- Social Impact Design - Case Study - MA Grad Project -
Emotional Sustainability
Emotional Sustainability is a live project that provides people with emotional first-aid tools, encouraging them to acknowledge and contextualise their emotions. It visualises our current, underdeveloped mental models around our emotions. This project provokes designers and the design industry to recognise the need to develop Emotional Sustainability as a concept to design for well-being.
About this project
This was the graduation project undertaken as a part of the MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures course at University of the Arts London. The design challenge was to create a live project addressing a passionate concern, employing eco-socially just and sustainable research methods and design principles.
Focusing on the demographic of 'international students,' I sought to address an eco-social issue close to my heart. The motivation behind this choice stems from my own experiences of living and studying abroad, aiming to create a project that is not only relevant but also personally meaningful.
During my MA, I evolved my design approach to recognise and utilise my positionality and biases, informing my projects and fostering authenticity. Contrary to my earlier beliefs, emotions were embraced rather than perceived as weaknesses. This sparked an in-depth exploration of emotions as the foundation for my design thinking. I followed the double diamond design process, i.e. discover, define, develop and deliver.
Collaborators:
Tools Used:
Timeline:
Social Impact Designer
My Role:
20 weeks
Qualitative Research Methods, Design-led Research, Workshop Facilitation, Co-Design, TransDisciplinary Approach. Lateral Thinking
Industry:
Wellbeing and Education
Arya Pimprikar (Psychologist) and Xiaolu Zheng (Graphic Designer)
Design Process:
Double Diamond
My Design Approach
Starting Point:
What’s my passionate concern?
Personal Beliefs
As a teenager, I viewed emotions as hindrances to productivity, believing that expressing them signalled weakness. I also believed decisions should be solely based on logic.
However, over time, I recognised the importance of mental health and the value of seeking professional support during challenging times.
I started by identifying how my beliefs changed with my experiences to discover my personal pain point, and to establish a design challenge that resonates with me.
Personal Experience
In my master’s program, I learned to see emotions as valuable signals. Using them in my work led to authentic and meaningful creations that resonated with a wider audience.
I found that emotional wounds don't just disappear after therapy; they can reappear over time, necessitating continuous healing and self-care.
My Passionate Concern
Personal Pain Point: How we are treating our emotions currently isn’t sustainable. As designers, we need to design products, systems and policies that support emotional wellbeing.
If emotional wounds are so painful, why aren’t we making sure to create more empathetic systems. How do we address the empathy gaps in our current systems?
Environmental
Emotional
Sustainability
Sustainability has been highly associated with environmental action and material durability in contemporary media. Ives et al. (2019) argue that this has ‘led to the neglect of people’s "inner worlds—their emotions, thoughts, identities and beliefs"’, which are otherwise crucial to take action for sustainability.
The title of this project, ‘Emotional Sustainability’, aims to bring attention to a wicked, intersectional problem.
‘And we all know that, where there’s no name for a problem, you can’t see a problem, and when you can’t see a problem, you pretty much can’t solve it’ (Crenshaw, 2016).
Project Goal and Aims
This project aims to establish compassion spaces and promote emotional first aid to foster reflective practices for emotional expression.
The objective is to broaden individuals' understanding of the influence of emotions on our lives and equip them with tools for better emotional awareness.
To accomplish these goals, the project addresses the following research questions:
Problem Mapping
What are the hindrances in nurturing emotional expression in today’s society?
What sociocultural influences, historical legacies and professional knowledge have informed our perception of emotions?
Design-led Research
What are the pitfalls and shortcomings in our current knowledge and ways of thinking about emotions?
Design in Action
How might we conceptualise a more inclusive understanding of emotions in our daily lives?
How might we utilise the findings from this project to map out future opportunities for innovation?
I began by delving into Secondary Research to gain a comprehensive understanding of this complex issue. The main question guiding my research was:
What are the hindrances in nurturing emotional expression in today’s society?
