Jacob Hoang
Stimuli Surface - Position yourself to work at your best
How could enhancing post-secondary work spaces to allow for play, encourage students to be more physically active when they are dealing with stress?
Academic stress is a common issue amongst students pursuing post-secondary education. The high stress and anxiety levels that post-secondary students face have raised concerns as to how they take care of their physical bodies during their studies. It is crucial that they give their body the right kind of physical break from the academic work that they are doing. Unhealthy working habits can lead to increased stress and anxiety, and decreased productivity levels. Stimuli Surface brings a playful interactive experience into post-secondary work tables and promotes physical movement while students do their work and take breaks.
Insight
Many students do not always consider how their coping mechanisms for stress, directly effects how the rest of their body physically functions. This raises concerns regarding student’s working and break habits. Research has found that physical exercise lowers stress levels and improves the way individuals cope with stress. Although,the level of physical exercise needed for each student is relative;not all students can follow the same exercise routines as others. In fact,unfamiliar levels of physical exercise or body movement could potentially further increase stress levels.
Idea
Stimuli Surface incorporates the element of play in post-secondary work spaces for students. This is a work table that has a touchable interactive surface containing a grid of reactive LED's on one side and a work surface on the other side. When it is turned on, the LED surface transforms into a reactive game that students can play with friends. The LED panels consist of two colours (Red and blue): the goal is for students to touch the one red panel that appears randomly on an area of the surface before the other person. On the side of the table is a score counter that records the score and can be pressed to reset the game.
Impact
Stimuli Surface encourages physical activity amongst students in their working spaces because the game requires users to stand up and move around in order to win the game. It gives the students’ minds a break by changing their visual stimulus and re-configures the way the body is processing information. By having this moment of competitive interaction in the same area as their work space, students will be able to easily get back into the momentum of their work after they have played. At the end of the day, the competitive aspect to the interaction, helps take their mind off of their stressful task.
Biography
Jacob is an aspiring Industrial designer who is always pushing forward to continuously learn new skills and gain new insights from various individuals of different disciplines. As a designer, Jacob tries to understand and empathize with individuals through the element of storytelling. With every product that he designs, whether it is physical or digital, there is a compelling story that he strives to share with his audience. Aside from his life within design, he tries his best to stay active by playing basketball, going swimming, and going to the gym every so often.