This project’s goal was to design a product/service for students that struggle with (generalized) anxiety. The team ended up developing a meditation companion.

Hana is a sincere meditation companion which could help users, in our case students learn and build the habit of meditation through daily reminders to be compassionate and to meditate. Hana was designed to be a compassionate technology which focus on the trait of sincerity. 

Our definition of sincerity is threefold and includes directness or expressing of states and real needs, authenticity or being easily recognizable and truthfulness or having no pretenses. We incorporate in Hana’s design several materials and objects we associate with these aspects, such as the overall plant design, uncovered materials like stone and wood, glass and water. Hana is an example of compassionate technology, because it helps the user to recognize their suffering and to improve this situation. It reflects through different modalities how well the user is keeping up with their (prescribed) meditation habit. Through a watering interaction, we ensure that the user taking care of Hana this way is mapped onto them taking care of themselves through regularly meditating.

Click here to download the full report.