Secondary Research
The image on the right displays an affinity mapping of the key insights I collected from various sources such as research papers, online articles, expert talks, books, podcasts and other resources.
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Emotional constipation involves expressing anger rather than facing feelings, often accompanied by self-criticism and denial (Khatcherian, 2018).
During childhood, societal norms influence our emotional expressions. Suppression of certain feelings due to societal norms continues into adulthood, reinforced by institutions valuing emotional restraint. This aligns with Goffman's Front Stage and Back Stage Behaviour concept, where societal expectations shape our public persona while our uninhibited self remains backstage (Nicki Lisa Cole, 2019).
Unacknowledged emotions, termed emotional constipation, can lead to stress-related behaviours like stress-eating (Parvez, 2022; Helms, 2022).
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From an evolutionary perspective, it is claimed that the ancient nature of our emotions influences our behaviour much more than our younger rational brain (Botton, 2020).
In the modern world, emotions help us form connections and take action. Emotions are a part of well-being, a ‘sustainable condition’ that encourages people and populations to grow and thrive (Ruggeri et al., 2020). This idea is not limited to the absence of physical ailments and mental illnesses but extends beyond happiness and the ‘perception that life is going well’ (2020). Our emotional well-being also influences physical and intellectual well-being (Parvez, 2022).
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When we understand our emotions, we can make clear decisions, whereas suppressing them can cause brain fog and a lack of clarity and creativity (2022). Emotional awareness also paves the foundation for empathy, a social phenomenon (Patnaik & Mortensen, 2011). Living in systems that do not support emotional expression can lead to the development of empathy gaps (at times, this can lead to emotional abuse and emotional trauma as well) (Maté & Maté, 2022).
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Eco-anxiety highlights the intersectional nature of mental health and climate crisis. Anxiety is related to emotions and feelings (Peterson, 2018). In that, it is a feeling caused by fear (an emotion).
Eco-anxiety is a concept that has developed recently. In that, it refers to the anxiety induced by the thought of the future of the environment/earth (Usher et al., 2019). If the ecological crisis affects our emotional well-being, it is crucial to deal with that anxiety and take action. Mental health and climate crisis are intersectional.
Affinity Mapping
For the process of Problem Mapping, I explored the impact of various factors on this issue:
What sociocultural influences, historical legacies and professional knowledge have informed our perception of emotions?
Problem Mapping:
Analysing the Causes and Effects
This overview, using a fishbone diagram, condenses my contextual analysis findings and insights from personal therapy sessions to identify the problem being caused.
Looking through a Linguistic Lens:
Based on my literature review, I created the table on the right to summarise and highlight how our current understanding of these terms is more influenced by history than by theory.
How does emotional sustainability differ from mental health?
The terms 'mental' and 'emotional' are often conflated with mental illness and instability, respectively. However, 'mental' traditionally refers to cognitive processes, while 'emotional' pertains to feelings. Our understanding of these terms is heavily influenced by theoretical and social frameworks. Today, mental health has become a blanket term for both emotional and intellectual well-being.
*The Need to Decolonise Wellness
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‘We have been told devastating lies about mental health,’ says Sanah Ahsan (2022), a clinical psychologist working with the NHS. The current therapy models (like CBT and psychotherapy used in clinical psychology) are based on Western, Eurocentric ideology. Their biggest pitfall is that they take an individualistic approach which can make us lose sight of the political and social context creating distress in the individual (Ahsan & Williams, 2022).
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The White perspective claims to ‘offer an intellectualised understanding of everything’ (Ahsan & Williams, 2022). Time and again, the western world is viewed as a measure of success. However, it was not until the early 1980s that the concept of an integrated mind-body system (which has been the foundation of eastern medicine for centuries, such as Ayurveda), was acknowledged in Western medicine (Ruff, 2019).
