Terrapod combines a digital terrarium with a smart pill dispenser for interactive medication management. The virtual terrarium grows as patients adhere to their regimen, offering real-time progress visualization.
Alongside personalized voice memos and the dispenser, it simplifies treatment, fostering collaboration and enhancing well-being and adherence in mental health care.
What is Terrapod?
UN Sustainable Development Goals 2023
Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3)
Oct - Nov 2023
Timeline
Jaivrat Saroha
Saeoul Park
Saish Lad
Dhyan Rajesh
Team
Blender
Figma
Tools
Human-centered design
Health & Well-being
Product design
Discipline
Oct - Nov 2023
Timeline
Jaivrat Saroha
Saeoul Park
Saish Lad
Dhyan Rajesh
Team
Blender
Figma
Tools
Human-centered design
Health & Well-being
Product design
Discipline
Terrapod combines a digital terrarium with a smart pill dispenser for interactive medication management. The virtual terrarium grows as patients adhere to their regimen, offering real-time progress visualization.
Alongside personalized voice memos and the dispenser, it simplifies treatment, fostering collaboration and enhancing well-being and adherence in mental health care.
What is Terrapod?
Patients with chronic depression often struggle to maintain consistent medication routines, facing challenges in both remembering to take their medications and understanding their therapeutic effects.
This lack of connection leads to sub-optimal adherence, particularly among newly diagnosed patients, hampering treatment efficacy.
The Challenge
Non-linear Design process
Given the complex and interconnected nature of the problem, we recognized that a linear design process wouldn't suffice.
Therefore, we iterated through multiple design methods mentioned to gradually approach a more impactful solution.
APPROACH
Exploratory Sketches
Opting for a non-linear design approach, we delved into exploratory sketches right after completing comprehensive secondary research. Our brainstorming sessions covered a spectrum of ideas, including smart pill dispensers, mobile app trackers, physical objects, and empathy-centric solutions in attempt to facilitate better adherence.
"Sketching guided us towards key questions that necessitated further primary research through interviews. Additionally, it enabled us to discard less feasible ideas at an early stage, concentrating our efforts on the most promising solutions."
Patterns of events emerged from our Qualitative Research
Current scenario
It wasn't just about taking pills
We discovered that the underlying cause of the majority of the issues was a lack of motivation for treatment which could be potentially addressed in the following ways:
Would you agree that we are dealing with a multifaceted issue whose roots are intricately linked to a variety of contributing factors?
However, let's pause for a moment and put ourselves in the shoes of someone going through depression.
Wouldn't showing them extra love and care possibly offer them the strength they need to overcome this challenge?
How can we foster a sense of collective emotional support for individuals diagnosed with depression to enhance their adherence to medication?
TO FACILITATE THIS…
People with diagnosed depression who are relatively new to their medication regime, and who have support member(s) to alleviate their treatment journey
WE WOULD BE DESIGNING FOR…
Understanding the perspectives
It was vital to consider the viewpoints of both parties in designing this to provide a solution that fosters positive emotions within patients.
"Through affinity mapping, we narrowed down to the primary issue of communication, encompassing both adherence and support factors. It became evident that the patient's treatment journey required more than just notifications and reminders; it mainly necessitated a human touch."
Introducing TerraPod
A digital terrarium with a smart pill dispenser that motivates depressed patients to take their medication by growing holographic flora and fauna based on their adherence to antidepressants.
If they don't take their medication, support members of a patient's choice are alerted to give them human feedback through a personalized voice memo to encourage them to take their medication.
SOLUTION
User Testing
We conducted paper prototyping user testing sessions with five participants to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of interacting with our product.
This aimed to identify any interaction
flaws and gather feedback on the user experience.
AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT
1
2
3
4
5
Iterations
This iterative design process aimed to strike a balance between support and autonomy, creating a positive and empowering experience for users managing their mental health.
DEVELOPING DEEPER EMPATHY TOWARDS USERS
Iteration 1
Medication adherence promotes plant growth, with support members sending voice memos for encouragement in case of
non-adherence.
Iteration 2
Implemented a self-correction opportunity before support notifications and displayed a withering tree as a consequence for non-adherence, leading to support member interventions.
Iteration 3
Recognized users' sensitivity to negative feedback in depression and replaced the withering tree with a positive projection of terrarium growth with medication adherence.
Navigating the Terrapod Experience
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