I created this project with Arwa Mokdad and Tom Mikolyuk while taking Honors 220C: Science and Engineering for Social Justice. Our goal for the project was to create a solution that would improve student's mental health while attending online school. As a result, we created a concept for a digital planning application named Content, which would assist students in scheduling their school work and mental health activities throughout their day in addition to connecting students with resources provided by their university. Our solution also contained a physical component named Cue, which is a reminder keychain that allows students to stay on schedule without checking their phone.
Through this project, I was able to grow in my ability to be a socially conscious designer. While ideating, our group researched student mental health in order to identify the main problems students face while being educated in a digital environment. In addition to thinking about student mental health, our group was conscious of other factors that may impact students, such as access to stable internet connection and technology. Overall, this class made me aware of the ways in which the design connects to larger social issues and will change how I view my design process in the future.
The slides for our group's final presentation can be seen below.
