WeatherScape- Part 1/2

6 min readNov 3, 2022

Written By Nadifa Aziza

Final Product Link:

https://enchanting-pothos-e52d8c.netlify.app/

Project Overview

The project relates to the health issues that hits the youth. Through a Weatherscape web application, we are aiming to help in improving stress level, anxiety, and sleeping disorder, which are commonly hits the youth such as student.

Our team consist of 3 members:

UX Designer- Jade Mitchell
UX Researcher- Nadifa Aziza (Myself)
Developer- Steven White-Smith

My role includes:

UX Research
Project Management
Usability Testing
Presentation
Blog Article
App Technical Testing

During our first meeting, we begin the project by brainstorming our main ideas and how we are going to achieve this.

This project responds to the problem of youth that needs to maintain wellness. Through our app, we hope to help them by reducing stress, anxiety, and improving quality of sleep. By using both audio and visuals that projects calming landscape/ nature based on Australian weather, by utilising the data from The Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Users can visit the different regions to check out the weather and experience the soundscape of all states across Australia. Enables them to set a desired atmosphere to help them setting the mood, which can also be saved for future use.

We agreed to apply the scrum management plan that involves 3 main phases:

Pre Game: To begin the project, we will have to review the project brief, identify the roles and tasks we need to complete and break them down into smaller (weekly) tasks.
Game: During this stage, each of us will focus on our own tasks for the week. We will have a meeting every week, where we can share our progress or discuss any issues.
Post Game: It is the final stage, where we finalise the product, launch it, and show it to everyone.

We first created a time plan to ensure everyone stays on track and able to submit their own tasks by the deadline.

Client and Background

Our client is headspace, an Australian-based non-profit organisation who focuses on the young generation. Headspace is an established company who has been working on to improve mental health within the young audience through their online and offline services. The Australian National Youth Mental Health Foundation that began in 2006 and has been providing early intervention mental health services to 12–25-year-olds. Each year, they help thousands of young people, and their family and friends, access vital support through our headspace services in over 145 communities, through their online and phone counselling services, our vocational services, and our presence in schools. With a focus on early intervention, they work with young people to provide support at a crucial time in their lives — to help get them back on track and strengthen their ability to manage their mental health in the future.

Research

Methods

The research method will involve both qualitative, that includes interview and quantitative research, include surveys. I aimed to interview at least 8 people within the criteria of young people to represent the targeted group. This varies from fresh high school graduate, university students, and those who just graduated and entering the workforce. And the survey will contain 10 questions to find out about their behaviour/ habit and analyse if there is any pattern exist.

2. Interviews

The interview is very helpful to understand more about our audience. Not just knowing what, but also the reason why. This can help us to easier understand and get an idea on how to approach the problem. From the interview, many acknowledges that their stress levels would increase when the busy period approaches, such as when deadlines are near, during workload is increased, especially after when they didn’t have enough sleep.

And when stress level goes up, efforts has been made by participants, such as going to park, making a cup of tea, listening to calm music. The type of music includes instrumental, rhythmic, lo-fi, or jazz. From these facts, it can be summarised that calming atmosphere can be made through something that involves slow paced music and environment to give the mind a little space to breathe. Hence, we can mimic these activities and apply it to our web, by utilising both audio and visual to help us setting the mood. So users can effortlessly relax and refresh their minds from the busy schedule.

3. Surveys

While the survey helps to define user preferences and their behaviour. The results are presented in numerical data, which will help with some decision making later during the design phase. Some questions include, how often they check the weather, when do they have free time to check their phone, and some design preferences. I have also asked to describe their definition of ‘comfort’ through film and movies to better picture the mood.

Analysis

Persona

From the above research, it is concluded that there a few types of persona that we can based our application on. Our user varies from teenagers who are completing high school, university students across different departments, and those who have graduated from university and entering the workforce. The personas consist of people from different background, interests, stages in life, and stress tolerance. Their stress factors vary, it can be from their family, environment (school/work), or even from social/ cultural background pressure.

2. Scenario

Each user representatives are being put into the different situations that happens frequently to our target user. This may further help us to view and understand the situation into a deeper level and enable for me to empathise thoroughly.

Regardless their unique situation, I have found a common traits/ pattern that can help to solve the problem. There are several reasons that causes stress, anxiety and sleeping disruption, however the unbalance workload and time, pressure from the surrounding environment, and the restricted amount of having to go out or to do what is needed to refresh their minds, are the most common reason that these issues may arouse.

3. Quick Findings Report

This group still struggles to maintain the work/life balance, which cause the disruption of sleep, panic, anxiety, exhaustion, that might get worse if it continues for a long time. To break this kind of routine, they often do activities that help them finds a place of comfort and express their feelings. Some prefers to play games, watch videos, hang out with friends or family. And simple activities like making a cup of tea, listening to music, breathing exercise, having a walk to the park and see the nature is by far the best method to let their mind into rest.

The place that they described as somewhere that creates comfort include New Zealand and Japanese countryside. They seek a place with calming nature, slow-paced environment, and nice landscape.

(Continue Part 2)