Body Audit
Your personal health tracker
Supporting and raising awareness about your personal health in the times of pandemic and after.
By Sofia Bjurman
Degree of Master of Fine Arts in Design
Konstfack - University of Arts, Crafts and Design
in collaboration with Flir Systems Co.
Project Owner:
Sofia Bjurman
Konstfack:
Course-leader: Katja Pettersson Examinator: Martin Avila
Tutors:
Anna Maria Órru Katja Pettersson
Writing: Sara Kristoffersson & Maria Perers
Critical Friend:
Anton Åsberg
Collaboration Partner, Flir Systems :
Adam Urklinski, Lead Interaction Designer at Flir Anton Löf, Interaction Designer at Flir
Jonathan Richardson, Industrial Designer
A project by Sofia Bjurman in collaboration with Konstfack and Flir Systems Inc.
Content 1. Introduction
1.1 Background 1.1.1 Scope 1.1.2 Purpose 1.2 Collaboration & Setup 2. Discover
2.1 Desktop Research
2.2 Field study & Observations 2.3 Understanding Covid-19
2.3.1 Interviews 2.4 Workshop
2.4.1 Wearables 2.4.2 Outer Scanning
2.4.3 Visualise invisible boundaries 3. Define
3.1 Core values 3.2 Concept Embryos
3.2.1 Your personal health tracker 3.2.2 Entrance scanner for anywhere 3.2.3. Safety Aura
3.3 Winning Concept 4. Develop
4.1 Physical boundaries & Market 4.2 Moodboard
4.2.1 Physical 4.2.2 Digital 4.3 Form & Sketching 4.4 Prototyping & testing 4.5 Material Study 4.6 Interactive elements 4.7 Digital Development 5. Deliver
5.1 Model Making 5.2 Design proposal 5.3 What does it do?
5.4 User Experience
5.5 Reflection
6. Learnings
6.1 Focus and execute a 7 months project 6.2 Working remotely
6.3 In between student, professional and mother 6.4 Dealing with everyone's problem
7. Notes 8. Sources
9. Appendix Essay
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
We are all now living in a world with many questions and uncertainties. The Covid-19 virus has changed our life’s as we know it and forced us to create new lifestyles, ways of behaving and understanding. We are trying to follow recommendations that contradict the basic instinct of our human social nature where having a network of people around us is much connected to high quality of life. At the same time the societal infrastructure is following these
characteristics in terms of meet-up spaces like malls, workspace, public transportation and living but is also a huge part of our economic system. For most people this is a challenging time where we have to adapt fast to constantly updated requests about distancing ourselves from each other and these environments. For some it is nearly impossible to follow these recommendations due to work responsibility etc. So how can we make public environments more healthy and safe under the circumstances that we live in?
1.1.1 Scope
This project aims to dive deep into the challenges we are facing due to the pandemic and to explore different ways on how to tackle these. I want to look into how we in a potentially preventative way can decrease the spread of the virus.
1.1.2 Purpose
With the purpose to create a more safe and healthy environment for everyone, I want to
explore how we can maintain a more sustainable approach on how people can move around
amongst each other in the times of pandemic.
1.2 Collaboration & Setup
This Master thesis project will be made with Konstfack in collaboration with Flir Systems Incorporation. I have partnered up with Flir with a common interest in exploring solution driven design opportunities connected to the pandemic. As Flir is world leading in advanced thermal cameras and Infrared (IR) technology they are a great partner to get an industry perspective on this topic. On the one hand sharing knowledge in this field of design and on the other hand having close access to the IR technology that can be interesting to take a closer look at further on. Infrared can measure temperature and this is now used to measure the temperature of bodies in public space in the pandemic.
In this master thesis I aim to go through a design process with different phases and methodologies with the goal to reach a result that will tackle a challenge in the pandemic spectrum described in the background (Paragraph 1.1). This project ran between November 2020 to June 2021, and has been structured according to these phases, in chronological order:
Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver.
Discover (4 weeks)
The focus during this period of time has been to research and dive deep into my chosen field, the COVID-19 case. Making observations and gathering information to gain understanding of the situation and how people are affected by this. By creating a net of research analyses have been done and lead to the shaping of different directions that define the different pain-points to focus on in the next steps. In the continuation of this, workshops were held to ideate through co-develop process. This means that we ideated and developed ideas together in a workshop setup and I later took these ideas and developed them further into concept ideas.
This part of the process lasted for 4 weeks up until the 25% presentation.
Define (~5 weeks)
Insights from the Discover phase were compiled and the most important issues were used to formulate a project question as well as a starting point. In this phase ideation processes consisting of various forms of brainstorming and sketching were started, which resulted in various suggestions for further prototyping and testing. During this period of time different orientation interventions will be made regarding body-close technology, personal space and interactive visuals. This provided valuable insights resulting in three separate concepts that tackle the issue of interest in different ways that will be evaluated and one will be chosen to continue to the development phase.
Develop (~ 8 weeks)
During this phase of the project, the concept and its physicality as well as the interactive properties and aesthetics will be developed and defined by various interventions and testing.
The final design concept will be presented to the school as well as the collaboration partners,
after which a discussion will take place to evaluate which parts would be further developed and refined before the final presentation. Eventual physical model making will be initiated. Deliver (~8 weeks)
During the last phases the design proposal will be further developed and the different parts of the project will be completed. Most of the model making will take part here. A visual
presentation of the result and process will be created and material for this must be produced.
The making of material needed for the spring exhibition will also be in focus here.
2. Discover
The purpose of this phase is to capture as many different impressions, scenarios and potential pain points / challenge areas as possible. These results will in the continuation be compared, analyzed and formulated into a question to define a focus area. Desktop research has been done where existing information was collected as well as own observations and interviews.
