Team
Alice Rixon – Anthropology with Innovation
Giorgio Zampaglione – Geography with Innovation
Inspiration
The intersection of common interests sparked this design opportunity; meditation and mindful practice, product and lighting design and the experience of calmness whilst in natural areas. This inspired us to create something completely new and challenge ourselves with our final year project whilst making the most of the design and prototyping facilities within the CFI.
Process
We utilised a series of research methods, such as participant observation, phenomenological thought and focus group testing in order to guide our assumptions, therefore enabling us to design something for the target user, not ourselves. Along our journey we took numerous photographs, conducted interviews and held feedback meetings to grasp how the user might interact with the concept. This informed a final survey which we used to test our main assumption – that people are calmed by ‘switching off’ and spending time with their thoughts in the natural environment.
Desirability/viability
The meditation and mindfulness market are expected to grow rapidly in the coming years throughout the US and the UK, with population sizes increasing in cities and rapid urbanisation causing a disconnect between human and nature. We chose young urban professionals as the target market for this concept as our research suggested that they were increasingly stressed, spending most of their time in cityscapes, yet open to holistic practices such as meditation and mindfulness as a solution.
Impact
This project, if it was completed in its entirety, could help individuals better and more frequently adopt meditation and mindfulness within the home. By providing a stimulus which better engages the user with the practice, Artemis hopes that our multi-sensorial meditation lamp will provide a solution to high-stress levels resulting from living and working in an urban landscape.