Week 17

Presentations for mark 1 prototype are this coming week, I have to physically visual my product in a way that is easy to project the whole concept of my idea. I decided to create a sample of the contents of my booklet. Below shows my finished mark 1 prototype - except it will not be bound this way, although it will be A5 in size so that it is a nice compact size, I have not yet finalised the graphic style that I will use throughout. I really like the font that I have used throughout, it has a handwritten notebook vibe which is relevant.

I have sampled 4 types of pages that could be included in the journal. Firstly, the organisation section, the user can organise their life day to day, week to week and yearly. The first photo shows a week view, this will be beneficial if the user has activities that they perform weekly such as weekly therapist calls or a specific workout schedule or weekly meet ups with a specific person. There is also space to document weekly goals and space for preparing meal ideas – as part of my research I gathered that a participant experienced anxiety when they were unaware what they would make for dinner.

The second photo shows how a person could organise key dates in the year. It allows the user to be aware of upcoming events such as birthdays, anniversaries or religious holidays.

The third picture indicates how a potential day to day page could look like. It includes space to express daily emotion, also space to explain what in their life they are grateful for, this allows the user to realise each day that there is something or someone worthwhile in their life. Hopefully this gives the individual initial motivation for the day. I have included a to-do-list I hope this gives a person a sense of productivity and achievement. I gauged from my research that participants never knew how to fill their days as they had a lot of free time and this lead to the mind wondering so hopefully a to do lists will create some drive and forward thinking for the day ahead.

As well as forward planning, it is also important to reflect on your past life to be able to improve for the future. The first photo shows that I have included a habit tracker, participants document their habits daily, they are able to choose what they would like to track whether it be medication intake, hours of sleep or anything that they desire. They may identify trends that they would like to change for future months, such as on the weekdays they fail to hit their daily step goal, they may then decide to put a motion in place to better this.

Picture 2 is a page with the purpose of reflection on the previous month. This is a positive example of reflection which is meant to highlight the good parts of the month as well as urging for positive changes for the next month.

Picture 3 shows what the bi-annual goals page could look like. I think this page is important because it allows users to see a future for themselves, it acts as a form of purpose.

To keep this booklet engaging, I have added some light-hearted activities for the user to part-take in. Brain junk allows a person to clear their head of negativity by documenting bad thoughts and practically putting them in the bin. A bucket list is a good addition to the book as it creates ambition to the user and allows them to focus on the future.

I have included some potential CBT exercises that could be used, these are quite generic ones, but I am still to define what techniques and what format will be included. CBT is normally completed in a 7 week block so I am unsure whether to keep it in its traditional format or display it in a way that will be completed over a prolonged period of time so that it acts as a form of protection from poor mental health.