2.1 Desktop Research
I started off by first emerging myself in the news and updates about the Covid-19 situation in the Swedish society today. Since this is where I am located, this is where I have the
opportunity to observe, understand and live the experience out fully. I also looked at statistics provided by
The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, Kantar Sifo1. This data was taken into the process of gathering more information on concerns and feelings from the Swedish population and how it has changed over time. Some important and high numbers were presented about what people are most worried about. It was interesting to see that people in general are more scared about how the pandemic will affect the economy rather than how it will affect the health of our closest circle and family members.
The way one thinks is strongly connected to how one acts. And I can see a strong relation
between this way of thinking and the problem of following the restriction. This is also
confirmed by The County Council of Sweden
2that can show reports from all over the
country showing that the population is tired of following the recommendations on keeping
distance and staying at home. This is a big problem since the only way to keep the virus
spread under control today is depending on our behaviour and the will to follow the
restrictions.
According to The County Administrative Board in Sweden, young adults are the group that
seem to struggle hardest with following the restrictions. This has resulted in an increase in
younger people falling ill and many taking up places in intensive care. Also risk groups, age
70+, are also moving around in public environments more frequently. The combination of
young virus spreaders with risk groups that are extra vulnerable speaks in favor of a risky
path that we must avoid at all costs.
(01) SVT News article about why people don't follow the pandemic restrictions.
An article published in November, reports from Mall of Scandinavia in Stockholm, one day after the new recommendations came out, SVT News (Fig. 01). The picture that we can see shows a crowded Mall with people in different age groups walking around or hanging out in groups together with no attention to keeping distance. Erik Angner, expert in psychology and human behavior, talks about three different reasons why Swedish people in particular might have a harder time following the rules compared to other countries
3.
Reason 1: We have different rules for different activities and places while other countries are calling out that everyone should only stay at home. In Sweden schools are open, you are allowed to go to work if you feel healthy and if you can’t avoid it. Malls, restaurants etc are open.
Reason 2: Some people react negatively to restrictions and will react by doing the exact opposite of what they are told, so called obstinate behavior.
Reason 3: Humans are herd creatures which means that we affect each other. If I see other people going out and having fun there is a bigger chance that I will do the same. Our behavior is contagious.
This information together leads me to the understanding that humans are basically social creatures and the need for a network of relations in our life is extremely important for our quality of life. Our social instincts are stronger than a set of rules and made up norms,
however important these rules might be. We can keep them for a while but when time goes by we will slowly go back to our social habits because this is what we need to feel happy and value life. And when we see others that stop caring for the rules we are easily affected and encouraged to do the same creating a domino effect in our behaviour.
This shows that in order for us to live side by side with this pandemic more sustainably,
people need to be supported in new ways. This could be in the form of reminders, raising
awareness to not falling for impulses and lure emotions of care. Something that gives us the power to feel and control one self and thereby the virus that we carry with us.
In order for me to create something new I needed to understand what is now. Emerging myself into how we are dealing with the pandemic in public space today, I found that the majority of solutions in airports and stores are based on scanning people's body temperature from the outside in different ways. I came across handheld products where individuals are scanned one by one to stationary scanstations and portals where a crowd of people can be scanned at the same time. Many of these solutions were made by the company that I collaborate with. These solutions are often combined with using disinfection in different ways to kill germs and viruses.
What I saw here is that people who need or want to enter a public space or travel etc already now are paying for access through sharing their body temperature. They let companies check their temperature to search for elevated body temperature because of the common
understanding and will to keep the environment as healthy as possible. Even if we don't have health-access cards today which divide healthy and sick people into different ability to access places, this system is already in place and people are on board. (Fig. 2,3 & 4)
Fig.2 Photo of scanning on airport Fig.3 Body disinfect both in Hong Kong
Fig.4 Photo of scan system in airport
Fig. 2 - Mercarynews
11Fig.3 - Bussiness Traveler
12Fig.4 - NBCNews
132.2 Field Study & Observations
To understand how the situation looks in the local areas and on a smaller scale I went out and made observations in public and well known places in the suburbs of stockholm.
Observations were first made at the electronic store Elgiganten in Arninge on Black Friday, November 27. Here I observed the amount of people being let into the store as well as what precautions were made inside the store. I was very surprised to see that there was absolutely no extraordinary action taken from the store itself. The employees, sales people, had close customer contact with no extra physical distance and no facemasks, neither in the service desk nor by the chassier where many consumers spend longer time.
On December 4th, I visited one of Sweden’s biggest and prize winning Coop stores in Åkersberga. Here I was instead surprised about the great effort in keeping people apart, letting in a few people at the time and employees directing people to left and right creating a good flow and finally leading everyone out through a temporary exit to minimize the risk of meeting other customers face to face in the entrance.
By these observations I understood that the efforts taken by the companies are extremely
uneven where some take great responsibility for their visitors and others leave the whole
responsibility to the individual. This was something that inspired me when creating the
workshop material and the topics of Outer scanning and Visualising Invisible Boundaries
(paragraph 2.4.2 & 2.4.3). The approth I took is how we can make it easier for the companies
to get a better overview and take responsibility for the health status in the public space that
they provide versus how companies can help people to act responsibly in this open space.
Fig. 5 This picture shows an overview of my research and three highlighted points that were important insights that played a big role in the development of the work.
2.3 Understanding COVID-19
Through my research and by talking to people around me I have seen that people's
interpretations differ much when it comes to understanding how the Covid-19 virus spreads and the symptoms. Some people believe that you can be infected and contagious without having any symptoms, others think that you cannot spread the virus without having
symptoms, others have heard that you can be ill but not spread it to others. Due to the lack of knowledge and research on this new virus, it has not been easy for people to wrap their minds around the true picture. This is one reason why rumors appear, people have their own theories and will in return treat the matter differently. When it's about life and death it's extremely problematic to go into a direction of rumors and selfmade beliefs where the society risks losing control over the situation.
