Glacier — A tool for adults with ADHD

Interactive

Packaging

I used this project as an exploration in conducting and implementing design research to work towards creating a tool for people with ADHD. Most productivity tools I’ve found on the market today address the needs of the common person (as I believe they should), but I wasn’t able to find a single tool designed for the needs of adults with adhd.

The Problem

Brand Strategy

The Design Concept

Design Concept

Currently, the medication treatment available is by far the most effective solution available, but it doesn't resolve everything.The core of the problem is what I'll call "ADHD-time," that is, the drastic involuntary devaluation and abstraction of future intention. This is what psychologists call "prospective memory" or memory of intentions. People with ADHD struggle with this even when medicated, and so this is the problem I aim to address.

Design concept

Currently, the medication treatment available is by far the most effective solution available, but it doesn't resolve everything.The core of the problem is what I'll call "ADHD-time," that is, the drastic involuntary devaluation and abstraction of future intention. This is what psychologists call "prospective memory" or memory of intentions. People with ADHD struggle with this even when medicated, and so this is the problem I aim to address.

The Design Challenge

The challenge: Create a tool for adults with ADHD that will demonstrate how ADHD-time management might look.

Concept

Currently, the medication treatment available is by far the most effective solution available, but it doesn't resolve everything.The core of the problem is what I'll call "ADHD-time," that is, the drastic involuntary devaluation and abstraction of future intention. This is what psychologists call "prospective memory" or memory of intentions. People with ADHD struggle with this even when medicated, and so this is the problem I aim to address.

The Process

Brand Guidelines

I began with a literature review covering general areas of ADHD, symptom profiles, and medication efficacy. Afterwards, I had the opportunity to do interviews with some incredibly inventive and generous people who told me about their experiences and systems for managing their symptoms. In this stage I wanted to find out where their needs remain unmet, and where I might be able to use design to address this. After reflecting and doing more research on the literature, I found that prospective memory was an area that could be resolved, and after taking many of the emotional, and functional limitations of ADHD into account, (and many rounds of critiques) I was able to create Glacier.

Research

Glacier is a mobile app that integrates with a calendar, and uses external "soft" indicators to convert future intentions, into present goals. The idea is to externalize what would otherwise be time based cues (eg. take medication at 9:00am and 12:00pm), Glacier turns these into environmental cues that are unique and specific.I realized that I couldn't make anything for this demographic that would be better suited than what they have made for themselves, and so the idea was to provide a tool that would act as an aid/visualizer/add-on to their existing tools. This was based on the finding that many people found Google calendars very helpful.

The Solution

Glacier is a mobile app that integrates with a calendar, and uses external "soft" indicators to convert future intentions, into present goals. The idea is to externalize what would otherwise be time based cues (eg. take medication at 9:00am and 12:00pm), Glacier turns these into environmental cues that are unique and specific.I realized that I couldn't make anything for this demographic that would be better suited than what they have made for themselves, and so the idea was to provide a tool that would act as an aid/visualizer/add-on to their existing tools. This was based on the finding that many people found Google calendars very helpful.

Video Stills

The Process

Brand Guidelines

I began with a literature review covering general areas of ADHD, symptom profiles, and medication efficacy. Afterwards, I had the opportunity to do interviews with some incredibly inventive and generous people who told me about their experiences and systems for managing their symptoms. In this stage I wanted to find out where their needs remain unmet, and where I might be able to use design to address this. After reflecting and doing more research on the literature, I found that prospective memory was an area that could be resolved, and after taking many of the emotional, and functional limitations of ADHD into account, (and many rounds of critiques) I was able to create Glacier.

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