Graduate Class Work
This page contains a collection of some of the classwork I have completed throughout my graduate career.
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This work includes: a design concept for a weather app centered around Seasonal Affective Disorder; a in-class user study investigating perceived gender and stereotypes of robots; collaborative neural network assignments; and some video games made with processing.py.
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Design | User Studies | Creativity | Coding
The Weather Companion App
This project centers around designing an app that interacts with users based on the daily & weekly weather forecast. Initial background research, design sketches, and preliminary interviews and feedback were conducted for this class assignment.
Background - Designing for SAD
What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?
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Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
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SAD generally occurs in the darker and colder months from autumn to winter wherein typical symptoms of depression become prevalent. [1]
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Typical treatments include light therapy and medication, and more recently cognitive behavioral therapy. [1]
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What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
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CBT is a psychosocial approach to improving mental health and wellbeing. [2]
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CBT techniques include: identifying negative thoughts, practicing new skills, goal setting, problem solving, self monitoring. [3]
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“The goal of cognitive behavior therapy is to teach people that while they cannot control every aspect of the world around them, they can take control of how they interpret and deal with things in their environment.” [3]
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[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy
[3] https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-cognitive-behavior-therapy-2795747
“The need to develop supplementary or alternative treatments for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is underscored by the significant minority (47%) of SAD patients that is refractory to light therapy, the persistence of residual symptoms despite light treatment, and poor long-term compliance with light use."
Inspiration from Nordic Countries
activities & reminders throughout the week
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Hygge (hue·guh)
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Danish word for creating a comforting and inviting environment
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Little Saturday (Lillördag)
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European concept (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Bulgaria) for a mid-week break after work
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Fika (fee·ka)
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Swedish word for a social coffee and pastry break
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Friluftsliv (free·loofts·liv)
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Norwegian word for “open air life/ outdoor life”
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Initial design concept used to test idea & share with others
Conducted exploratory interviews with those with SAD.
Current treatment & management/ practices, thoughts on the weather and how they engage with weather apps, do they use self-help apps
Redesign after interviews + feedback
Robots & Gender
Reflection:
Increase participant size, think more critically about the robot design (2 arms instead of 1, colors may be too saturated), increase the interactivity with a video, consider different robot applications (not just a "vending machine").
​Findings:
Godspeed Questionnaire - No statistically significant results were found when comparing gender consistent (Jane = Pink, John = Blue) with gender inconsistent (Jane = Blue, John = Pink)
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All participants in the Gender Consistent (Group A) reported that they would "definitely yes" or "probably yes" interact with Jane and John if the robot rolled up to them.
Three Group B participants, however, reported they "might or might not" interact with the robot; with one respondent selecting "definitely not" for the Pink John robot.
The Blue Jane robot received the greatest average word count on design feedback, while Pink John received the lowest.
Q. Robots and Their Gender Expression:
Do robots need to adhere to gender stereotypes associated with color and name to create positive feelings and interactions between people?
Asked participants (n=22) to engage in the scenario of helping with the design concept of a vending-machine robot.
Independent Variables: color (pink and blue) and name (Jane and John).
Dependent Variables: the perceived likability/ intelligence/ anthropomorphism, whether the participant would interact with the robot in person, and feedback on the design.
Group A received a survey asking them to compare a Pink Jane and Blue John robot;
Group B compared Blue Jane and Pink John. ​
BLUE ROBOT
PINK ROBOT
User Study Set-Up
Fun with Neural Networks
Wave Function Collapse: modifying code from this project, we used the WFC algorithm to turn the Harry Potter books into really bad poetry.
​Style Generator for Movie Posters: modifying code from this project, we used a Fast Style Transfer algorithm to recreate movie posters with new themes.
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See Despicable Me (comedy) turned into a horror themed poster.
Word RNN Tensorflow: modifying code from this project, I trained a word RNN algorithm on Taylor Swift songs to create a new one.
Game Design
It's Raining Cats & Dogs (Processing.py)
Play this falling object type game where the goal is to catch as many falling dogs as possible. Download zip file here.​​
Sounds of the Ocean (Processing.py)
Interact with different sea life to hear what they sound like underwater. Download zip file here.​