Therefore it was important for me to understand what research really can tell about the virus so far. I found that it is true that Initial covid-19 symptoms vary. Here is a list of symptoms and commonality for Covid-19 provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
5in the US:
● Fever (83-99 percent)
● Cough (59-82 percent)
● Fatigue (44-70 percent)
● Loss of appetite (40-84 percent)
● Shortness of breath (31-40 percent)
● Sputum production (28-33 percent)
● Muscle aches (11-35 percent).
But there are cases where Corona-infected people were asymptomatic, meaning that they had no symptoms while carrying the virus. However, reports show that these cases are extremely few. Most of the suspected cases were found and tested early through tracking down the line of infection and soon after started to develop symptoms anyway. In Sweden we have had several reports that show examples of asymptomatic people with covid-19, according to The Swedish Public Health Agency. But there are very few studies that can show how contagious an asymptomatic person is and to what extent it contributes to the spread of infection in society. The Swedish Public Health Agency recently went out and said: “Based on the experience of covid-19 and other similar virus diseases, the assessment is that the spread of infection from people without symptoms accounts for a very small proportion
10”.
The conclusion I draw from this research is that the spreading of Covid-19 is most of all
affected by people moving around amongst others when starting to develop symptoms,
because most people do get symptoms. The critical window of opportunity for the virus is really in between when a person is infected until they realize that and understand that they need to isolate themselves. In most of these cases they will develop elevated temperature since it is the most common symptom and occurs in 83-99% of registered cases. These findings further support the need for easier ways to track health in the pandemic.
2.3.1 Interviews
To get a better understanding of how a real scenario can look in the chain of spreading the infection I got in contact with two people Lotta and Caroline. They are two very different people, working in different fields but with the common denominator of covid-19. They were both infected and experienced this in different ways both when it comes to understanding the symptomes and the fear and guilt of spreading it forward to others. The interviews were facilitated in a free way where my task was mainly to listen to their stories.
A story by Lotta, 53 years old
Lotta works in the retail store Synsam in Täby Centrum. She is selling glasses in a big store where she meets on a regular day a very high number of customers in close service contact.
Since she cannot take her job home with her she is one of all the people that needs to go to work in the pandemic. She has the feeling of uncertainty and being scared of getting infected and at the same time worried about losing her job while seeing other stores close down in the mall. Colleagues started getting sick and not long after Lotta was home with fever. In the aftermath she said that the symptoms started at work when she had her lunch break but that at the moment she was unaware. “I was feeling a bit chilled and the nice salad that I bought for lunch did not taste good at all”. But at the moment she did not reflect too much on this, and continued working throughout the day until the end. When she got home she realized that she was freezing. She started putting more clothes on and when she finally was laying on the sofa fully dressed, with the morning robe on top and buried under two wool blankets she
recognized that something was not right. She fetched her thermometer and the result showed that she had a fever. After this moment she ordered a covid-test and it came back positive.
Lotta was home for 6 weeks. For weeks after the infection had healed she felt weak and had problems breathing. “ I wake up in the middle of the night and it feels like I can't breathe, it's extremely scary”. She thought long about who she accidentally could have spread the virus to the day when she was at work. A colleague or one of all the customers or people she passed by that day. It would be impossible to track down.
Lottas´s story shows that where we are and what we are doing is affecting our sense of
understanding and feeling the signals that our body sends out. In this case Lotta was at work,
putting effort into doing a good job instead of paying attention to her own health. This
resulted in her walking around in the mall and working in customer service all day while
having symptoms of Covid-19.
Lotta’s story shows that even if you care for others and want to comply with the
recommendations from the government, reality is much more complex than that. We are struggling with dilemmas and challenges connected to human factors and our emotions.
A story by Caroline, 27 years old
Caroline had a normal day, felt quite good even though it's a long, Swedish dark winter that often makes one feel a bit tired. She received a call from her grandma who invited her for dinner the same day. She knew it's not a great idea in the times of pandemic but she hadn't seen her grandma for a long time and her grandma assured her that they would keep a good distance even if they vere indoors. Caroline couldn't say no to her grandma and decided to go to dinner anyway. “We are both feeling healthy, how bad can it be?” Later that day, while walking to her grandma's apartment she felt a little tired and got a disliking feeling by the thought of drinking alcohol with dinner. But she didn't give that much thought and was more looking forward to the awaited meeting with her grandma. So she walked on and arrived at her grandma's home, they had a nice dinner and afterwards Caroline went home again. When she woke up the day after she had a clear feeling of illness and was directly worried that she had gone to dinner yesterday evening. Was the tiredness and the odd feeling that she had felt the day before really symptomes? She ordered a test for Covid-19 and the result was positive.
Shortly after, her grandma got very ill and it turned out that she had been infected with Covid-19 too. Caroline knew it must have happened on the night of their dinner. Soon Caroline was feeling better but her grandma was very sick for a long time. She expressed the worry and feeling of guilt that she carried during these two months when her grandma was ill.
In the end her grandma recovered but Caroline felt that she could never have lived with the knowledge that she had spread the virus that killed a loved family member. “It's so hard to decide on whose responsibility it was in this case, my grandma invited me against all recommendations and I thought I was totally healthy, but at the same time maybe I should have just stayed home or cancelled by the slightest feeling of tiredness”.
