In The Now
A Doodling Game
for Mental Health Therapy
Summary
InTheNow is an expressive game to explore how you feel in the moment. It is based on a psychological guideline for emotional assessment and the concept was to adapt this to a tool that could visualize the invisible within. This project stemmed from my personal experience of drawing as a meditative medium and emotional outlet. I wanted to share this framework with others so they could connect to themselves the way I do.
Roles
User Experience
User Research
User Testing
Prototyping
First Prototype
The guidelines content was structured into actionable steps that could be easily followed, hopefully independently.
First Round of User Testing
The framework was tested with 5 users between the ages of 12 and 55. The experience proved to be interesting for them, connecting to emotions in the present that they were not aware of. The medium of drawing was familiar to some and daunting to others, but the main goal of drawing how you feel was achieved.
User Results
These were the results of the user testing. Incredibly enough and despite appearances, they are from both children and adults. There is something primal about drawing that connects across generations.
Second Prototype
The form factor changed to a medium that enhanced self-guidance and the dry-erase constraint promoted doodling.
Second Round User Testing
The second user testing proved to be successful in that users were able to guide themselves through the experience. The doodling flowed easier and it was insightful to notice also how patterns in drawings emerged between people who felt similarly (mostly stressed).
Conclusions & Future Steps
A future iteration could be to take this to a digital medium, such as an iPad with the pen or a touch-based digital screen.