Ace. A. Lio

This project has allowed me to learn new skillsets, and by them, I gained more insight into user empathy that can help provide user experience via cognitive therapy. I also wanted to develop a concept that would help me keep control of my life and benefit the wider community.

PROBLEM: 'Whistlebox' started from road rage. Finding a solution to calm me down from behind the wheel to reach my destination. It was a constant struggle for years, close encounters and near misses of hurting others as well as myself. I believe without the struggle; this wouldn't be the story that got out and sparked alot've attention as a result, it’s provoked a lot of talk.

When drivers get behind the wheel of a vehicle, they become vulnerable to certain levels of pain. Aggressive driving can occur when drivers are put under pressure, either from the immediate driving environment or personal stress. I believe this project will address some issues and provide a solution to manage stress under difficult situations.

I have struggled with ‘road rage’ for so many years with near misses of causing harm to neighbouring drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and myself. It is still a recurring problem for many drivers today. My son accompanies me when I’m driving to ensure I manage stress head-on. This has helped me on so many levels especially knowing when to calm me down. I can listen to his voice that gives me the ability to clear my mind to think responsibly. Otherwise, when I’m on my own, I have to pinch myself to drive safely. That being said, I am committed to living a healthy life for my family and help people feel safe without the fear of reckless driving.

I have never encountered road rage with young people in my years of driving, so I have to assume they are there. My road rage experiences happen with adult drivers (Gen X). I will conduct two surveys that resonate to that extent while probing the psyche of drivers. (The article. {2017, Feb}. Retrieved from http://therighttrack.org.nz/why/the-answer/).

Generation ‘X’ (born 1965 - 1976) As grown-ups, we take on more responsibilities, and these pile up as we become products of our own environments. We get married and settle down to take care of others other than ourselves. Over time our bodies slowly wear down while coping with life experiences. With this in mind, Generation X’ will have life demands placed on them whilst maintaining regular duties such as, e.g., parents, when priority should be focused on a healthy mind & body. ? Medical or mental health condition ? Tech Consumers ? Income earners ? Families ? Solo Parents ? Management level

DATA COLLECTION: SURVEY BASED ON THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES: ‘The five love languages’ was written to help parents perceive love best from one of the five languages that fill their child's emotional tank. Each child has one primary and secondary love language. They motivate a child to live out their quality of life. The five love languages are: touch, quality time, assertive words, acts of service, and gifts. The first edition was written for couples (Chapman & Campbell, 2008). My experiences with this concept helped me improve my relationship with family members. The inspiration behind developing the CBT tables for the Whistlebox design framework subsequently improved the quality of data collected from online surveys. This transpired into a technique that was used as a blueprint to compose survey questions for a design framework.

THE FIRST OUTCOME: Conducting the online survey in stage one delivered the common denominator, variable or dominant love language for stage two to interpret its meaning to predict a feature for the application.

RESEARCH:- COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY (CBT): is used for treating symptoms of mental health and is designed to re-calibrate the part of the brain that’s keeping such a tight hold on your happy thoughts. “.. the average subject in the CBT condition was better off than 76% of control subjects” (Beck & Fernandez, 1998). It looks at the relationship between your feelings, thoughts, and behaviours and how you relate with yourself, people, and the world around you ("Cognitive Behaviour Therapy - Vicious Cycles", n.d.). This knowledge is the key to identifying conditions that influence users, especially in correlation with the social function of language.

FINAL OUTCOME: STAGE 2: DATA ANALYSIS (Narrative). In this process, the common denominator, variable or dominant love language from the first outcome (above) was decoded using the CBT tables to predict a feature for the application.

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: Cognitive psychology is the study of the mind and how we think as information processors. It is finding out information that goes on inside our minds, including perception, language, consciousness, attention, memory, and thinking (Cognitive Approach | Simply Psychology, n.d.). The researcher’s personal experience with cognitive psychology inspired him to develop the ‘Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) tables for the Whistlebox design framework based upon mental illness symptoms. ("Warning Signs of Mental Illness," n.d.). The CBT tables are an alternative approach to solving complicated problems in product design.

INSTRUCTIONS: Step 1) Collect survey data to start your research Step 2) Results from the survey should be sent to you Step 3) Use the dominant love language from the survey results to predict the design feature using the CBT tables (first locate the relevant table that corresponds to the dominant love language). Step 4) Proceed to Step 5 with the predicted “Design – Feature.” Please Note: IF the design feature is not available for the client’s concept, please ADD it to that CBT table as a new design feature; this helps build our new CBT tables every time they are used to help us manage the new framework. Step 5) Then Initiate Sprint 1 by brainstorming the design feature.

SOLUTION:- Flowchart of existing ritual of a reminder function (Lio, 2016). HOW IT WORKS: The whistlebox mobile application pairs with a wearable device that recognises the user’s level of stress by measuring the increase in their heart rate. The mobile application allowed the user to preset a trigger bpm, amd when their heart rate reaches this trigger the mobile application will play a chosen soothing media option in a form of relaxing music, video or recording of their choice (Fig. 24). This helps users recognise and identify the symptoms of stress or anxiety that they are feeling. The media can help remind users of their obligation to loved ones and public safety and over time, users will find it helps recalibrate their mind to break old habits

IDEATION PROCESS: Sir Deny Lasdun stated, “It is our job to provide clients with what they really want to the point where they recognised it was something they’ve always wanted.” (“Favorite Quotations,” 2014). In layman's terms, design thinking uses common sense to solve problems creatively by trialing ideas and approaches that could work. Peter Dalsgaard also stated that “design thinking” is not a process but a philosophy of approaches, practices, or concepts to help solve problems by using user-centered techniques to help solve problems creatively and innovatively in our designs, projects, and practically in any business on our planet. (Dalsgaard, 2014).

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN:- LOW-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

Aggressive driving can occur when drivers are put under pressure, either from the immediate driving environment or personal stress. I discovered that certain therapies could be used to decode data to build technology. CBT and the love language conditions were used for this experiment. They seek out missing function/s that should be used. Acquiring life experience with people is a prerequisite for using this formula because it relies heavily on empathy.

DESIGN:- WIREFRAME (HYBRID): The Reminder (CBT Table E) function is utilised

DESIGN:- HI-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

THE SOLUTION: Having my story featured on news media prompted an investor to come forward to fund my prototype for the development and deployment phase. https://whistlebox.care

THE OUTCOME: What is Whistlebox? Whistlebox pairs with your wearable device to recognise your level of stress by measuring the increase in your heart rate (bpm). Whistlebox allows you to preset a trigger bpm, and when your heart rate reaches this trigger the app will play a chosen soothing media option – a relaxing song, video or recording of your choice. This helps you recognise and begin to identify the symptoms of stress/anxiety that you are feeling. The media can help remind you of your obligation to loved ones and public safety. Over time you will find it helps re-calibrate your mind to break old habits.