MUSE100 is a sketchbook to calm users down and help them get prepared to start working through a ritual process.
Design a tool for young professionals to overcome procrastination especially when working from home.
MUSE100
A ritual option for procrastinated people to get started.
How it works
Getting started is everything for procrastinators, and getting focused is the key to getting started.
Each page uses different graphic hints to encourage users to follow their hearts and sketch with their own imagination.
“It is such a mysterious place, the land of tears.”
“If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are a-bloom with flowers…”
“But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.”
Relax and enjoy the random shapes you create.
Organize them in a pattern or put them whatever you want.
Use MUSE100 with its app to extend your experience.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is unexpected and had a great impact on our daily life. We are emotionally affected by the news. We become impetuous and hard to catch our attention.
We conducted 100+ Instagram mini-surveys, 30 surveys, and 6 interviews relating to working efficiency and procrastination issues during the pandemic.
26, Male, Graduate student
“I have tried productivity apps, but end up deleting them because I cannot resist clicking into the push notifications from other apps.”
33, Male, Senior product designer
“I miss the time when I can still go to the school studio, have a cup of coffee, and start working and chill.”
24, Female, Graduate student
“When I have a to-do list, I would like to do the easiest one first. Sometimes I would just keep cleaning my room before doing the assignment.”
25, Male, Electrical engineer
“I would usually take a shower before I can concentrate on reading a book that is related to my field of study.”
CHALLENGES & INSIGHTS
People procrastinate more often because of the pandemic situation. We interviewed participants to know more about their productivity issues, and we have several findings behind our questions.
Study and work, as well as daily life like housework.
Reluctant willingness to start work. The difficulty of initiating the work mode.
Emotional changes in each phase. Distractions and other commitments.
FINDINGS & PHYSICAL MODEL
We concluded our findings and made a series of physical models to simulate the process of user behaviors. For example, potatoes and butter are in similar color, and they represent people’s mental statuses under different conditions; In the potato instance, they still need extra conditions to do a great job in their field of work.
People prefer to prioritize irrelevant less difficult tasks and range them by difficulty levels to get the best results.
People need a sense of accomplishment to keep working on the tasks. They won’t be able to hold large projects if they have no confidence and preparation.
Productivity level relates to multiple factors: health, mentality, and emotional conditions.
THE WORK MODE
Getting into a work mode is similar to meditation that requires people to communicate with themselves. We help users find their tempo through emotions.
WHY PERSONAL RITUALS
When I get up, I have to brush my teeth and wash my face to get myself prepared for the morning. This is considered a personal ritual.
Personal rituals are beyond the behaviors, it’s more about the meaningful prospect that carries hopes.
People have the ritual idea since ancient times.
People practice rituals natually for positive desires.
Rituals can be beneficial and bring values.
EXPLORING SOLUTIONS
We understand that users suffer from notifications on their phones and computers. Our goal is to bring a primitive and unique experience to users, so we explored many forms of the product other than digital screen-based.
CORE CONCEPT
“MUSE100” reflects our consideration of the product. “Muse” means to be absorbed in their thoughts, and we want to bring this experience to users. “100” means we have 100 interesting paper-based interactions in the journal book to help them get started/focused.
Ritual
Not a planner.
Meditation
Build user little accomplishment before they make their mind to start working
Playground
Let users communicate with themselves in a relaxing and non-addictive way.
STYLE GUIDE
TYPOGRAPHY
COLOR PALETTE
MOOD BOARD
App concept
MUSE100 is connected with a dedicated mobile app. Users can use it for background music and do sound sketching by scanning their page. The color palette of the app interface will follow the page they are using.
REFLECTION & SUMMARY
We followed emotional aspects and human rituals to develop MUSE100 out of various psychological models.
The challenging part of the project was to research how people procrastinate and what are the possible causes. We realized the limitation of the traditional grouping method in UX design that over generalized how people behave in one or a few personas.
Since we cannot ignore how people diverse in procrastination, we then looked into the nature of people that can hardly change on a time-spatial scale.
MUSE100 will be officially released at future art book fair events. Follow us for updates!
