tangible, such as yoga or Taichi.

3   3D Wireframes.

Approach.

In order to comply with social distancing rule, all researches have been conducted remotely. We primarily looked at literature related to eating rate detection and behavior intervention method. User research participants were recruited through Slack and Reddit in the Georgia Tech community.

Key Findings.

Most of existing meditation apps are focusing on audio-guided seated meditation. However, such forms of mediation covers only about 50% of existing practices. Users find these guided meditation very abstract, and prefer something more tangible, such as yoga or Taichi.

04   Concept Development

1   Panorama.

Approach.

In order to comply with social distancing rule, all researches have been conducted remotely. We primarily looked at literature related to eating rate detection and behavior intervention method. User research participants were recruited through Slack and Reddit in the Georgia Tech community.

Key Findings.

Most of existing meditation apps are focusing on audio-guided seated meditation. However, such forms of mediation covers only about 50% of existing practices. Users find these guided meditation very abstract, and prefer something more tangible, such as yoga or Taichi.

2   Iterations & Solutions.

Approach.

In order to comply with social distancing rule, all researches have been conducted remotely. We primarily looked at literature related to eating rate detection and behavior intervention method. User research participants were recruited through Slack and Reddit in the Georgia Tech community.

Key Findings.

Most of existing meditation apps are focusing on audio-guided seated meditation. However, such forms of mediation covers only about 50% of existing practices. Users find these guided meditation very abstract, and prefer something more tangible, such as yoga or Taichi.

Iteration 1
Iteration 2

Approach.

In order to comply with social distancing rule, all researches have been conducted remotely. We primarily looked at literature related to eating rate detection and behavior intervention method. User research participants were recruited through Slack and Reddit in the Georgia Tech community.

Key Findings.

Most of existing meditation apps are focusing on audio-guided seated meditation. However, such forms of mediation covers only about 50% of existing practices. Users find these guided meditation very abstract, and prefer something more tangible, such as yoga or Taichi.

05   Reflections

For this project...

We explored a complex problem space and designed a solution for a very diverse user groups. Our evaluation shows that our solution is highly usable, and our users show strong interest in the concept. Both users who initially care or do not care about environmental impact have found our app useful, and have reported increased understanding of pollinators after engaging with the prototype.

However, our expert evaluation result shows that our current design can potentially become more usable and unambiguous, especially because we introduced several novel concepts in the app. We should work on adjusting certain icons and language use to increase coherence and reduce entry barriers.

In the future...

Design for users with various technical experience

It is important to consider the different mental models of people with different levels of familiarity to technologies. For example, a "Scan" icon can be very intuitive to younger people who use a lot of social media, but might need additional explanations for the older generations. In our original ideation, we envisioned an AR function which we thought could be very helpful, but it turned out to be too unfamiliar with the majority of our target user groups, so that they not only hardly ever use it, but also find the feature confusing and interrupting.

Design for sustainability

Because not all users care about environmental impact to the same degree, our solution need to provide added value even for people who does not care much, which often means solving existing problems or improving existing experience. In other words, a product will not be attractive enough if it merely persuades people to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. Instead, it has to provide better solutions to existing problems in which sustainability is just one of the many benefits.

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