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The scientific foundation of the western science considers measurable, tangible things necessary (2019). This reflects why emotions are so understudied and why academics fail to agree on one definition, highlighting the need to decolonise wellness.
The UN SDGs might be misguided
As designers, we often align our work with specific United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were established in 2015 to outline global objectives by 2030.
While these goals aim to address urgent global issues, the UN measures human development in terms of industrial growth (GDP) rather than human well-being or thriving communities. Quantitatively, the correlation between well-being (in terms of longevity) and GDP results in ‘a saturation curve with sharply diminishing returns’ (Hickel, 2018). This emphasis on economic indicators may overlook the true needs of societies. As governments and corporations worldwide adopt the SDG framework for their investments and budget plans, it's crucial to recognise and address these biases.
I want to draw your attention to ‘Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages.’ Qualitatively, while the title sounds all-encompassing, the targets laid out under it are not so wide-ranging. It establishes targets for reduction in physical ailments and mortality indicators without mentioning mental health and well-being. It appears to be a call for investment in medicine (enhancing the means) rather than well-being (the destination) (Montemayor, 2019).
My Primary Research and Design-Led Inquiry focused on exploring the following question:
What are the pitfalls and shortcomings in our current knowledge and ways of thinking about emotions?
Stakeholder
Mapping
I created a stakeholder map to understand the various groups involved in my problem area and to identify potential contacts for primary research.
Key stakeholders identified were:
Individuals: Students, parents, children, tutors, employers, counselors, etc.
Communities: Schools, NGOs, wellbeing organizations, etc.
Organizations: Mental health charities, mental health apps, associations, etc.
I also included non-human stakeholders that impact emotional well-being, such as social media, workplaces, technology, and culture.
Case Study:
International Students
For this project, I chose to focus on international students, particularly those at the University of Arts London (UAL), as the subjects of my case study.
International students often find themselves in unfamiliar environments, away from their usual support systems, which can evoke a range of emotions. This situation prompts them to develop new ways of understanding and coping with their emotions.
Drawing from my own experiences as an international student was particularly valuable for this project.
Primary Research Methods
and Design Approaches:
Over time, people learn to express and present themselves in a particular image through learned behaviour, also known as the self-censorship bias (Jussim, 2020). Especially with an inquiry into emotions, it was crucial to avoid the filter of self-censorship to gain meaningful insights (Legge, 2021).
For this project, I took a qualitative research approach. My primary research methods were autoethnography, in-depth interviews and fieldwork activities. The design-led research methods used were adapted and built up from widely acknowledged, existing research methods ((Muratovski, 2016) & (IDEO, 2003)). Design-led research methods are powerful ways to work with wicked (larger, complex) problems (Wujec, 2013) and can help make the research process a two-way exchange.
Principles to guide my primary research
What things do I want to keep in mind while conducting primary research?
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Utilise qualitative methods with a semi-structured approach to integrate and share relevant resources that may benefit participants, as feasible.
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Prioritise in-person interactions whenever feasible, leveraging personal experiences as an international student to guide interactions, maintaining an open-ended approach, and offering contact information as needed.
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Drawing from my experience in therapy and my training as a mental health workshop facilitator, ensure readiness to direct individuals to mental health support or resources. Emphasise the option for participants to withdraw consent at any time and maintain an open environment for discussion.
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Non-Extractive Methods: Incorporate drawing as a creative tool, and add colour with vibrant post-it notes and pens to enhance engagement and enjoyment.
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Assessing non-verbal behaviour using the acronym E.M.P.A.T.H.Y.-E: eye contact; M: muscles of facial expression; P: posture; A: affect; T: tone of voice; H: hearing the whole patient; Y: your response.
Interviews:
Testing Assumptions
I contacted mental health professionals to better understand the underlying factors contributing to the challenges commonly experienced by international students. My aim was to validate my assumptions about emotional struggles among this demographic.
