Abstract

A significant portion of the population struggles with executive functioning and task management. This project explores the pain points for organizing, initiating, and finishing tasks and proposes a design to address these problems. The objective of this project is to relieve the stress and anxiety people with executive dysfunction often experience with tasks. The design process for this project considered different product and interface strategies to help users with their tasks through positive motivation and rewards. Initial user testing showed that information overload and forgetfulness were barriers to setting and managing tasks. Furthermore, the act of crossing an item off of a list was found to be satisfying and encouraged users to keep completing tasks. The final solution employs a three-part internet of things (IoT) system which incorporates a device for building the habit of setting daily tasks, a user interface (UI) which prevents users from being overwhelmed or overstimulated, and a gratifying, tactile task completion action.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Planning--Interactive multimedia--Design; Executive functions (Neuropsychology); Motivation (Psychology); Attention-deficit disordered adults--Services for--Design; Anxiety disorders--Patients--Services for--Design; Autistic people--Services for--Design

Publication Date

5-6-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Industrial Design (MFA)

Department, Program, or Center

School of Design (CAD)

Advisor

Lorraine Justice

Advisor/Committee Member

Alex Lobos

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

Plan Codes

IDDE-MFA

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