Meditate with neurofeedback, see how your body responds.
THU 15
PUT ON YOUR DEVICE
3
THICH NHAT HANH
THU 15
TENDERNESS
& COMPASSION
THU 15
37%
MIN
5
1
THICH NHAT
HANH
63BPM
Building a long-lasting meditation practice, for data driven millennials. Incorporates neurofeedback devices for real-time brainwave & heartbeat feedback (theoretically, since this is a bootcamp project).
Spoilers: Millennials like personalized recommendations which competitors like Muse or Mendi miss!
BrainStation Capstone Project
Duration: 10 weeks
Individual Thesis
UX Researcher & Designer
Project Manager
User Tester
be ng
VIEW THE HI-FI PROTOTYPE
Meditation has proven to be as effective as medication in alleviating anxiety, demonstrating a significant 20% reduction in symptoms. However, despite these findings, a discouraging trend persists.
Two-thirds of individuals who start meditation discontinue
the practice before it can solidify into a routine.
What’s
on your
mind?
the problem
Designed by one millennial meditator to another, Being is an app designed to help our generation internalize the benefits of their meditation. With easy to find tracks and access to the world’s greatest teachers,
our goal is to make meditation accessible and easy to pursue!
iOS & Android compatible, with handpicked meditations.
the solution
discovering the problem space
I first began meditating in college to manage stress. Following the cultural zeitgeist, I dove headfirst into Buddhism - and from 2017 to 2023, I visited:
Toronto’s Zen Buddhist Temple
Perth’s Sati Saraniya Hermitage for Buddhist nuns
A 10-day Vipassana Retreat
Several Silence Retreats with Art of Living
Tokyo Meditation Meetup & Kamakura Walking Meditations
Along the way, I earned how to sink into calming states of meditation inbetween the chattering thoughts. But I still felt like a beginner, and a consistent schedule evaded me.
Toronto Zen Buddhist Temple
Seven years f
discovery.
How might we help beginner millennials create a meditation habit to see longterm benefits?
secondary research
the grounding question
You can increase your attention
span by meditating for only
4 days.
Centers for Disease Control
Science Direct
Business of Apps
58% of users drop
the top-grossing meditation app
after 350 days.
only 5.2%
of Americans have a sustained daily practice.
and it seemed
like I wasn’t alone...
VIEW FULL AFFINITY MAP
primary research
chosen theme
I conducted user interviews to understand millennial’s behaviours, motivations, and pain points around meditation. Each interview was conducted for 30-45 minutes.
Conversations with millennial meditators.
Feedback Loop
pain point
behaviour
motivation
Millennial (27-42 y.o.)
Beginning
meditators
Has experienced
challenges in keeping
a daily practice
“I like seeing long-term gains but it would have to be through little ways that are digestible. Even if it wasn’t a streak, like Google Fit.”
"The benefit isn’t always obvious. I also run a lot and as soon as I stop, my mood changes and everything gets worse. With meditation, it’s more subtle."
"I don’t know about the scientifically observable effects of meditation, but I’d love to know more about that."
The absence of a rewarding feedback loop, akin to workout progress, calendars, or streaks, contributed to a decline in motivation and consistency.
The need for tangible, positive feedback emerged as a crucial factor in building and sustaining a meditation habit.
all themes
Doing
Touchpoints
Search
Browse
Narrow/Decide
Filter/Decide
Reflect
To establish a consistent meditation routine to manage her anxiety and mood
Adaeze has finished her last client
call for the day. She has a mural
she wants to plan out but feels burned
out. She searches for a guided meditation.
“This client... she’s great but she talks
so much in every meeting, this
time we went 40 minutes over.
I’m so tired.
What’s a good vibe...”
She sees Hitomi Mochizuki’s Youtube channel (her favourite spiritual influencer) but she can’t find any meditations that are long enough. Plus, her body feels stiff. She needs a yoga and meditation combo.
“Oof, girl I love you but your meditations
are 5 minutes. Wish you did some full guided
ones instead of just explaining your tactic.
My shoulders are so cramped, need some yoga too.”
Yoga with Adriene, Yoga with Bird, Sadhguru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Calm, Zen Meditation, Ocean Wave ASMR... Adaeze gets sucked into the search and loses 15 minutes just searching for what she wants.
“I’m already tired... can’t someone
recommend something good.
I’m getting more anxious looking for
something to relax, kinda ironic.”
Adaeze selects ‘Relaxing Zen Music 24/7’. The soundscape is what she wanted but it took too long to find. She does a series of Sun Salutations before meditating. Her practices are too infrequent so her mind is very chatty.
Adaeze finishes her meditation and
journals what she felt during the practice. Her mind is calmer and she has a list of things to take on, but she feels bad for not doing meditation regularly.
“Just vibe girl... just vibe, stop thinking about
that client and the slides she wants you to do.
Man, I wish the recession would just stop.
Can’t control things. I’m so chatty...
why do I only meditate when I’m SOS.”
“Imagine if I did this every day, I’d be
a keener. I can’t really tell what changes
except that I get clearer. I want to make this a habit but I don’t know if it’ll make a big difference.”
