IDA
HELLBLOM
Brief and partners
Feedback from target group
Results
Usage & reflections
The focus of this project has rather been working with inclusive design and in collaboration with SUMH (Sammenslutningen af Unge Med Handikap/The Association of Young Disabled), with the goal of creating designsolutions that specifically tries to meet the needs and solve everyday problems of young people with a certain disability.
I have chosen to work within the Autism Spectrum Disorder and specifically looking into one of the common occurring symptoms: Sensory sensitivity. The symptom means that certain sensory impressions or stimuli, wether it is a sound, smell, visuals, textures etc, can be perceived as being reinforced and thus unpleasant for a person with autism, or vice versa. Also called Hypersensitivity or Hyposensitivity. The symptom can also mean a heightened experience of certain stimuli.
For example, a certain pattern may invoke a tactile sensation even if the pattern is displayed
on a screen.
Being over- or under-stimulated can in the long run be draining and cause anxiety attacks for an autistic person. As such, it is common for people with autism to develop strategies to avoid or seek a certain type of stimuli to reduce the risk of stress and anxiety. Examples of these strategies could be physical ticks (to create more stimuli) or using everyday tools such as noise-cancelling headphones to keep out sounds (minor stimuli). But how does one handle more challenging visual stimuli? Having a pair of sunglasses at hand is one solution, but might we broaden the toolbox a bit more? On the basis of White noise & Perlin noise, as well as nature therapy and color theory, is it possible to create (program) a visual picture that can have a similar, calming effect by shutting out all other competing visual stimuli?
"Noise"
White noise
Perlin noise
Color theory
(color phsycology)
Nature therapy
(a currently used method of treating stress & anxiety as a result of sensory sensitivity.)
All pictures are programmed using p5js and are polished according to feedback from two test subjects that have been diagnosed with Autism.
Part of the research for this project was to test the theories on the target groups, to see their relevance, as well as other possible directions. This was done by showing the two test subjects a series of pictures, representing the different theories: White- & Perlin noise, nature theory & color theory. Ranging from pictures of leaves or waterfalls to abstract patterns of different density
and light.
The color palettes below are those of the pictures. The palette to the right, are those gradients that the target group found were most calming and pleasant. Which turns out being very much in accordance to the theory.
Other points of preferences spoken from the test subjects were the following:
NEGATIVES
- Highly saturated colours used excessively.
- Unpredictability.
- Sharp patterns.
POSITIVES
+ Darker, cold colours.
+ "Softness" & clear rythm.
+ Controlled/intuitively/direction.
The pictures below are the finished results and the ones the target group found were most calming:
The reason being for choosing programming as the tool for making the pictures, was that so it could be accessed on any screen. Most people have some sort of screen available at short notice. The idea is that if someone with autism would feel overstimulated, f.ex sitting on the buss, one could (in theory) take out their phone from their pocket and quickly access the calming pictures.
That being said, there is some work left to test this theory, as well as decide where precisely these pictures can be found - f.ex in a dedicated app, website, social media etc.
SENSORY SENSITIVITY
A project dedicated to young people with Autism. Looking into one of the diagnosis symptoms; sensory sensitivity, is it possible to program a visualisation that can shut out overstimulating stimuli and give a sense of calm?
#co-design #illustration
#code