It was quite hell of a few weeks. First of all, once I came back from Europe, after having survived all of these exams, I felt a unique mixture. I did not exactly feel, rather it was a sense of accomplishment, or absolutely burnt out brains that were flushed right into another brain-dazzling tournament of a final approaching semester at University of Sydney. Hell, I missed it. But the interesting part was, that once I arrived for, practically speaking, week 3, suddenly I teleported to week 5. I did not know what was happening, I could not adjust easily to the old-yet-new environment. Everything seemed as if it stayed the same, but progress clearly was made around the faculty. And I made some poor, reluctance-based decisions, as I went on a 2-week diet that needed to be emergency-stopped due to an illness that I caught. So not only was I jet-lagged but also eventually managed to get seriously hit with an illness, with which I did nothing (which blew back eventually on me in a variety of vectors). Fortunately for us, we received an extension. Unfortunate for us, we didn’t exactly meet the expectations. However, let’s take a look, closer, into what happened within these weeks.
Stjepan managed to arrange to shift from OCD to Anxiety, as we had major difficulty performing interviews due to narrowed-down and yet quite ambitious approach of tackling a quite dangerous type of disorder. The progress did not go forward as planned and I slowly succumbed into the unfavorable and chronic lack of energy to perform anything, which additionally impacted a few adjacent units of study. Eventually once we hopped on the Anxiety wagon, we managed to kickoff with some relatively good stuff. Although, the major problem in my case still remained the illness, therefore I primarily focused on creating the additional graphical components such as mockups and storyboard. I tried researching a bit and also finding out perhaps a notch of my previous mild/medium-sized experiences, as I had to deal with some major/rough changes in my life, especially at the start of my journey at Design Computing. I suppose everyone has not only a breaking but also a bending point, mental illness takes a while to develop and usually comes with a number of additional, even more severe disorders.
What is one of the things that people like to feel? I suppose it is to feel okay, that everything is fine. Reassuring that the bad things aren’t necessarily bad. Redirecting from the bad thoughts, ideas and shedding some light on the positives. Many succumb to the vast limbo of negatives in moments of severe stress, triggering anxiety attacks. Therefore, a set of devices that could redirect attention to, might just do the trick maybe? Create an aura that books managed to invoke successfully for years and other media altogether? Each capsules emotions, feelings, atmosphere. There is plenty to be chosen from, however most are digital, intangible and therefore even a tamagotchi could be a solution, as it provides with a virtual character, that you potentially, partially can even feel in your hands.
Perhaps then invoking a series of meaningful characters that actually try to provide direct help and feedback at times of great stress a good idea? That you have to look after? Develop some sort of a relationship that a person with anxiety will likely want to sustain? In order to sustain larger structures, smaller might need to be assembled. Instead of focusing on talking through problems perhaps it could be better to occupy oneself with an actual character? Fictional, yet always within reach.
I found the entire idea that we’ve developed relatively complex, yet straightforward, covering a range of users’ needs. Despite that I was not entirely able to support Stjepan in covering most of the design steps required for the Assignment 1, I still tried putting my best during the period of my illness and eventually believed in the concept as its development was feasible, within reach and potentially helpful for our target users. I am quite optimistic in regards to the presentation and will try to get relatively better to make sure we convey our ideas in a succinct and powerful way.
DECO3200 Interactive Product Design Studio 
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