I conducted three interviews with:
A psychotherapist and hypnotherapist at UAL Health Services.
A behavioral therapist currently pursuing her MA at UAL.
A mental health first aid instructor at Rethink Mental Illness.
Expert Insights:
Societal and familial pressures, along with culturally gendered roles, shape distinct neural pathways in our brains, influencing how men and women express emotions.
In East Asian communities, where many international students originate, there is a strong emphasis on work and productivity, which can diminish the significance of emotional expression in daily life.
Consequently, when these students witness others expressing emotions, they may perceive it as 'abnormal' due to the lack of exposure to such behaviours in their home environments.
To address this issue, we require ‘widgets for emotional expression’ - tools or strategies that facilitate emotional expression and understanding within the context of their cultural backgrounds.
Teaching emotional communication is essential in helping students navigate and understand their emotions effectively while studying abroad.
However, as a society, ‘we have made it sound like the language of emotional communication is not needed in the world.’
Fieldwork Activity: Word Associations
For the initial fieldwork activity, students were prompted to share their interpretations of the terms 'emotion(al)' and 'sustainability’. Defining these terms was crucial to assess the students' comprehension, influenced by their upbringing and personal perspectives. Moreover, it aimed to highlight the contrast between these words and initiate discussions, ultimately revealing their views and aspirations regarding these concepts.
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Sustainability
It was found that the word sustainability was readily understood as a continuous future; in the true sense of the word - to be able to sustain something long term.
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Emotional
However, the association of 'emotion(al)' with adjectives hinting at frailty ('soft', 'sensitive', 'close', 'crazy', 'unstable') made it clear that the project needed to pay more attention to it.
Action-based Research:
Body Mapping
"Our body is trying to communicate, but we are so caught up that we are not taught to listen to it."
I conducted an in-person body mapping activity during the welcome week to engage with more students and assess their awareness of the connection between physical and emotional health. Participants collaborated to map out their emotions on a life-size body silhouette, fostering a space for bonding and discussion about the challenges faced by international students. These conversations highlighted the array of emotions experienced when transitioning to a new country and beginning a new course, considering various factors like cultural differences and backgrounds.
Insights from the activity revealed that while people can identify emotions in different parts of their bodies when prompted, regular body check-ins are not common. Typically, attention to physical sensations arises only after an event, such as experiencing muscle pain or discomfort.
Moving forward, I wanted to explore: If a physical check-in is not typical practice, how do we otherwise recognise our emotions and feelings? What is our mental model around our emotions?
Design-led
Research:
‘Toast Your Emotions’
‘According to systems thinking, the most profound and influential levels of a system are the underlying ‘mental models’: “the filters through which we interpret our experiences, evaluate plans and choose among possible courses of action”’ (Ives et al., 2019).
‘Toast Your Emotions’ is a design-led research method I adapted from the activity DrawToast (Tom Wujec, 2015) for this project. Originally, DrawToast aimed to understand mental models within organizations by asking participants to draw "How to make toast." I modified this method to delve into people's perceptions of emotions, aiming to uncover potential gaps and pitfalls in their thinking. I have synthesised and laid out the steps for conducting the activity below.
While making toast seems straightforward, detailing it in an instruction format requires careful consideration. Similarly, while emotions are integral to human existence, how often do we reflect on them?
The activity posed three questions to 35 participants:
What sparked or fuelled that emotion(s)?
How did you recognise that emotion/feeling?
How do you react, process, or deal with (or not) that emotion?
Participant Responses:
Exploring Emotions
This response illustrates a common pattern among students: experiencing something negative, taking time for self-care, then returning to productivity.
During the 'Toast Your Emotions' activity, participants shared insightful responses that provide a glimpse into their diverse perceptions of emotions.
Here are a few examples from the session:
The image above displays drawings by two students. The drawing on the left is from a student who has not undergone therapy, while the one on the right is from a student who has undergone therapy.
