Shift- An Attempt to Make VR a Service
@University of Washington, CoMotion Labs
This is a student-led research and experience design project that FAILED. This case study serves not to talk negatively about the work but to highlight the aspects of failure that helped me learn more about UX Research and Experience Design.
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The high-level objective of my responsibilities as the team's UX Researcher is to define an experience through work, mental health, and virtual reality contexts.
My team and I are all mental health practitioners. We take efforts to recognize our capacities and prioritize ourselves. But in the midst of hustle culture, academia, and technology, we all experience and are experiencing mental health differently.
An experience is associated with the tangible: the smells, the ability to feel something, or even the thoughts we think.
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Experiencing something is the combination of all these tangibles to create a memory.
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The Research Challenge: How might we translate these experiences of being present with the tangible to create positive and impactful memories when trying to improve our mental health? ​
An experience vs. experiencing.
Our Opportunity Statement / Problem Statement
People are overstimulated, overanxious, and overworked. They need a space to refocus and a refuge for peaceful reflection (Goodwin et al. 2020).
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Given our busy schedules and lack of time, how might we use technologies to help employees access wellness as an everyday experience?
User Interviews and Field Scripts
Conducting User Interviews
We conducted a total of 10 semi-structured interviews asking participants to give us a glimpse of their lives and how they're balancing their mental health. The next initiative was to conduct an affinity diagramming session to establish our current findings.
Our participants ranged from friends and family to educators to industry professionals in Tech from the age ranges of 18-47. For additional clarity, all of our participants are individuals who have challenges with their mental health and statuses.
(This case study is to not detail these challenges out of participant confidentiality. Please email me at jwgarcia@uw.edu for questions.)
Our User Interview Questions
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Tell me about yourself. What kind of work do you do? (Typically asking this so our interviewee can talk about themselves).
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How do you take care of yourself, whether that be on your days off or even a fifteen-minute break?
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What do these moments look like? How are you taking care of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, (etc.,) self?
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Say you had a wellness check right now. What would that ideal check look like, and what would you do then?
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What are some things that get in the way of you taking care of yourself?
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​Lastly, what does wellness mean to you?
1. Mental Health is an important aspect of one's life, but so is wellness.
2. People procrastinate self-care because their work has more importance.
3. There's a need to prioritize mental health and build self-efficacy. ​
4. There's also a strong need to balance work and practicing self-love.
5. Taking care of one's mental health is sadly a chore.
User Interview Findings
Brainstorming Our Experience Intervention
We came up with nearly 20 ideas ranging from community-based journaling to a dedicated gym feature on your phone to create a breathing tool. Our intervention focuses on utilizing virtual reality to create spaces to improve one's mental health.
Our Turning Point
There are barriers to bringing VR as a Service to the Workplace
How a User experiences the world around them is different and enhanced in Virtual Reality (VR). VR technology can temporarily bring Users to a new world and impact their spatial experiences.
VR as a system and hobby is expensive. As a service, we've learned that many moving parts to VR could positively shape or hinder an experience.
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Rather than solely focusing on the delivering VR experience, our priorities had to shift in thinking of the User through their contexts and involvements in the business.
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Stakeholder Meeting Materials with Reflections
Our Lean Canvas
Reflection #1
Our Lean Canvas demonstrates the moving parts associated with our experience prototype. In conjunction with our prototype, we didn't fully consider how we're to document our metrics, measure our customer demographics, nor see what channels could bring value to the business and user. Before going forward with one idea, I've learned it's best to do a concept validation with my participants, Users, and stakeholders to initiate transparency and communication within the project.
Reflection #2
Our Customer Journey Map
We have considered what we wanted as a service, but not what the User would have wanted. Our user research and interviews have validated that some people journal, listen to music, or go on walks to improve their health. Our means of introducing VR were based on our own interests and lofty goals. I've learned that putting my own biases away and learning from the Users and stakeholders of their wants/expectations is needed to do impactful research and design.
Reflection #3
Our stakeholders had mentioned at the high level that mental health has its aspects, challenges, and place within an institutional work setting. VR is only one part of the system that could be impacted or impact many mental health aspects if used. Our Users shared with us their struggles with mental health. Without sharing our intervention, VR is something they may have or did not want as an intervention. From now on, I must think with a systems-thinking approach to propose a solution that will best benefit Users and stakeholders in their context.
In the End, Our Project Was Out of Scope
The features we initially wanted for our experience prototype were to establish a VR service, a VR mental health and wellness mobile app, and use VR as the end solution for improving mental health.
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In many aspects, we had conceptually thought of the various parts of the service that could improve one's mental health. However, without proper testing, concept validation, or iteration based on systems thinking, we didn't see how these parts were interconnected with each other.
After our meeting with our Stakeholders and with our Users, our VR intervention didn't cut it.
My Takeaways and Improvements
As a UX Researcher, it's paramount to include Users, stakeholders, and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) throughout the project's ENTIRETY. I may have been creating an intervention using User findings and research, but I've also forgotten to include them when collaborating in making the design.
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Going forward, I will uphold my responsibility to use my knowledge to produce the best User research, while advocating and pushing for User/Stakeholder/SME engagement AT ALL LEVELS. Additionally, applying and emphasizing to the team a systems-thinking (holistic) approach will also broaden our expectations and solution to the problem.
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This project may have failed, however, I've learned the importance of communication, thinking outside my own mental models, and advocating for User voices and perspectives.