Problem
The technical team was developing passive mood detection using phone sensor data. The open question was: if you can detect mood, how should you surface that information to the person in a way that is useful rather than intrusive or clinical? Screen-based notifications felt mismatched to something as continuous and personal as mood state. The business purpose was to explore new product territory around ambient wellbeing, not to ship a market-ready product.
My role
I led the concept development and prototype design, working with the research and design team to define the experience and run the initial user testing. This was a concept prototype, not a production product — the goal was to generate design insight, not ship.
Approach
The concept used passive data — location history and mood self-reports — to build a personal emotional geography, visualised as an AR overlay and a map view. I designed the prototype to test the core question: does seeing your emotional patterns mapped spatially prompt useful reflection? To simulate the autonomous system, we used a Wizard of Oz prototype — a researcher manually controlling the display in real time. Testing focused on couples, where the interpersonal communication dimension was most relevant.
Outcome
- Users found the spatial representation of emotional patterns novel and reflective in a way that mood diaries typically did not achieve
- Key finding: continuous, involuntary visibility of emotional state felt uncomfortable; opt-in/opt-out control was essential for any viable version
- The AR layer was seen as intrusive in public; the map view was preferred for retrospective use
- Findings fed directly into product design principles applied in subsequent wellbeing products (Fluid, Perspectives)
