Santiago Avella

Case Study 1

Surroundings

CASE STUDY 1

←

AWARDS FOR THIS PROJECT

GOLD

10X

SILVER

BRONZE

Surroundings

CASE STUDY 1

←

Co-Lead and UI Designer

Role:

Jonathan Hall, Natalie Luong and Bennett Hoisington

Team:

10 Weeks - 80+ Hours

Timeline:

Users struggle with unhealthy habits, disrupted internal rhythms, and over-dependence on technology. That over time, stresses them more and more.

Problem

There is a potential to guide users from consuming social media and technology to the present, and expand into treating mental health disorders and addictions.

Opportunity

Surroundings is a product that is composed of 2 devices (smart light, smart ring) and an app which all synchronize to recognize when you are feeling stressed to help you get off your device and feel more relaxed.

Solution

Co-Lead and UI Designer

Role:

Jonathan Hall, Natalie Luong and Bennett Hoisington

Team:

10 Weeks - 80+ Hours

Timeframe:

Awards for this project:

INDIGO Design Award

10 Gold - 2 Silver - 8 Bronze

European Product

Design Award Winner

Red Dot Design Award

Problem

Users struggle with unhealthy habits, disrupted internal rhythms, and over-dependence on technology. That over time, stresses them more and more.

Solution

Opportunity

There is a potential to guide users from consuming social media and technology to the present, and expand into treating mental health disorders and addictions while using Light Therapy.

How does Surroundings work?

Competitor analysis

Our design process

I. RESEARCH

II. IDEATION

PROTOTYPING

A FIRST SOLUTION

III. TESTING

IV. FINAL SOLUTION

Our process

I. RESEARCH

Primary research

"Light therapy increased the blood flow in the part of the brain that is responsible for thinking and memory."

Int J Disabil Hum Dev. 2009

"22 patients with major depressive disorder found that light therapy combined with antidepressants resulted in a significantly higher remission rate (68.2%) than antidepressants alone (22.2%) after 8 weeks of treatment"

Harvard Health

Secondary research

II. IDEATION

Our process started by brainstorming in the whiteboard some possible solutions that would use light therapy to guide users to a healthier lifestyle.

Then, we proceeded by coming up with a user flow that showed how a future product or solution would work and what pain points would it solve.

We used that task flow to start coming up with ideas on how the form of a device that uses light therapy would look like. For this, we asked the users and did some cultural probes.

Final Deliverables

All-in-One System: Light, ring, and app integration.

Uses light, sound, and natural language prompts for habit training and energy boosting.

Offers adaptation and learns from you for limitless environmental adjustment and potential mental health treatments.

Why choose Surroundings?

III. TESTING

We decided that we wanted to test how bright the light had to be for people to be affected by it, so we performed some user testing simulating environments with different light settings while making them perform some basic tasks such as a 5th grade math quiz..

We gathered some crucial insights on light therapy such as:

People do not like that much brightness, it makes them feel overwhelmed.
People do not know when to turn the light on and how will it affect their mood.
They would love for the light to adapt colors and brightness depending on their environment.

We used the insights we gathered to then design an ecosystem of devices with a ring light, a smart ring and an App UI and convert them from just sketches and concepts to actual prototypes.

Testing

Insights

Re-Prototyping

Ring Light

Smart Ring

App UI

Case Study 1

Case Study 2

Resume

Made in Miami 🌴

Connect with me on LinkedIn

IV. FINAL SOLUTION

What is Surroundings?

Surroundings is a smart wellness system that uses ambient light, a smart ring, and an app to promote healthier habits and improve circadian rhythms. It aims to reduce tech dependency and encourage mindfulness by integrating therapeutic light and sound. Designed for personal well-being, Surroundings offers potential benefits for mental health and habit correction, making healthy living intuitive and accessible through environmental adaptation and personalized feedback.

How does Surroundings Works?

Competitor analysis

All-in-One System: Light, ring, and app integration.

Uses light, sound, and natural language prompts for habit training and energy boosting.

Offers adaptation and learns from you for limitless environmental adjustment and potential mental health treatments.

Why choose Surroundings?

Final Deliverables

Case Study 1

Case Study 2

Resume

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Made in Miami 🌴