Let's Talk
Stemming from the CHI 2012 Student Design Competition of designing a home experience under the context of space, place, and threshold, my team and I took this as the following: Help returning soldiers seeking assistance with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder share their thoughts and experiences to accomplish mutual understanding in the home with their significant other.
The result was Let's Talk—the combination of an audio recording bracelet and an interactive tablet application that provides both a veteran with PTSD and their partner a way to individually express what they are going through, and later come together to reflect on what they have felt or experienced.
This project was a finalist in the 2013 Interaction Awards.
How It Works
A doctor/therapist prescribes a couple the Let's Talk Bands.
When either partner is upset, they activate the bracelet and express their emotions and/or the situation.
The recorded audio files are then transmitted to the tablet application for later discussion.
When there are multiple recordings in a single day, the dashboard groups them together. Tapping the group expands the set so they can be individually played. (above)
When in year view, the numbers correspond to the amount of recordings from discussions and individual recordings. (below)
Process
In order to develop the concept of Let's Talk and gain first hand knowledge, we conducted expert interviews with veterans, friends of veterans, and a professional therapist. Through brainstorming, sketching, and affinity diagrams we developed multiple concepts for the emotion/moment capturing device, but chose a bracelet due to it being unobtrusive, readily available, and easily removable. To develop further research and iterate our design, we held usability testing through the use of a low-fidelity prototype, conducted a diary study between a sufferer of PTSD and one of their family members, and completed ethnographic observations during the study participants' reflection sessions. Additional methods used include persona/scenario development, role playing, and golden questions.
