For my project, I created a product to help with anxiety in children by promoting mindfulness through the 5 senses. It is a cute keychain companion device in the form of a bear that can stay with the child and cycle through 5 steps to calm anxiety. The device also pairs with an app for the parents to track usage. My target consumer is children ages 4 to 7.
"Anxiety can become a problem when a young person feels stuck in it, or when it feels like an overwhelming, distressing or unmanageable experience." (Young Minds)
There are various strategies available to address this, particularly the idea of mindfulness to stay calm.
"Connecting with what they can see, touch, hear, smell and taste can bring them closer to the present moment and reduce the intensity of their anxiety...five things they can see, four things they can touch, three things they can hear, two things they can smell and one thing they can taste." (Young Minds)
During the prototyping phase, I started my initial iterations by testing out the best shape for the device. I had originally planned to go for more of a spherical body for the device but that proved to be extremely challenging. I wanted to keep the scale small for portability of the device and to make it appear cuter. I moved to a denser foam core, sawed and sanded it to a shape with rounded edges, and completed the initial design by priming and attaching the ears to the bear.
The Mindful Bear Parent App pairs seamlessly with the keychain device. The app functions as a way for parents' to track how frequently their child uses the device to help with their anxiety throughout the day. The parent receives a daily notification with a check-in report detailing specific metrics about their child's anxiety levels and what actions may be needed to respond properly.
