Research and design by:
Zahra Akef, Kaya Tueni
Zahra Akef, Kaya Tueni
Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is the fear that someone has related to social interactions, such as leading conversations with others and sharing thoughts and ideas. They often feel like they are being judged or made fun of, or do or say something that they will regret later. This can cause the person to feel self-conscious, insecure and inadequate almost all the time. It affects a large amount of people, as it is the third largest mental health issue worldwide.
People who suffer from social anxiety often realize that they are being irrational, and that not everyone is patiently waiting for them to mess up. But, their fear is controlling them, and the symptoms persist.
Those people tend to be labeled as shy, timid and quiet, but can also be called careless, indifferent, or boring. All these adjectives can really get to the people who suffer from social anxiety, which can lead them to stay indoors and isolate themselves from others.
People who suffer from social anxiety often realize that they are being irrational, and that not everyone is patiently waiting for them to mess up. But, their fear is controlling them, and the symptoms persist.
Those people tend to be labeled as shy, timid and quiet, but can also be called careless, indifferent, or boring. All these adjectives can really get to the people who suffer from social anxiety, which can lead them to stay indoors and isolate themselves from others.
Based on the information that we had gathered, we slowly understood anxious people’s desires and needs that give them the opportunity to function properly. Having to use their voice to communicate with others can be a real challenge, and often times, they engage in conversations to remain polite and respectful. Internally, it takes on a big toll on their mental health, and it ends up discouraging them from going out in the future. We brainstormed ways we could inform others that this person does not want to have any interactions with the use of a speaker. We also focused on the concept of “the product that wears you”, and not the other way around. We asked ourselves a couple of questions: what should this mask represent? Should it cover a bigger part of our body, or simply the face? Also, what elements from the “real world” could we use as inspiration? We started to look at the most ideal shapes that would fit the best on the body, while give us the desired effect we needed. It also had to fit the speakers inside, as they are the core of the concept we wanted to follow. We looked at different shapes, and settled on a mask that is worn like a backpack, except from the front, as well as the traditional face masks we wear everyday. We also researched the conceptual representation of our product, and tried to find objects or beings that could embody the idea of “the product that wears you”. We looked at various animals, and stumbled upon a book, “Animal Farm”, by George Orwell. He used the pigs to represent the corrupted Boshlevik leaders, the ones who rule over the rest, brainwash and control them into what they want to do/be. We started looking up more representations of pigs, and found that they were the animals that were associated with selfishness and possessiveness, and felt like those words could be associated to the theme we were going for, so, we tried incorporating the pig snout in our design. We sketched out various designs, until we settled on one shape. We worked on our prototypes made out of paper and cardboard, and laser cut some of the parts to make them as precise as possible.