The Sleep Project

Design Thinking for Communication (University Module)

Design Challenge

Sleep deprivation resulting from the Intention-Behaviour gap.

Opportunity

Sleep is a universal human physiological need that has a significant scale for the market in Singapore and the global landscape. Given that sleep deprivation can lead to chronic diseases (such as high blood pressure), mental health issues, and reduced productivity and hence performance of people, it remains a crucial issue to be resolved. By tackling this problem, we aim to improve the health and overall well-being of university students and aid them to break out of the vicious sleep deprivation cycle.

My Role

User Research & Testing

Interview potential users, facilitate focus group discussions

Prototyping

3D Model of event exhibition using SketchUp
Build physical models ranging from the use of scrap materials to almost full-sized experiential exhibitions

Project Period

Sep 2022 - Nov 2022

Our Users

University Undergraduates in Singapore

Key Question

How might we design a solution that helps university students establish healthy sleep habits and get sufficient rest?

Solution

An interactive campaign that explores actionable tips such that students will be motivated to adopt healthy sleeping habits.

Empathise

As a team of eight, we had the opportunity to choose a design challenge. After brainstorming several potential problems, we decided to focus on sleep deprivation as it was an issue close to our hearts. We defined sleep deprivation as “a state caused by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep”

Other design challenges we considered

Our initial research uncovered some knowledge relating to the extent, short and long-term consequences, and how it affects different age groups. Based on our findings, we decided to concentrate on university students as we this is where people are most greatly affected by it (77.3% of local students).

Grouping interview questions into themes exploring the potential user’s lifestyle & environment

To gain a deeper understanding of the issue, we conducted interviews with fellow university students. We prepared a list of questions and grouped them into key themes before conducting mock interviews amongst ourselves to improve our interview skills. Each team member interviewed at least two students, giving us insights into the lifestyles of 20 individuals dealing with sleep deprivation. Through observations and verbal interactions, we identified latent needs as well as created empathy profiles to aid in the process.

Empathy profile of a 23-year-old, 3rd-year student

Our interviews revealed some interesting observations:

Interviewees recognised the importance of sleep but prioritised school work over sleep.

At some point, the interviewees have tried some method or “solution” to improve their sleep (either fall asleep quicker or to sleep for longer hours) but gave up after a while due to a perceived lack of effectiveness.

Competitor Analysis

As our interviewees mentioned methods or products they have previously tried, we also searched for alternatives to see if there were any gaps in the market. From a big-picture perspective, I realised that almost all the products targeted at last one of the 5 senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) when I did a search for “sleeping solutions”.

Screenshot of one of our analyses of products in the market

Define

Going through the notes we have collected thus far, we began to see a trend that arose. University students have the awareness (does not necessarily result in people adopting better sleep habits) and various solutions (available just a Google search away) but ultimately such a change in lifestyle relies heavily on intention-behaviour. This means that even with all the aid available on the market, as long as people do not intentionally choose to do anything about their sleeping habits, the problem remains - university students will be sleep deprived as a result of the intention-behaviour gap.

To familiarise ourselves with the problem, we did further research to understand the concept and key elements that can tackle the intention-behaviour gap. I came across the COM-B Behaviour Change Model, a widely-used framework for identifying and designing effective interventions. he model emphasizes three key factors that must be present for behavior change to occur: capability, opportunity, and motivation.

According to the Sleep Foundation, good sleep quality is defined as:

sleep straight through the night, fall asleep soon after getting into bed
sleep recommended hours for your age group
fall back asleep within 20 minutes if you do wake up
feel well rested and energised when you wake in the morning

Capability

Physcological and physical - learn and practice the desired behaviour

Opportunity

Resources, social and physical factors need to be available.

Motivation

Daily routines: Decision-making, habits, and emotions involved

Ideate

With a clearer picture of the problem, my team and I sat down for an ideation session that encouraged open-mindedness, judgement-free, wild ideas. We generated over 100 ideas in 10 minutes. We then reviewed and discussed each idea, focusing on those with the most potential for solving the problem at hand. Through collaborative exploration and discussion, we refined our ideas and selected the most promising ones to move forward with in the design process.

Our solution brainstorming session

The top 3 ideas we chose were:

Gamification (card game etc.)
Sleeping pod with a "mother's womb" simulation
Blanket

Prototype & Test

1. Card Game

With our chosen ideas, we sketched out a storyboard to envision how might University students use our solutions to overcome the intention-behaviour gap. Using the storyboards we drew to discuss how we envision our idea to work, it became apparent that it was difficult to implement a card game relating to aspects of viability and maybe even desirable. So we focused on our other 2 ideas.