Caroline's story shows that the desire to meet people we love and to entertain relationships is
very close to our hearts and that it's really hard to avoid even in times of a pandemic. And
just like in Lottas case, Caroline also couldn't understand and react to the small early
symptoms she developed. Through the different conversations that I had so far I understand
that it's standard to believe that nothing is wrong until it's really clear that something is
wrong. It's not easy to differentiate if the tiredness is just a normal tired-symptom due to
winter and lack of sunlight or if it's really a symptom of covid-19. It seems that in most cases
we tend to interpret them how we want and when we get it wrong we accidentally risk others'
lives. This is not only a horrific experience for the person getting infected and sick but also
for the person that spread the virus without knowing it and being faced with guilt.
2.4 Workshop
The next steps brought me into ideation and how we measure body temperature.
I looked at the book Closer by Susan Kozel4. I was inspired to explore how technology is getting closer to our bodies and the interdisciplinary work by Maria Puig de la Bellacasa further opened my perspectives on the topic of care5.Based on my research I wanted to take a look at how different kinds of technology could support the individual in different ways and what this could do for us in the pandemic.Therefore I developed three different scenarios and key topics.
1. Wearables (Fig.6) 2. Outer Scanning (Fig.7)
3. Visualising invisible boundaries (Fig.8)
Based on these three topics I organised a workshop to gather ideas from people outside the project. The aim was to try out and brainstorm around these different ways on how to approach the corona pandemic through measuring body temperature in different ways. What could this solution look like, how could it work and in what way would it be used?
The Workshop was held digitally through the digital platform called Miro. It was a great tool, allowing us to brainstorm with the digital whiteboard as a base. All participants could easily write, edit, draw and add material like references and photos. Besides this we also used Zoom for the video call where we could discuss freely while brainstorming. In total I had three workshop sessions with 11 participants with different backgrounds. Some with a background in design, collaboration partners at Flir, friends working in healthcare, and others that showed interest in the project both young and pensioners. My aim was to really listen to a broad target group.
The session started with a quick exercise where the participants were asked to in 1 min x 3
make rapid prototyping using their own body and random objects collected in their own
home. After this I presented the three scenarios together with the keyword as a starting point
to iterate ideas around.
Fig.6 Here you see the first topic in the digital Brainstorm.
Fig.7 Here you see the second topic in the digital Brainstorm.
Fig.8 Here you see the third topic in the digital Brainstorm.
2.4.1 Wearables technology
The first scenario invited the participants to ideate around a potential wearable technology that would make you feel safe when entering public spaces in times of the pandemic (Fig.9).
They were also asked to think about the procedure and system around the product, if it’s a private device or company owned and in the last case how to distribute and return it.
Fig.9 Visuals that were made to inspire when ideating on wearable technology.
In the next pictures you can see an overview of the results (Fig.10). The ideas are clustered into groups of characteristics and places around the body to emphasise the body that the ideas are connected and in close relation to. The different ideas were touching upon a broad
spectrum of products and solutions. Everything from wearables that change color when
symptoms arise, to the technology being embedded in already existing products like smart
watches, headphones or jewelry and measuring devices that let the users know more about
their own body.
Fig.10 Overview of workshop results for wearable technology.
2.4.2 Crowd scanning
In this second scenario the participants were asked to think about how an integrated temperature-scan system would look like in a public space (Fig.11). How it would work, where the interaction work happens and how and to whom the information would be communicated.
Fig.11 Visuals that were made to inspire when ideating on outer scanning.
Here is an overview of the results (Fig.12). All solutions and ideas are clustered into a
timeline. Starting with the home environment followed by, before entering public space,
when entering space, inside the public space and at last having the possibility to scan your
temperature whenever you want. In this way I was mapping out where the interaction would
happen as well as potential areas of opportunity.
Fig.12 Overview of workshop results for outer scanning.
2.4.3 Visualise invisible boundaries
The last scenario explored the possibility to make the invisible norms and rules visible for everyone to see. Making visuals that can make it easier for people to follow the
recommendations and keep distance from others when entering a public space (Fig.13). These systems would also have the ability to detect early symptoms of illness and communicate this out to the people in this space. The participants were asked to imagine how this would work, interact and play out.
Fig.13 Visuals that were made to inspire when ideating on outer scanning.
The following picture shows an overview of the results from this last scenario (Fig.14). Here
I have arranged the ideas along different characteristics like Analog, Digital, Integrated and
private. By positioning them in this way I made it easier to analyze qualities and clearly map
out values in different ways on how to approach the issue.
Fig.14 Overview of workshop result for Visualise Invisible Boundaries.
3. Define
Going forward into the phase of defining the project and narrowing it down I wrote a describing text about the important values that must be considered and followed in the design proposal. This text and the following arguments are based on the research and experiences I made in the process. The design decisions that followed often linked back to this text whereas ideas and proposals that contradicted these values were dismissed.
3.1 Core Values
The product needs to be inclusive. Since this is all relying on the behavior of the population, this solution will only work if people want it and are able to follow, use, believe and
collaborate with it. The target group is broad and therefore needs to fit many different groups of people.
It needs to be secure. Through my research I have come across worries when it comes to privacy and sharing personal information. People's health, temperature and body are
obviously considered very private. Working in this field we need to be aware of the critique of systems that by force create wanted behaviors and actions, for example the handling of Covid-19 in China, and how such systems can bring other problems along.
It needs to enable the user. I have come across the phenomenon of obstinate behavior. This describes a specific behavior where people will react to requests by doing the opposite of what they are told to do. By forcing people to do something that is not coming from their own will we risk bringing discomfort and making rule breakers. Insted this solution should enable the users and make people feel free and protected.
A help to keep distance is a desirable function in this solution. To keep distance from others is a necessary request from the government and is a way to slow down the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Only by keeping distance from others can we minimize the risk of the virus.