Uncertainty about how meditation specifically benefits her leaves her unmotivated to prioritize the practice
Connect Adaeze to a quiz
that asks about length of meditation, type,
voice/teacher preference, and yoga/qi gon/tai chi inclusion
Direct Adaeze to algorithmically
generated recommendations based on her preferences and
past browsing histoy
Allow Adaeze to favourite tracks or add them to a playlist so they’re easy to find the next time she needs a meditation
Show Adaeze a calendar of her meditations, and her mindfulness minutes. Include a congratulations showing the benefits every time she hits 120 minutes.
Optional: EEG/ECG feedback with purchase of the Being neurofeedback device
Adaeze Bejide
Ibrahim
AGE
27
AE Motion Designer
JOB TITLE
Single
STATUS
Toronto, ON
LOCATION
😵💫
😫
🫠️
🥲
😮💨
With newfound insights, I crafted a persona...
I crafted a persona and a user experience map grounded in both primary and secondary research. Adaeze, our persona, now serves as the focal point for all my design choices moving ahead. Whenever I needed to distance myself and reassess my ideas, I turned to Adaeze.
As a fellow novice meditator, she remains a steady reminder of the millennials I am serving in my problem space.
persona
experience map
Difficulty maintaining a routine due to the unpredictable nature of her work
Lack of motivation to continue meditation without a clear understanding of benefits
Struggles with balancing professional growth and personal well-being
PAIN POINTS
Adaeze meditates here and there, whenever her schedule allows or when she’s particularly stressed
She goes to yoga classes every Friday, and there is a light meditation at the end of each class.
BEHAVIOURS
GOALS
To establish a consistent meditation routine to manage her anxiety and mood
To find specific and tangible ways in which meditation can benefit her life and work as a creative professional
Motivation and understanding of the direct impact meditation can have on her mood and creative work
Clear guidance on how to incorporate meditation into her dynamic schedule
NEEDS
AGE
27
AE Motion Designer
JOB TITLE
Single
STATUS
Toronto, ON
LOCATION
PASSIONATE
CURIOUS
OPEN-HEARTED
EMPATHETIC
FAVORITE BRANDS
Adaeze Bejide Ibrahim
Adaeze is a second-generation immigrant from Lagos. She finds herself happily embedded in Kensington Market and works as an After Effects motion designer.
Adaeze struggles to manage her moods with the challenges of living as a creative in Toronto. Since starting to meditate, Adaeze finds that her anxiety goes down - but with her flexible schedule and inconsistent clients, she finds it hard to maintain a routine.
Meditation has been falling from her priorities. Even though she knows that meditation is good for her, she doesn’t know how, or specifically in what way, so she doesn’t feel motivated to continue.
“When I meditate, I feel better. But I can’t keep it up as a habit, I don’t feel motivated enough. I don’t get what it actually does, why does it work?
With the chosen theme Feedback Loop, and our persona Adaeze in mind, it was time to understand what she would want from this app. Behaviors, goals, frustrations, and desired gleaned from primary research informed the creation of 31 user stories that were categorized into 5 epics:
Epic 2: Biometric Data & Rewards was chosen because it best demonstrates the need to see clear feedback post-meditation.
Instead of seeing complex scientific data such as alpha/gamma brainwaves, millennials say that they would rather know how much stress they’ve reduced, or how much more focused they’ve become.
Now that the constraints are established...
user stories & epics
from user stories into tasks
epic 1
calendar &
minutes
tracking
epic 4
tailored
recommendations
epic 5
education &
insights
epic 2
biometric data & rewards
epic 3
community
& social engagement
I want to
So that
I want to
So that
I am driven by individualized, scientific proof to improve my mental health
see a graph on how I've decreased stress and rumination
As a young
professional
I'm inspired by the proof of meditation
see a graph on how I've increased relaxation or focus
To see a graph with decreased heart rate
With these, a task flow was created
tasks
chosen user stories
To see a graph with increased mental focus
with recommended meditations
YES
NO
Adaeze completes meditation
with calendar feedback
& biofeedback if device enabled
with journals from previous meditations & biofeedback
under Featured
Being device calibrates
exploration sketches
PROS
brain/mind state and heart rate shown in clear graphs
CONS
too many areas for eye to land on
PROS
larger graph with more brain stats
snack insights into what brain waves mean
CONS
still may be too much information
PROS
stats summary at the top of page
streak notification
CONS
heart chart might not be noticeable with its reduced height
For each screen of the task flow, three exploration sketches were designed to ideate possible solutions for the app. The purpose of sketching is to iterate on paper before any time is spent on wireframes. This helps catch what works and what doesn’t, quickly.
quite cluttered!
how could I make it easier for my users to see what improved through their meditation?
solution sketches
wireframe v.1
before user testing
This is the Biometric Feedback screen that appears after a meditation. Let’s see how this evolved!
Since the exploration sketches were too crowded, the Biorhythm & Journal have been divided into two screens with a navigation tab.
In this iteration, the brain metrics were separated from the heart rate. This follows into the hi-fi with three final subscreens for Biometric Feedback.
After converting the sketches into lo-fi wireframes, I received the feedback through user testing that having two screens was still too busy.
this is from the third round of wireframes!
this was arrived at after two rounds of user testing
wireframe v.3
after user testing
From sketches to design...
Case study : feedback screens
all solution sketches to lofi v.1
product designer / joan chung