2. Sleeping Pod & Blanket

We built rudimentary prototypes of the sleeping pod and blanket using styrofoam, blue tack, paper and stickers. Building our prototypes helped us to talk through further key details and considerations that guided the design of our final idea. As we also had to present this to the rest of the class for them to give us feedback, here's what we learnt during this process:

Sleeping pods are not suitable for claustrophobic people
For both ideas with many various functions, surely this would not be affordable to the university student
Most would not pay for such sleeping aids as they "have been living without one for so long, they can continue to sleep without them"

Weighted blanked with temperature control, music

Sleeping pod cover with settings that can be adjusted through an installed control panel beside the bed

At this point, our solutions and ideas were largely focused only on the ‘opportunity’ part of the COM-B Model. However, the solution is unlikely to work if all 3 elements do not work together over time. Realising our fatal flaw, I took charge to relook at all our findings so far, especially on our knowledge of the user. We went through the design thinking process - empathising and ideating.

3. Escape Room & Exhibition

To ensure we are not converging our ideas and limiting the effectiveness of the ultimate solution. We prototyped our next 2 potential solutions. The first was an escape room that required players to remove everything that could adversely affect one’s sleep in order to successfully escape. The second idea was an exhibition that encouraged participants to create an ideal sleeping environment for themselves while learning about how the 5 senses affects them. For both ideas, we tested it on our classmates by role-playing various scenarios. This allowed us to observe how our potential users interacted with our idea and obtain further feedback or consideration that we may have missed out.

“Is the exhibition necessary at all? I feel like this could be packaged entirely into a box to be bought off the shelves.”
- 25 year old, Male, Year 4 Undergraduate

“...order of the different senses (in the exhibition) matters…”
- 23 year old, Male, Year 3 Undergraduate

“The escape room’s activities focus on the negative effects… I feel that the positive aspects may be overshadowed.”
- 23 year old, Female, Year 5 Undergraduate

Self-guided exhibition

Given the strong interest in the exhibition, we decided to delve into the suggestions between an exhibition versus a hamper consisting of similar content and collectables.

4. Sleep Hamper versus Exhibition

At some point we need converge on our variety of ideas, we wanted to eliminate other potential solutions and focus on delivering a solution of significant value to the user. Each of us tested this on 3-4 university students using PowerPoint slides. From this, we learnt that users:

Unwilling to pay for the hamper
No motivation or incentive to purchase the hamper or recommend it to friends
Prefer to do such activities with friends - keep each other accountable, more fun at the same time

PowerPoint slides for the user to “see” what they will get in the goodie bag or see during the exhibition

5. Campaign

For our final test, we decided to set up a makeshift physical exhibition with the purpose of refining our idea, counter any remaining gaps we may not have thought of and exploring the viability (long-term value) of our solution. There were ultimately 2 parts to our campaign, conducted over a period of a week.

1. Exhibition (Watch: Exhibition Walkthrough)

An exploratory, immersive experience designed to be memorable
In preparation for the exhibition, we researched the information that we imagine the exhibition would have for people to read.

Physical set-up

2. Sleeping Kit

Includes takeaways from the exhibition to be followed through over a sustained period of time to build habits in the intended target audience
Bought and prepared the related materials to be collected in the rooms of the exhibition
Created a sleep journal which includes some tips, bite-sized actionable takeaways from the exhibition and a sleep tracker (having a visible goal and a sense of perceived progress is more likely to nudge the user towards completion)

Test Timeline

Day 1

10 participants participated in the exhibition and collected the sleeping kit. A short focus group was conducted with them to discuss their lifestyles and their experience with the exhibition.

Day 4

Midweek check-in to see if the participants made use of the sleep kit (6/9 used). Intervention introduced (social norm - if participants saw others were using the kit, they are more likey to use it if they have not).

Day 7

Participants were asked about their overall use of the sleep kit and its effectiveness (8/9 used).

Conclusion

Almost all participants have been using the items provided in the sleeping kit and actively taking steps to figure out what works for them.
A large majority preferred having a digital version of the sleep journal for the convenience of recording or referring to it on the go.

Final Product

Ultimately we had to address the main concerns of viability, desirability and feasibility.

Desirability

All participants expressed interest in participating in the campaign with friends.

Feasibility

Universities allow the rent of space on campus for events to be promoted to students.

Viability

Start off by collaborating with Health Promotion Board (HPB) - (as of writing) running a pilot programme known as the Sleep Challenge.
Reach out to SMU Facilities & Leasing to utilise Singapore Management University’s central location.
Obtain resources for the smooth running of the campaign.

Sustainability of project to be carried out on a yearly basis to commemorate International Sleep Day.

Reflections

As I reflect on our solution, I must admit that there is plenty of room for improvement. In fact, in hindsight, there were numerous aspects that could have been refined and enhanced to achieve a more successful outcome. Planning in advance, for instance, would have allowed us to host fairer and more accurate testing sessions, which could have been crucial for the success of the project.

Yet, despite the shortcomings, the process of design thinking, the constant iteration, and pushing our creative boundaries have all contributed to a valuable learning experience. At every stage of the process, there was something to learn, whether it was about the industry or the human experience.

Moreover, I am grateful for the conversations and observations that we had with our users and my fellow teammates. These interactions helped us to pinpoint the problem and develop a deeper understanding of the issue at hand. This collaborative process was instrumental in driving the project forward and pushing us to reach new heights. I am proud of what we achieved and the valuable lessons we learned along the way. This experience has been truly treasured, and I look forward to applying the knowledge and skills gained in future endeavours.