Through the collected news and observations that were made I have seen that people more often tend to forget to keep their distance. When we are stressed in the queue, when we talk to someone we like or someone that we missed. Indescribable factors can make us forget the 2 meter rule and this is a risk for the health of ourselves and others.
Furthermore the solution needs to be able to find early symptoms of illness. Through my
research I have understood that Covid-19 is the most contagious in the beginning when the
symptoms first start to show. Before you have symptoms you are considered healthy due to
the fact that we cannot detect the infection before it shows itself, a test for symptom free people is not available. And if you don’t feel symptoms it is more likely that you will move around in public spaces, go to work, do shopping or other activities.
But symptoms can appear anywhere, any time. I have seen examples of people developing elevated temperature and fever and not realising that this is happening. Depending on where we are or what we do we have more or less a disconnection to the signals our body sends out.
Stress, activity and your surroundings are factors that will affect your ability to feel
symptoms. This is where technology can help us to give a glimpse of clarity and support to reconnect with our body again.
The product also needs to have a purpose after the pandemic. To create a sustainable and long term product that doesn't die out when the pandemic is over we need to think about other benefits that this work can serve. Meanwhile people are infected, recovering and becoming immune, we also have a vaccine that is being distributed in the society. Even if there is a long way to go until we can live freely without restrictions we start to sense the light at the end of the tunnel.
I want to find connections and values that make this solution live on by connecting this
solution to other applications and services.
3.2 Concept Embryos
Here I will present three explored concepts including “A day in a life” scenario for each of them (fig. 15-20). Your personal health tracker is the concept that was chosen for continued work because of its characteristics that I will explain at the end of this chapter.
3.2.1 Your personal health tracker
Fig.15 Your personal health tracker.
This solution is sprung out of the workshop on wearables (Fig.15). Your personal health tracker consists of a physical body device and a digital platform for your smartphone. The physical device is carried in close contact to the user's body and can give haptic feedback if you break the 2 meter rule or if it detects elevated temperature. The digital app works as a personal health register and an overview when you fall ill. The digital platform will also be used as a ticket to access public space where it’s required to show that you are healthy. This is a more efficient and accurate approach when entering risk areas for example when traveling or moving around in public space. Companies can ask you to check in to make sure that no one with symptoms passes through and potentially risks infecting others. With the digital access card this procedure would work more seamlessly.
When the body device picks up unusual data it will notify you and support a conversation
with yourself so that you in the best way can interpret and make wise decisios. See scenario
(Fig.16)
Fig.16 A day in a life scenario with your personal health tracker.
3.2.2. Entrance scan for anywhere
Fig.17 Entrance scan for everywhere.
This concept is sprung out of the workshop made on Crowd scanning (Fig.17).
This concept contains a thermal entrance camera and a digital platform for companies. The camera will be designed to easily be attached to all kinds of entries and will be scanning all people that come and go through this passage. It needs to be simple, durable, modern and attractive and fit a luxurious hotel entrance or a store just as good as the public transportation.
The collected information will be shown in a digital platform where you can see the people passing through, how many people are in the space, health status of all people, and warnings of elevated temp or symptoms. This will be shown on an IPad that will be placed in a place that is preferred by the employees in this space to make it easier for them to have a good overview of the people visiting. This is to keep a healthy environment and minimize the risk of spreading the virus as well as giving the employees a sense of safety and to allow them to act. This concept is almost entirely connected to how the market is looking right now. The task here would be to create this function in a new elegant package and design it especially for the purpose of scanning in entrances and being easy to handle and set up for the owner.
See scenario (Fig.18)
Fig.18 A day in a life scenario with the entrance scan for everywhere.
3.2.3 Safety Aura
Interactive visual information (Supportive guardian)
Fig.19 Safety Aura.
This concept consists of interactive motion graphics, a digital platform and a light system with thermal cameras for input and spotlights for output (Fig.19). This concept has two parts.
One that is owned by the individual, the digital platform on your smartphone. Here everyone
that visits has the chance to put their personal touch and bring an appearance into the public
space that they visit. Similar to when you create an avatar in a game you will now choose a
personal Aura that will follow you everywhere and keep you safe in the public space. The
visuals will be fun and beautiful making it fun and a bit more special. The other part consists
of the sealing system that is integrated in space as well as the behavior of the personal Aura
that is based on the rules and restrictions out in public space. The system will work as a
friendly guardian and react to data that it takes in. If symptoms are detected or the 2 meter
rule is broken - the playful aura will shift and lead the way on how to restore a healthy space
for everyone. See scenario (Fig.20)
Fig.20 A day in a life scenario with the Safety Aura.
3.3 Winning concept
The concepts were analysed and presented for different stakeholders. Konstfack, Flir and others that I contacted for more of an outside perspective. The winning concept, the personal health tracker, was chosen because of its regards to private data and privacy and because it works in all kinds of environments. Since it is private and continuously carried on the body, it can give the most accurate result where your data is only compared to your own and not to any general measuring. We are all different and so is our body temperature. The personal health tracker is also favored because it functions wherever you are. At home, at work, on the way to the bus. In contrast, the other concepts offer a more static solution that is bound to a specific location. As concluded in the research, symptoms can start to show at any time and it's impossible to foresee where this will happen.
The personal health tracker has a broad use opportunity in other fields than only monitoring health in times of a pandemic. It could also be a great support for women around the world using Natural Cycle as a birth control where measuring body temperature is crucial. In this way, the device could make this natural hormone free birth control even more accurate, safe and easy to use. It would also work as a convenient and user-friendly fever thermometer when you, your child or partner are ill regardless of Covid-19. Allowing you to attach the health tracker on the body and simply follow the development on the phone instead of actively tracking time and making checks in the traditional way.
