POVs, HMWs,
and
Experience
Prototypes
Intro
Team: Carah A., Julia A., Katherine E., Minh-An Q.
Studio: Health
Problem Domain: Mental health and stress management
We Met:
Tyler, the United Airlines flight attendant
We Were Amazed To Realize That:
He often serves as a therapist to passengers who want to share their
problems but remain anonymous
It Would Be Game-Changing To:
Provide accessible (on the ground) spaces for people to feel as
comfortable sharing their problems as they do while talking to Tyler
Clare, MIT
sophomore
“Institutional
resources for
mental health
at MIT are
insufficient”
“I always feel supported because of
my residential community”
Janna, Carleton
RA
“My problems are
mine, and talking
about them makes
them someone
else’s”
“A huge part of my job is listening to
freshmen concerns and reassuring them
that what they’re feeling is common, but
not invalidating that it’s real and
stressful”
Carole Pertofsky,
Director of Health
and Wellness
Promotion at
Vaden
“I consider the ‘work-hard,
play-hard mentality’ harmful,
because it downplays the need
for mindfulness, relaxation, and
low-pressure situations in stress
management”
Bang,
Stanford
senior who
worked in
consulting
“I use pretty much the same tactics
to handle stress at Stanford and
handle stress on the job”
“Drinking socially makes people
more willing to share feelings and
create deeper connections”
POVs
We Met:
Janna, an RA at Carleton
We Were Amazed To Realize That:
Despite having a job listening and responding to
other students’ concerns, she felt uncomfortable
sharing her own problems with friends
It Would Be Game-Changing To:
Encourage her to reach out to friends for support by
alleviating her fear of bothering them
How Might We...
give people a non-threatening avenue to alert
their friends when they are in need?
We Met:
Bang, a Stanford senior who worked in consulting
We Were Amazed To Realize That:
He valued environments with social drinking
because they made it easier for him to connect with
new people
It Would Be Game-Changing To:
Remove alcohol from the equation while still
lowering inhibitions and allowing people to form
communities
We Met:
Clare, an MIT sophomore
We Were Amazed To Realize That:
She found emotional support in her residential
community at MIT because she has many
opportunities to connect to similar people who have
experienced the situations she’s struggling with
It Would Be Game-Changing To:
Connect students to automatically-created
communities of people they feel comfortable asking
for advice
How Might We...
give people access to a community where they
feel enough affinity to the people around them
that they’re comfortable sharing their struggles?
How Might We...
encourage and train existing communities to
become active support systems?
Experience
Prototypes
Prototype #1: The Reciprocity Game
Two friends (Julia, the actor; Paulina, the subject) take a quiz
together. They each begin with a token that they can “trade” to the
other player for help on a question
● “Passes” take stress off
● Collaboration improves quiz
performance
● Felt comfortable asking
once it was normalized
● Needed a “nudge” to use
“pass”
● Game wasn’t strictly
reciprocal
● Once subject ran out of
“passes,” the game became
unpleasant
Prototype #2: Debunking the Duck
We sent out a document to multiple email lists that allowed people
to publicly and anonymously answer the question “How’s your day
going?” People could then offer supportive comments and answer
questions under other people’s responses.
● People were super responsive!
● Went above and beyond the
question to share details
● Comments stayed thoughtful
and supportive
● “Just reading over the
comments made us feel better”
● Nowhere to move forward
from contact
● Some people want to reveal
themselves
Prototype #3: Stress Vacation
We asked two Stanford students to let us follow them on a “stress vacation” on
campus. We took them to Windhover and watched them define what a stress
vacation meant for them.
● Held people accountable for
their de-stressing
● Participants enjoyed
experience & wished it was
longer
● Stress vacations do not
have to be with someone
else
● Depends heavily on
convenience