Our Understanding of the Target Group/ Addiction Support Group Users (Smokers)
Addiction Support Group Users are essentially individuals who attend Addiction Support Group. They seek help from Support groups because they are desperate to quit their habit due to its destructive nature. Reasons to quit can be -
ü health issues,
ü money,
ü family pressure,
ü work and
ü shift in attitude towards smokers. It’s not cool.
Sex – Both Male and Female
Age Group – 18 – 80
Race – Diverse!
Most Important Point
First and foremost, it is really their own will power and motivation to quit which bring them to the Support groups. Without their will and motivation, one cannot succeed in quitting programs laid by the Support Group.
After researching different Support Groups (for drugs, smoking, eating), we narrowed down our focus on addicted smokers.
Smoking is more Prevalent
And from our primary research we have come to know that smokers who are addicted to smoking find it extremely difficult to deal with their addiction once they are away from their Support Group. Also, they feel the need to do something with their hands.
Two Problems : Emotional and Physical
Emotional: Feelings of disconnect when away from the Support Group; cognitive dissonance creep in, a lapse in their better judgment. Leading to potential relapse.
Physical: Not knowing what to do with their hands.
We have in our mind a Product ( random order)
ü which will keep their hands/mind busy
ü which will connect to the group and program
ü Better alternative to a fag
ü Make the experience better
ü FUN
ü Interactive
ü Relaxing
ü Motivational
ü Positive
LED Interactive Stress Ball/Virtual Environment
Our LED Interactive Stress ball acts as a portable friendly object, which reminds the addicted smokers that they are part of a group of people who are targeting to quit smoking and that they belong to a community of people who are in the same situation going through similar experience.
A stress ball is a small, malleable ball that fits comfortably in the palm of a hand. Emotional stress can be relieved by tightly squeezing the stress ball, and it can also be used to relieve pain or discomfort from repetitive movements (like lighting a cigarette, taking it to the mouth etc etc).
The LED Interactive Stress ball also connects the Support Group users. With every squeeze, the ball becomes active; the ball signals LED lights to blink in other similar balls to light up along with lighting their own LED light.
LED Interactive stress ball, hence, serves to provide individuals with the ball a sense of community and connects them.
Addicted Smoker ‘A’ could be at a bus stop having a strong urge to smoke. Addicted Smoker ‘B’ could be in a pub feeling the same urge. All they now need to do is take out their LED Interactive Stress Ball and start playing with it and encourage each other with positive wordless signal – ‘ don’t smoke, I am with you.’
The LED Interactive Stress Balls come in a variety of different styles, colors, fabrics, and shapes.
The Make Up of the Object
(ergonomics : the science of relating the physiological and anatomical characteristics of the working or racing animal to the physical aspects of its working environment. )
The insides of stress balls are usually made with gel or foam and then covered with resilient fabric that can endure a lot of handling.
Transceiver
LED lights
Battery –
Size (?)
Some sort of sensor (?)
NOTE:
Maybe we can have two modes? Mode one can be help which means if they need help they squeeze the ball and the other people see the light, and mode 2 can be support so when other people see the light they squeeze the ball and the person who needs help their ball will vibrate, so they know someone is there for them.
But if no one is in need of help and a person has their ball on support and they squeeze it, the ball will automatically switch to help mode.
