Nostalgia Kit — W3
Designers | Damul Yang • David Han • Maria C • Rikkie • Sue Heeyeon An
External Partner | R/GA
Brief | Design a way to mitigate the effects of loneliness
Research
After the feedback session, while others started to define the target audience we are trying to tackle, I went back to the readings to research more about what effects loneliness has and get some inspirations. From the readings, I have discovered that Nostalgia, a positive emotional experience is a way to combat loneliness. The paper by Abeyta, Routledge and Kaslon (2020) states reflecting on past cherished memories promotes positive self views by evoking emotions of happiness, confidence and optimism, raising their spirits. Dr. Fillippo Cordaro also notes nostalgia helps to rebuild a sense of belongingness, the notion of longing which is the essential human condition. Moreover, Hepper et al (2016) claims the sweet bitterness emotion of nostalgia helps people to deal with the combination of two concepts of now and then.
“Whereas loneliness directly decreased perceived social support, it indirectly increased perceived social support via nostalgia. Nostalgia magnifies perceptions of social support and, in so doing, thwarts the effect of loneliness.”
Fig 1. Nostalgia Literature Review . Image by Sue
Fig 2. Effect of Loneliness . Image by Sue
Ideation
As Cat and Maria C defined target audience as international students, I brought up an idea of creating a toolkit that triggers nostalgia for young adults, international students which can help ease the sense of disconnection, the effect of their loneliness in a foreign country (fig 4). The kit starts from their loved ones, parents and friends capturing and recording the precious moments from the past with the tools provided. Including various tools to create different types of sensory experience using scent, sound, vision and texture. Then when it's sent to the student it will trigger their cherished memories, regaining connections. This idea was to target both international students and others which makes the kit as a collaborative design and personalised. Also allowing the students to get support from the loved ones and to think that they are not alone. Then encouraging to initiate contact with them.
Fig 3. Inspirations. Image by Sue
Fig 4. Nostalgia Kit. Image by Sue
Prototyping
Fig 5. Experimentation with objects. Image(s) by Sue
Fig 6. Low Fidelity Texture Samples. Image(s) by Sue
Fig 7. Low Fidelity Sensory Kit. Image by Sue
SpeedDating
Comparing with secondary research that nostalgia can bring positive not negative emotions to alleviate the effect of loneliness the Speed Dating brought us a different point of view. While a few people related back themselves to their joyful memories, some people did not see the necessity of the kit. Also some related nostalgia as a negative emotion not positive. Contrary to our aim of the design, in fact international students were in touch with their families and friends regularly and instead it was their lack of adaptation to the new environment.
Fig 8. Nostalgia Kit Storyboard. Image(s) by Damul
Fig 9. Storyboard Results. Image(s) by group, Sue and Rikkie
Mid-Point Presentation and Reflections
R/GA really appreciated how we built a physical prototype and tested it out. They loved how we came up with a co-creating concept with nostalgia. One of the interesting feedback R/GA gave was using the powerful emotion to create new memories in a new environment which may encourage people to go out and explore - a positive motivation. Also can potentially give an opportunity for them to build relationship with new people. Another suggestion was to experiment with different mediums other than physical. We needed to think how we can add technology medium that may boost up the accessibility and contribution.
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Bibliography
Abeyta, A, Routledge, C. and Kaslon, S. (2020) ‘Combating Loneliness With Nostalgia: Nostalgic Feelings Attenuate Negative Thoughts and Motivations Associated With Loneliness’. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01219
Hepper, E. et al (2016) ‘Nostalgia fosters self-continuity: Uncovering the mechanism (social connectedness) and consequence (eudaimonic well-being)’. Emotion, 16(4), pp.524-539. doi:10.1037/emo0000136
Makel, M and Plucker, J. (2014) ‘Creativity is more than novelty: Reconsidering replication as a creativity act’. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 8(1), pp. 27-29. doi:10.1037/a0035811
Stauffer, R. (2021) Adults Can Get Homesick, Too. The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/10/adult-homesickness/572218/. (Accessed: 28 February 2021).
Zhou, X, Sedikides, C, Wildschut, T and Gao, D. (2008) ‘Counteracting Loneliness’. Psychological Science, 19(10), pp.1023-1029. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02194.x