Fig.21 The personal health tracker concept strength.
4. Develop
This next phase in the process is called Develop. I will emerge myself full-heartedly into the winning concept, the personal health tracker. Here I will present the following work and process: physical boundaries and a market study, moodboards, form and sketching, prototyping, testing, a materialistic study and digital development.
4.1 Physical boundaries & market
To understand what kind of product this could be I needed to understand where in time I want to position my project. After making a timeline and analysing the different opportunities I made a choice to stay in the near future to still work with the technology attached to the body before going into a more speculative approach where implant would be the next step. Since I'm working with the pandemic that we live in right now I found it interesting to put my efforts into creating a design proposal that could directly be integrated and accepted into society today and make a difference now.
After making this demarcation I needed to understand what is possible in terms of accurate measuring of body temperature. Where can body temperature be measured in a credible and reliable way? How close must the sensor be and how is the market looking right now?
After some research I found that when measuring and making conclusions about health you need to look at the core temperature of the body. This is the inner temperature and found on our torso around the armpit region, groin, chest and on the head. Out on the limbs the
temperature is much less consistent and depending on the environment it will vary too much
to get any accurate results. After this the possible areas were discovered with sketching,
prototyping and testing on my own body. Tests were also made on two other people
Maximilian, 29 years old and Mickael, 53, years old to be able to analyse different body types and gender.
I found that the sensor needs to be in direct contact with the area and that air or any
intermediate material can affect the result of the measuring. Therefore it is important that it is tightly attached and enclosed. This information made a great impact on the design decisions and narrowed the options down to create a framework to ideate and work inside.
I also made a market study looking into existing products within the field of thermometers, health monitoring and sports devices. What I saw was that the majority of the common thermometers available for home use today are handheld and more and more using IR
technology where no body contact is needed. Unfortunately all these thermometers are not as detailed and can only pick up one decimal. In order to see small changes and be able to use the thermometer in collaboration with, for example Natural cycles, the thermometer needs to be equivalent to a basal thermometer, taking up two decimals. I also found that there are few thermometers that are connected and send information directly to your phone.
On the other hand I found that thermometers that measure the climate in an environment are in most cases designed to attach to a surface - the opposite way to the body. I found a few examples of body attached thermometers used in medical context and research. This was great to get a reference of existing and working size for the technology.
When it comes to sports devices I did not find any that give attention to temperature. They are focused on measuring activity, pulse, sleep and blood-pressure, sugar and oxygen. But these products are always attached to the body in one way or the other with different means.
The most common way is using flexible straps around the hip or chest or a band around the arm, areas that are less suitable for measuring temperature.
The most popular thermometers and the ones that sell the best on the market today are the
models that measure forehead or ear. Old Fashioned thermometers for rectal or oral use are
often also common in the home and for children. These are all handheld and actively used
when being sick to check the body temperature. I believe that the more popular models for
forehead and ear are so because of the easy use and the quick result. It's easier to measure the
temperature of a sick child that might not be collaborative when body contact barely is
needed. And when I talked to people about the old fashioned common thermometers for
mouth, rectal or oral use I understood that most people believe these are the most reliable and
accurate tools for measuring.
4.2 Moodboard
The next step was to define how the product needs to feel and find characteristics that go hand in hand back with the core values. Attractive, Simple, Secure, Enabling.
4.2.1 Physical
Form and material must follow the body and be smooth, organic, hygienic and easy to use and take care of. It needs to create a seamless experience in everyday activity and be almost invisible and comfortable. It should come in discreet material blending into various skin tones as well as more playful and colorful variations for collaboration and expressing emotions.
These variations should be available in an attempt to please a broad target group, kids, young adults, middle age, and elderly. (Fig.21)
Fig.21 Moodboard for the physical.
4.2.2 Digital
The digital interface must be clear, easy to navigate and understand. It should mirror your personal style by matching your physical device aesthetically.
Most important information, temperature, in the front and more details and history should be easy to access in the back. Messages will pop up and notify you if for example elevated temp is discovered or if your health status changes in unexpected ways. (Fig.22)
Fig.22 Moodboard for the digital.
4.3 Form & sketching
The sketching was done in parallel with prototyping and testing materials.
With the body as a starting point and base for sketching, I made drawings on the body looking at the anatomy and the shapes that we are built up by.
At first I explored organic and free forms that follow each muscle. These shapes turned out very specific and in order to be able to use the thermometer comfortably you had to pick one spot to always wear it on. I realized that by simplifying the shape I could make it fit in more than one and even up to three spots: the armpit area, groin and the chest with only one shape.
These were areas that could provide fairly big areas of open skin and where the user also easily could grab and reach without problem. To be able to reach the product is an extremely important factor since the users need to on their own be able to attach and detach the body device at home.
The body areas that I continued to ideate around are private areas on the body that most of the
time is covered with clothes. When trying out the most soft and round prototypes I realised
that it risks appearing like a natural malformation or tumor. For the top I decided to try out a
more flat form language but still keep soft edges and a comfortable fit. Making the technical
part stand out in a more edgy shape immediately took away the impression of illness and
replaced it with a technical feel.
To take in the outside perspective into the form process I asked four people to be part of a gestalt exercise. I was introduced to “gestaltung jam” by Katja Pettersson. In this exercise the approach is to set up one or a few scales with key properties and functions that the
design-gestalt should be based on. On the one side you have the key word and on the other side of the scale you have the opposite (Fig.23). This was a great way for me to broaden my perspective on the form and gestalt. By using these visual scales I could adjust these set up parameters and ask the participants to make drawings according to the different properties that were presented. For example, the product being as visible as possible versus as invisible as possible, the product being as comfortable as possible or as uncomfortable as possible then translating this into drawings. All the participants have a background in design and were asked to in one minute draw forms that they thought fitted to the description. We made three rounds with the different conditions in mind. Afterwards each person was to explain their shape and how it would work.
