This is my UX Design Master’s thesis project, a synthesis of my journey of becoming a designer and a person
Designed with ❤️ by Nicole Li, 2023
Project Overview
“Designing is not just something you do [...], but rather it helps form your identity. Design becomes a part of one’s being” (Lawson & Dorst, 2009, pp 270). This project explores how we can apply what we’ve learned from design to our personal lives, specifically in dealing with uncertainty in transitional life periods. Uncertainty is the only certainty in life, and all we can do is build up our tolerance toward it. Research has shown that expert designers demonstrate greater tolerance towards uncertainty and ambiguity (Tracy&Hutchinson, 2015).
This project explored various ways of thinking and doing that designers engage with while building up their expertise; adapted the design strategy and framing into the context of life uncertainty; and packaged these insights in the form of an interactive reflection journal. The goal of the interactive reflection journal intends to help people untangle jumbled thoughts and work through issues related to the fear of uncertainty. The journal can be used on one’s own or with people close to them to get clarity into the problem, reflect, reframe, and join the dance of uncertainty.
Project Inspiration
This project was inspired by my journey of becoming a designer and a person, trying to navigate the changing world. I’ve wrestled with uncertainty in the past three years and have been working on building my tolerance for it. Through this process, I found myself gravitating toward many things that I learned in design. Design has provided me with a unique lens to see the world, influenced the way I think, and the way I approach problems. More importantly, it has shaped who I am as a human being.
Not knowing can create a lot of anxiety, and this fear of uncertainty can have serious adverse effects on our mental well-being. In conducting seven interviews at the beginning of the semester on the topic of stress coping in life transitions, I discovered that most people experience similar emotions such as panic, stress, confusion, denial, and fear when faced with uncertainty in life transitions, regardless of the diversity of the event.
“What’s personal is the most general”, as Carl Rogers once said. If we strip away all the superficialities, we have shared struggles, and the struggle is real, and it’s hard in life transitions if we have not yet built up the tolerance for uncertainty. Due to the lack of tools out there for people that focus on dealing with uncertainty, I wanted to design a toolkit that encourages people to reconcile their relationship with uncertainty.
So the project started with the question of how can I apply what we learned in design to our personal life?
Research for Design
Research
01. Methods
02. Key Insights
03. Design Implications
Design &
Evaluation
Conclusion
Research
01. Methods
02. Key Insights
03. Design Implications
Design &
Evaluation
Conclusion
Research
01. Methods
02. Key Insights
03. Design Implications
Design &
Evaluation
Conclusion
Research Approach
Semi-Strcutured Interviews: Life Transitions, Stress, Stress-Coping
The context project is around life transitions, so I first conducted 7 interviews to understand individuals’ experiences in life transitions, ways of coping with stress, and moments of struggle when they feel a lack of support.
Literature Research: Design Theory, Design Expertise, Education, Psychology
I conducted literature research on psychology studies on life transitions and uncertainty. Additionally, with the intention of bringing design knowledge to life problems, I conducted literature research to dive into the nature of design with the goal of overlapping characteristics between design and life, as well as literature on how designers acquire design expertise with the goal of identifying transferable strategies that I can incorporate into the toolkit.
Understanding Uncertainty in Design & Life Transitions
Insight 1: Experiencing Uncertainty in Life
When we talk about life uncertainties, we think of change, and change can be very scary at times. Through research, I found that most people encounter similar emotions when it comes to facing uncertainty in life transitions, regardless of the diversity of the event.
The root cause of life transition stress is intolerance for uncertainty [source: literature review]
Interview participants shared that stress is out of fear, the fear of uncertainty, a lack of control and unknowing of the future. Such negative experience with change is strongly linked to one’s belief and tolerate towards uncertainty. Participants who found life transitions scary all thought of uncertainty to be “stressful” “fearful” “anxious” and “I don’t like it”.
Research suggests the source of stress is not knowing, low tolerance for uncertainty. “ It may be uncertainty that led to the perception of threat in ambiguous situations and that it was the ‘not- knowing’ that led to worry.” (BirrellBirrell et al., 2011). “Intolerance of uncertainty is a cognitive process involved in excessive worry and generalized anxiety disorder” (Dugas et al., 2005). It is typical that uncertainty is viewed as adverse and there’s a natural desire for people to eliminate it (Bar-Anan et al., 2009).
Common stress-coping mechanism (Source: interviews)
In the face of uncertainty, interview participants’ stress responses can be categorized into three stages: reactive and emotional stage, coping with emotions stage, and dealing with problems stage. In each stage, there are moments where participants wanted help but were unable to. These moments of need provided inspired the initial vision of the toolkit.
