Stress Fountain 

This was an Arduino based class project comprised of sensors, designed to express the aggregate emotional state of users as an ambient water display. We wanted to establish a feedback-loop or conversation between the device and the user that drew attention to an otherwise invisible concept.

Role 

  • Programmer

  •  Designer

  •  Researcher

  •  2 Person Team

Description

Stress is an abstract concept that many struggle to identify and manage, yet it dramatically affects health and relationships. A growing body of research is exploring how various relaxation techniques improve recovery time in the clinical setting and there is an increasing number of consumer self-tracking stress devices for individuals but there are few ambient, tangible user interfaces, that encourage users to interact with their stress or even acknowledge aggregate group stress. To address these issues, Sophie Barness and I designed The Stress Fountain, an interactive device controlled by individual or group stress level. Measuring galvanic skin response, the user’s skin acts as an input to control the height of the water in the fountain. High stress is correlated with greater skin conductivity and is reflected with high water height, while low stress is signified by low water height. We built the device in an effort to promote dialogue about stress management, emphasize the physiological impact of relaxation, and to draw attention to the effects of stress within groups.

FULL PAPER

 

     

    Some Lessons Learned 

    • Stable tests are just as important as stable code. Building something with water and electricity from the wall really drove home the importance of developing safe tests with various fail-safes.

     

    • Scrap design assumptions and don't hesitate to make big changes. Testing with users helped us discover that our output initially confused people. To our surprise, users enjoyed the challenge of decreasing the water height instead of increasing it. Applying the opposite, user-centered, approach quickly yielded better results.

     

    •  Compartmentalized code makes it easy to iterate. 

     

    Early Concept

    Our original concept targeted a patient user group and came in the form of a wearable vest. User research and an iterative design process took us in a different direction.