Fig.23 Gestaltung jam setup.
Fig.24 A few gestaltung jam results.
Through this exercise and the discussions that came up I learned that most people wanted the product to feel like a part of the body, follow the soft shapes that it interacts with and to express a bodily gestalt. With this in mind I continued sketching and revisiting organic shapes that were ideated on in the beginning of the process. Here I also worked with 3D-modelling in Rhino and rendering in Keyshot to be able to visualise and try out different materials in an easy way. This also helped me to understand the material in a visual way.
In the end I landed in a soft triangle-like shape with three different concave and convex edges
that follow the different shapes that define the relevant areas of the body - under armpit, groin
and chest.
4.4 Prototyping and testing
This work was made in parallel to the form and sketching phase. I started off with testing different materials, carried on the body. I also tested on different body types. I looked at different reference products, for example VivaLnk
8wearable thermometers, which gave guidance in an approximate size estimate. Prototypes were made and an exploration of material personalities was made through a workshop together with Anna Maria Órru at Konstfack. Here we were asked to blindfold ourselves and experience our prototypes with everything except our eyes. Feel, taste, smell and hear.
Understanding the material, how it should feel and behave is extremely important in order to create the seamless experience that my research and process advocate. After this a study of material and different bioplastics was made. This was a good way for me to understand the form, size, consistency of material being attached to the skin and it allowed me to directly try it out. This was a great way for me to make, test, adjust and learn by doing. In this loop approach of working I could gain a good understanding of the physical and step by step work out the qualities for the product linking back to moodboard and core values.
4.5 Material study
In terms of material, sustainability was a central part of the exploration. A considerable effort was put into experimenting with biodegradable plastics. This was a good way to quickly get volume and to understand different consistencies and material personalities. What I looked for was something flexible, durable and soft that can be in direct contact to the body.
Furthermore, one of the central parts of the aesthetics was to blend in with the various skin tones, as defined in the moodboard. I found it interesting to work toward a transparent finish.
In this way the product would adopt the exact skin tone of the person which it is attached to,
instead of trying to imitate these with additives in terms of color. I also wanted to keep the
material as simple and easy to recycle as possible. Unfortunately I found that all my
prototypes and bioplastic materials started molding and drying up after a few days. I then
started looking at body proof silicons.
When making the material tests I started with clay modelling, sculpting the physical in the right form and dimensions. After that I created negatives by first setting up a frame around the clay model and pouring the liquid plaster into the frame. The negatives were then used to mold different bioplastics in. The bioplastics that I experimented with was based on:
1. Corn starch 2. Glycerol 3. White vinegar 4. Water
Fig.25 1. Gelatine 2. Glycerol 3. Water
Fig.26
Fig.25 Experiments with Gelatine based bioplastics.
Fig.26 Experiments with Corn starch based bioplastics
Fig.27 Process step by step from clay modelling,
making mold to making bioplastic prototypes.
Along the journey I had in my mind that I wanted to find an alternative way of making the surface sticky. I wanted to work with a simple and sustainable way to attach the body device.
The goal was to avoid the ordinal approach of putting glue on the surface to make it stick. I wanted to avoid this because of the short lifetime of such an approach. Other products that are body attached with glue, for example the free bra
9, only guarantee a limited lifespan due to the lost glue effect. Since this is a product that will be reattached over and over again, changed positions and such, this would eventually make the glue disappear and force the user to buy new body tape, in this way creating an unsustainable circle of consumption and usage of resources.
This is a common flaw in many industrial products that are being manufactured today. When one link in the system breaks, we throw away the whole product. This means that a lot of material that is totally fine and usable, and often not biodegradable, is being tossed in the trash long before the lifespan of them is over just because another component in the compound breaks earlier. Unfortunately this is a big waste of natural resources and it is something we must work against by putting sustainability into the development of every detail in the product.
So, to avoid a scenario where we throw the whole product away because of the worn off glue, I needed to find another option. I made some investigations on how to create a vacuum effect and after talking to Anna Maria Órru who is a researcher in biomimicry, she sent me a link to a project from Stanford University. In this project they looked at nature, specifically, the gecko lizard and its ability to climb on all kinds of material. By developing a copy of the nano structure of the lizard's feet they invented a reusable tape without any glue. I adopted this technique into my project and made the decision to use nano structure on the attach area instead of using glue or any other material. I tested the Gecko-tape both in the way it sticks and the flexibility and it worked in an impressive way. The nano hairs create such a tight contact to the skin that it creates a strong vacuum effect (See Fig.28). It easily got stuck to the skin with a light push and was as well easy to take off by grabbing one end. There was no pain and no redness left on the skin and fulfilled all the needed function.
Fig.28 Collage showing characteristics of the Gecko-tape.
4.6 Interactive elements
One aspect of the design work was also to consider different interactive options for the
physical part. Light elements or haptic functions for communicating elevated temperature. By testing this out and looking at the inside components I decided to not go further with these ideas. Both because the size of the health tracker would grow immensely and this would in itself affect the user experience in unfavorable ways. But also that all these extra features take up energy from the battery time and my goal was to avoid the scenario where you need to charge the product frequently. This was important since the product is meant to be worn at least for a few days in a row. The user will sleep, shower and do all kinds of activities with the product attached to the body.