[Read more on my mini research 01: A ‘how to’ for dealing with life-transition stress]
A Shared Initial Counter of Doubt
Uncertainty in life and in design
The nature of design problems is ill-defined and indeterminate. We are designing in a changing world and with moving targets (Cross, 2006). Uncertainty and ambiguity are the defining quality of design spaces. Designers are called to make “intentional change in the unpredictable world” (Nelson&Stolterman, 2012). “It stands to reason that designers’ personal attitudes toward uncertainty may influence design processes and outcomes via cognitive, affective, and/or behavioral channels” (Tracy&Hutchinson, 2015)
Design experts’ take on uncertainty
When we experience uncertainty, we are overwhelmed, paralyzed, or lose confidence. The natural response to doubt is to shut down, however, design experts see uncertainty and ambiguity to be the fuse for creativity. It’s about a shift in mind, as design experts think and behave differently on a fundamental level (Corss, 2004). Individuals with a higher level of design expertise have greater tolerance to uncertainty and ambiguity. They perceive “an experience that is indelible, integrative, and bothersome in a way that is motivating rather than limiting”. (Tracy&Hutchinson, 2015)
Locke, Golden-Biddle & Feldman 2008 introduced the idea of “making doubt generative”, which reframes the role of doubt in design as positive. The authors said that when experiencing uncertainty, instead of shutting down, “stay with the trouble”. Similar perspective-taking can be applied in the uncertainty we experience in life-transitional periods, and use “doubts as the engine of abductive reasoning” (Locke, Golden-Biddle & Feldman 2008)
An assumption is that if the design can be taught and expertise can be learned, then can we apply aspects of the design philosophy and strategies to train people to adapt greater tolerance for uncertainty, thus allowing the experience of uncertainty to be reframed as positive in life transitions.
Strategies For Building Expertise
It’s about a shift in mind!
Studies have also shown that this first shared of doubt and perhaps fear is shared across contexts. “Situational uncertainty in and of itself is associated with outcomes such as increased stress and intensified emotional reactions regardless of the situation, subject, individual traits, etc.” (Tracy&Hutchinson, 2015). The key to overcoming this default response to uncertainty is to change one’s attitude and perspective toward uncertainty. (Tracy&Hutchinson, 2015)
How do experts move forward in the face of uncertainty?
A key strategy is reflection!
Design is about learning, thinking, and reflecting. The look of design comes from the designer’s craft skills, but the depth of design comes from the designer’s mind. To train our minds and acquire expertise in design requires intentional practices and active reflection in action.
[Read more on my mini research 02: making doubt generative]
Design Implications
In the face of uncertainty, interview participants’ stress responses can be categorized into three stages: reactive and emotional stage, coping with emotions stage, and dealing with problems stage. In each stage, there are moments where participants wanted help but were unable to. These moments of need provided inspired the initial vision of the toolkit
People cope with life-transitional stress, we need to guide them to build up a tolerance for uncertainty by changing their very beliefs about uncertainty
One of the biggest struggles with dealing with uncertainty is “taking the first step and confronting uncertainty”(interview participant). Therefore, the toolkit aims to help people take that first step by breaking down the problem and helping them form actional steps they can take right away
The toolkit will adapt reflection as its core activity, as it is proven to be effective in rebuilding existing beliefs.
Design a Journal Experience
Research
Design &
Evaluation
01. Define Goals & Visions
02. The Journal Experience (Final Design)
03. Iterative Prototyping
04. Pilot Testing
Conclusion
Research
Design &
Evaluation
01. Define Goals & Visions
02. The Journal Experience (Final Design)
03. Pilot Testing
Conclusion
Research
Design &
Evaluation
01. Define Goals & Visions
02. The Journal Experience (Final Design)
03. Pilot Testing
Conclusion
Research
Design &
Evaluation
Conclusion
Design Process Overview
Design Direction
How might the toolkit empower individuals to navigate uncertainty with strength and proactive attitudes?
Design Intentions
This toolkit intends to guide individuals to explore their relationship with uncertainty and scaffold individuals to embrace and appreciate the role of the unknown in life transitions through reflection and reframing.
By doing so, the toolkit aims to shorten the period of confusion, stress, and paralysis due to the fear of uncertainty and lowers the thresholds for individuals to start seeking stress-coping strategies that would work for their unique situations
Target Audience
Individuals who are in life-transitional period, feeling frazzled or scared about future uncertainties and are seeking ways to untangle their thoughts and work through the troubling situation.
There are three main dimensions to the journal experience:
Experience: what would people think and feel
Content: what would people read about and do
Material: how would people interact with the physical artifacts
An Envisioned Experience
The toolkit was designed based on a hypothetical experience informed by interviews and my self-eval session conducted in the initial stage of the design. There are three threads of experience that I want to bring forth in the journaling experience, feeling, response and relationship with uncertainty.
