Focusing on creating a product in the Health track, we tackled problems that threaten our mental health. Our main goal was to focus on creating a mobile app that can help students prevent burnouts and frustrations while studying.
Our team approached our project by focusing on what we and our peers, as college students, experience in our daily lives in college and if there is an area or a phenomenon that can be burdensome and jeopardize our mental health. Coincidentally, we were approaching the midterm season and we simultaneously let out deep sighs from the workload ahead of us. We soon realized that there are two aspects of studying that makes studying stressful for many students: the sheer amount of work can be daunting or the quality of time put into studying. After delving in further, we discovered that we often get distracted by our phones, which undermines the quality of our focus and elongates the time necessary to get things done. And as we have to "study" for longer hours, we ultimately feel burnt out. The problem was that our burn-outs come from our phones are full of enchantments that quietly whisper to us when we try to focus on our tasks.
To prevent burn-outs and restore healthy lifestyle, we had to disengage from our distractions. Ironically, the solution had to be an application that encourages its users to look away from their phones, where the app exists.
We designed a mobile application that gamified the Pomodoro Technique to support effective time management and healthy break times. Depending on the user's mood before their study sessions, the app will give simple yet engaging missions during their assigned break times; by completing given missions, users will earn stars that can unlock stickers and characters and fill their skies with them.
1. Gamification - engaging the users by providing a sense of accomplishment after each successful study & break session
2. Healthy break times - preventing the users from falling into pits of distraction during their break times
3. Simplicity - guiding users away from their phones, minimalistic interfaces were necessary
We can be in a wide-range of mental state ahead of our study sessions from tired or mediocre to energetic. Before every session, we ask how one is feeling at the moment, and corresponding to their selection, we tailor the types of missions in their break times.
During breaks, we encourage the users to engage in physical activities and refresh themselves from studying. By gamifying and rewarding them with points after each mission, we provide small doses of achievement that will be visible in the sky page.
We resonated deeply with "The sky is your limit," and we wanted to represent that idea within our application. As users gain more points from study sessions, they can fill their skies with cute stickers and characters.
Participating in DivHacks was truly a memorable experience that taught me greatly about teamwork, decision-making, and dedication. Over the 24 hours, my teammates and I had an opportunity to step outside of our comfort zone and create something that was bigger than us individually. Continuous communication and revision not only taught me the importance of resilience and perseverance but also reminded me of the beauty of product design, as the product development is truly a never-ending cycle of testing and refining.
Aside of the project, the 24-hour hackathon really made me feel alive. Eating cheap pizzas and losing sleep to finish the project under the deadline, I met other incredibly talented designers and developers and learned greatly from their burning passion. Seeing brilliant ideas from other teams motivated me to continue to strengthen my creativity and techniques, and I look forward to participating in other hackathons in the future!