Therefore I wanted the device to disturb the user as little as possible and create a seamless experience, almost like a second skin. I saw that lights could be a problem for nighttime when falling asleep. And adding haptic feedback, vibrations, in the areas of the body where the product will sit, could be very uncomfortable and unappreciated. This could simply lead to the user taking off the product in different environments and certain events. Therefore I decided to make the body device as simple as possible and let the interaction and
communication happen through the smartphone. By doing this the battery time of the health tracker can last much longer, potentially up to several weeks. Based on these investigations I left this part and continued with the digital.
4.7 Digital development
The decision about making the digital platform the window for the interaction and
communication, guided and gave structure to the needs and functions that the app needed to perform. The digital work was entirely made in Figma where I first planned the frames and made an overview. Figma made it possible for me to quickly explore different expressions and form language, typography and build clickable prototypes that I could test on my phone.
This gave me a direct understanding of the scale and sizing as well as how to navigate, since I
could all the time test it and make it look real. (See Fig.29 & 30)
Fig.29 Digital planning. Fig.30 Digital Exploring.
Each week I had contact with my collaboration partner and external supervisor Adam Urklinsk to receive feedback on the digital and the overall concept. Adam is an interaction designer and the design lead in the digital team at Flir. It was great to get expert feedback from someone with years of experience working in the industry.
Through the phase of digital development I played around with different approaches on how to navigate as well as different aesthetics, gathering inspiration from several other apps, looking at Klarna, Natural Cycle and Swish. I wanted the digital to connect with the physical and match them, to create a united feel. Through the journey of exploring in Figma and several feedback sessions, I decided that the link between the physical and the digital would be the technical sensor. The heart of the product and the piece that makes it all possible. This part is centered on the physical device and I implemented this visually in the digital app as well. Around this core element I experimented with playful- as well as more strict aesthetics.
(See Fig. 31)
Fig.31 Exploring aesthetics.
Fig.32 Overview of the digital.
After all, I decided to work with a kind and calm expression, still informative and reliable. I wanted to make it quick and easy to understand and take in the most important information, jet makes the details accessible if wanted. Therefore I put the body temperature dominant in the front together with a pulsating accent colour in green, cold tones that would shift into yellow, orange and red. The blue/green colours are associated with calmness and everything being ok meanwhile yellow is perceived as a sign of change and a preparation for the warning red. We have the same color system in the traffic and all around when communicating
different status in different contexts. This is one reason why this was an obvious choice. If the phone loses connection with the sensor or the device is not put on good enough to produce an accurate measuring you will see the temperature and colours turn grey and face (See Fig. 33).
Fig.33 Start screens.
In the next layer into the menu the user will find all documentation and detailed information on their health status as well as history messages and analysis. This part was designed in one table format and one graph where you can see the information in different ways depending on what you are most interested in. When being sick at home the graph will give the user a good overview to follow the development of the body temperature. If one needs to backtrack notifications and previous analysis you will find them in the tableview, easy to scroll and read through. (Fig.34)
Fig.34 Follow your health.
It was also important for me to create a greyzone where the human factor can blend together with the digital analysis. Because the fact is that we all develop elevated body temperature for many different reasons. If we run to the bus, if we are stressed at work or working out in the gym we do get a higher body temperature. Therefore it is extremely important that the system consider the activity and mental state of the user, to not risk making wrongful judgements. I found that the best way to tackle this is to create a “Quick response” function. This is working like a short survey where the user gets a notification on the phone, and they are given options on different activities and emotions to mark the ones that fit the occasion.
These chosen options are then taken into the analysis when searching for early symptoms and
giving advice on staying isolated or not. (Fig.35)
Fig.35 Quick Response & Analysis.
Linking back to the interest of expanding the purpose to after the pandemic I wanted to create values that are connected to normal everyday life outside pandemic restrictions. To extend the usage and lifetime of the product I created one section in the menu where you can see your family and friends. When testing and gathering user insights I saw that many people would like to be able to see that their family members are ok. And if you have a sick relative, you would like to be able to keep track of their temperature as well. I also made a section where you connect the app to other apps like Strava, Fitbit, Natural Cycle and Apple Health. This will work as a collaboration in terms of exchanging information and atomizing analysis.
Strava, Fitbit and Apple Health would in this case be able to answer the quick response
function if it detects that you are on a run or doing physical activities. And together with the
Natural Cycle the personal health tracker would be able to serve accurate and precise
measurements of the body temperature at a set out time every morning so that women can
achieve a safer result in their hormone free birth control. (Fig.36)
In the continuation I decided to design a public access card that will be used as a health assurance when entering public environments. In the pandemic today we are already sharing our body temperature when entering stores, workplaces and airports. We even pay expensive fees to make covid-tests in order for us to travel between countries where it is allowed.
Through my research and the discussions that I had I saw that many people are scared about society becoming over watched and more controlled. The companies are gathering our personal data, for example taking our temperature, and people in general want to be able to keep their privacy. The public access card was designed to share the individual's health status without revealing any details. Showing the “green light”, nothing more, nothing less. The benefit with this is that the user never is compared to any general standard of body
temperature since your health tracker is getting to know you and what is normal for you. It is also made to achieve a more seamless customer experience and a better flow similar to how we use the already established access cards when entering public transportation in Sweden.
The difference here is that the health ID is a digital card on your smartphone. Noone knows to what extent this system could come into play in our society but there are many discussions and debates around this topic, therefore it cannot be ignored. If we ignore this factor because we feel intimidated by it. I believe we risk losing control over how this solution will work and look in the end. Since it is a sensitive topic I believe even more that it needs to be carefully developed and designed with the people that will use it in focus. (Fig.37)
Fig.37 Digital ID for public access.
Fig.38 Digital Overview.
To describe some of the core functions in a better way I produced a short film, showing three scenarios where this is being used.
Vimeo Link:
https://vimeo.com/543085538 passcode: 9304