Content Design
Based on previous research, there are many overlaps between dealing with uncertainty in life and in design. Expert designers demonstrate greater tolerance towards uncertainty, and are able to move forward with courage and confidence in the face of uncertainty. One key strategy that designers lean on while building design expertise is through intentional reflection.
Schon’s reflection model provides a good framework for how to reflect. The model proposes three chronological points where reflections can happen:
Reflection in action, which is occurring at the moment
Reflection on action is about looking at what has happened in the past
Reflection for action is about looking forward and considering what might happen
in the future
Therefore, Schon’s reflection model is used as the core theoretical backbone while designning the content and interactions of toolkit.
Forms and Formats
When considering the forms and format of the toolkit, I used the following design criteria to help guide decision making. The list of criteria was a synthesis of previous user research about individuals’ stress coping in life transitions.
The toolkit is open but still provides enough scaffolds
The toolkit is flexible enough to encourages individual processes, creativity and expression
The toolkit should take on physical forms for its therapeutic and organic qualities
After rounds of brainstorming and sketching (as shown below), I settled on a reflection journal that users can physically interact with it.
The Journal Experience ( a final design)
The journal experience starts with a “map” and ends with a “map”, and in between people go through 3 sets of questions to engage, reflect, and reframe.
The 3 sets of questions draw ontological, epistemological, and post-positivism framings and lenses because they are what designer and researchers most often engage with when navigating ambiguity and uncertainty
A walk through of the journal experience
01. Understand the “Trouble" | Reflection on Action
The journal starts with a mapping activity of the situation, inspired by a design method called mind mapping. This activity encourages people to ask “5 whys” to understand the problem space and identify relevant stakeholders and related conditions in the equation. This is a common research probing technique designers use to investigate the problem space.
Then building off of the initial situation mapping, the journal provides 3 sets of questions to guide people with reflections in depth.
02 - Q1 What do you have control over? | Reflection on Action
The first set of questions takes on an ontological framing, which is about what is the form and nature of reality. It investigates the situation at hand and challenges people’s understanding of reality by asking about how much control they have over the situation and what role they play in this case
02 - Q2 What do you want to know? What can you know? | Reflection on Action
The second set of questions builds on the epistemological framing and asks the question of what the individuals want to know, and what can be known about this situation.
02 - Q3 What do you know? What do you not know? | Reflection on Action
The last set of questions takes on a post-positivism lens. Inspired by Don Ihde's concept of multistability that there is not an interpretation more ‘‘true’’ or ‘‘absolute’’ than another”, the questions guide individuals to realize their own version of reality is subjective and there are equally true realities out there shaped by other minds.
Transition from reflecting on action (past) to reflecting for action (future)
03. Create Your Vision Boards | Reflection for Action
Pilot Testing the Journal Experience
Key Evaluation Questions
The key success indicators of the journal experience are
1) whether or not participants learned something new
2) whether or not participants left the experience feeling better than they started.
Who Tried the Journal?
6 participants who share the following concepts and constructs
Life stage: They all face uncertainties as they are transitioning into the next stage of life, and seeking ways to untangle their thoughts and work through the problem.
Disciplinary Background: 4 participants have design backgrounds, and 2 are from non-design majors
Product-related experience: All participants have journaled in the past.
What new insights did the participants gain from the experience?
Did participants leave the experience feeling better?
Evaluation Limitation
A limitation to my evaluation is that all participants are females who either journal often or are at least open to the idea of journaling, and consider themselves to be introspective, which is my target audience for the initial stage. However, I wonder if demographics or personality would play a part in how people experience the journal, which will be considered for future scope.
What did I learn from designing the journal?
This project is a synthesis of the learnings and modes of thinking that I have learned in design in the past 5 years, which has helped me build a worldview that’s allowing me to embrace moments of dissonance, unexpected changes, and questions that I don’t have answers to. I am glad to see the reflection journal come to life. I’ve received some feedback regarding its usability and the refinement of questions, but overall, I would consider this journal to be what I intended for this scope of the project.
A foreseeable next step would be gifting this to people and potentially following up to see how they are using it, as an informal diary study but more importantly, hope this does help people not just with one problem, but a genre of problems they face in life, to get clarity and inform actionable next steps for them.
Final thoughts
Dealing with uncertainty is a humbling experience. We are faced with vast open, aching questions we want to know about ourselves and where we would be, but we do not have answers, and will not have answers anytime soon as things are changing and moving. But, there's a beauty to not knowing
“The only way to make sense of change and uncertainty is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance” (Alan Watts)