Synthesised Insights
The main pattern observed among students involves experiencing stress, overwhelm, or anxiety, followed by taking a break to engage in enjoyable activities such as eating their favourite food, watching Netflix, or socialising with friends. After this break, they refocus and return to a state of productivity.
This prevalent mental model reflects how increased awareness around mental health has helped us realise the importance of self-care practices during periods of burnout or anxiety. However, this approach overlooks the root causes of these feelings.
Without contextualising our emotions within the broader context of our actions, it becomes challenging to identify and address their underlying triggers. As a result, many students find themselves constantly stuck in a loop of feeling anxious, taking time out for themselves, and returning to work.
The opportunity I identified to focus on for my Design in Action:
How might we conceptualise a more inclusive understanding of emotions in our daily lives?
Emerging
Personas
Drawing from my main findings, I crafted Anya, my primary persona. Anya, a 25-year-old vibrant design student, exudes passion for establishing herself in the UK. However, her foremost challenge lies in managing life's stressors, often leading to burnout.
Additionally, I developed a secondary persona, Paola, a 28-year-old self-driven design student driven by her ambitions. Despite her diligence, Paola grapples with cultural shock and the difficulties of adapting to a new country.
Anya, Primary Persona: “I often feel overwhelmed and burnt out, yet I often don’t even recognise when I’ve reached that breaking point.”
Paola, Secondary Persona: “I’ve noticed that not everyone is as open about their emotions as I am, which has left me feeling out of sorts.”
Understanding what’s the
Leverage Point
Donella Meadows, a systems thinker, describes leverage points as the places to intervene in a system “where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything.”
In line with this principle, the key leverage point I am focusing on is self-awareness/reflection practices.
This aspect serves as a foundational element for addressing the challenges faced by students, like Anya and Paola. By enhancing self-awareness and promoting reflective practices, the aim is to empower individuals to better navigate their emotional landscapes and ultimately lead more fulfilling lives.
Theory of
Change
Following the exploration of leverage points, I created a theory of change map to consolidate the identified issues and initiate the formulation of long and short-term project goals.
Prototyping
Inspiration
“The Empathy Map gives you a deep-dive into the underlying motivations of your people to uncover why they are functioning the way they are” (XPLANE, 2022).
In my endeavour to connect emotions with other dimensions of human behaviour, I found the UX design research tool known as the empathy map particularly intriguing. Comprising four primary quadrants — 'say', 'do', 'think', and 'feel'— this tool is widely employed to record and synthesise data on human behaviour, aiming to identify gaps and devise solutions to address them. I became curious about how I could leverage this familiar design framework to develop a reflection practice tailored for design students. Moreover, the empathy map's distinction between feelings and thoughts, which are often conflated in discussions about mental health, further piqued my interest.
Mock Up
and User Testing
During the prototyping stage, I used insights gathered from students in my primary research to formulate reflective questions for each of the four segments of the empathy map. I devised a handwritten framework with instructions to assist users through the process. Testing was carried out in two formats: individual and group. The feedback from both the sets is summarised on the right.
“The confrontational aspect of it was what made it so valid. Everyone is aware of different pages on Instagram that they turn to or seek wisdom from, but they must confront their feelings. Seeing it all laid out in context instead of isolation is nice.”
— Sumaia
Chatterbox
Prototype
Critical, actionable insights from round 1 of testing:
Participants found the number of questions daunting.
Users expressed interest in using the framework both individually and as a group. Consider incorporating an icebreaker activity before delving into the more confrontational questions.
Presenting all the questions at once may overwhelm users.
Ensure the framework is inviting for interaction.
With these insights in mind, I developed an origami folding game called 'Chatterbox', reminiscent of a childhood pastime. This game serves as a means to initiate conversations among users of the framework. I selected two critical questions from each quadrant and incorporated them into the game.
Chatterbox
User Testing
I distributed six Chatterbox games to willing participants and requested them to interact with the games for a week. Following this, I conducted follow-up interviews with the participants to document their experiences. The SWOT analysis based on these insights is recorded on the right.
Co-Design
Workshops
While positive feedback was received during both rounds of testing, the small sample size underscored the need for diverse perspectives in co-creating reflective questions. To facilitate this, I conducted online workshops with a convivial approach.
Participants contributed their inputs based on their stories and experiences, analysing the existing questions across the four quadrants. A key insight emerged regarding potential overlaps and intersections among the sections. Transformations were made by simplifying language and identifying these overlaps and intersections. Participants shared their responses and suggestions for improving the questions.
Design
Interventions
Emotional First-Aid Tool: "What's Bothering You?"
Introducing the "What's bothering you?" framework, an emotional first-aid tool designed to help students reflect on their behaviour when feeling stuck, aiding in contextualising their feelings within the broader context of their actions.
For my design interventions, I addressed three key aspects: raising awareness, developing an emotional first aid tool, and equipping students with actionable points to integrate emotional sustainability into their broader practice.
Illustrations to Raise Awareness
Collaboration with an illustrator was crucial to disseminate essential project concepts. Through engaging visuals, key phrases were brought to life in a humorous manner. These illustrations also serve as everyday reminders of the project's objectives.
Our Roles as Designers Cards
Incorporating the project into the broader framework of emotional sustainability, "Our Role as Designers" cards were created. These cards offer a starting point for designers to incorporate emotional sustainability into their practices.
An Emotional
First-Aid Tool:
‘What’s bothering you?’ Reflection Framework
Informed by the adapted Ikigai diagram (McCandless, 2020) and insights from co-design workshops, I crafted a reflection framework. This tool distinguishes between emotions, feelings, and thoughts, facilitating both individual and group reflections. Users simply select the intersection of areas they wish to explore.
The framework acts as a conversation starter, emphasising the interconnectedness of emotions, thoughts, communication, and actions. By visualising these intersections, it prompts users to delve into various facets of their emotional well-being.
*To begin, select the intersection of areas you wish to explore and initiate with the question located there.
Illustrations to Raise Awareness
Humour serves as a common coping mechanism for life's stresses, presenting an intriguing yet unexplored avenue in this project. Collaborating with illustrator Xiaolu Zheng, a MA Data Visualisation student with a background in graphic design, we brought to life four key phrases/words that resonated with me throughout the project. These resulting illustrations, displayed below, were incorporated into tangible everyday items, such as tote bags and phone covers, to shed light on the concept of emotional sustainability and its broader implications.
Collaborator
Xiaolu Zheng
‘Our Role
as Designers’
While raising awareness about the significance of emotional expression on an individual level, this project also addresses a broader concern. It seeks to engage the design industry in a conversation about integrating emotional sustainability into their practices. Four prompt cards were created, drawing from my autoethnographic research conducted over the past few years, to connect the concept of emotional sustainability with the wider context of design practice.
The 4 levels are inspired by the IDEO method cards’ categories (2003) and are in no manner exhaustive:
Learn: Practice to be emotionally sustainable
Look: Question the projects you do or take on
Ask: Are you designing for well-being? Whose well-being?
Try: Create widespread Empathy
It's crucial to explore the Future Scope of this project:
How might we utilise the findings from this project to map out future opportunities for innovation?
Glossary
It is vital to define the following terms in context with this project, to allow the reader to gain a thorough understanding of this project.
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‘A person’s internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data’ (Source: wordnik.com). Eg. fear is an emotion.
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‘The capacity to experience refined emotions’ (Source: wordnik.com). Eg. anxiety is a feeling.
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Relating to emotions.
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‘capable of being maintained at length without interruption or weakening’ (Source: Merriam Webster’s dictionary).
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‘of or relating to intellectual as contrasted with emotional activity’ (Source: Merriam Webster’s dictionary).