Emotionally Empowered Activism - designing for momentum and resilience in youth-led grassroots.
Emotional Reservoir
Degree Project
2024
Activism is a deeply emotional endeavor, driven by the collective sentiments of individuals advocating for change. However, the intricate role of emotions in activism often remains convoluted, complicating its understanding and management. This project explores how emotional awareness and reflection can empower activist groups, by helping them build momentum and cultivate resilience. The final concept, Emotional Reservoir, proposes a digital platform designed to support youth-led grassroots organizations in managing their emotional dynamics. The application aims to make emotions tangible within groups, creating space for emotional reflexivity inspired practices in their routines. Guided by a human-centered and value-driven approach, this project further contributes with valuable insights on the pros and cons of the relationship between activists and digital platforms, and alternative concepts and reflections on how interaction design can facilitate meaningful social change in the context of activism.
Project Information
The current landscape of activism is one where technology empowers the youth to be agents of change while also posing and amplifying unique challenges. This project initiated with the goals of investigating the general and technology-influenced obstacles faced by young activists and mapping the diverse values, motivations, and aspirations of the activist community. The aim was to uncover opportunities for ideating and developing innovative digital experiences that resonate with the youth activist community and support their endeavors.
Along the way, I discovered the convoluted role that emotions play in activism, how they intersect with both the offline and online realms, and their importance to sustaining long-term practices for individuals and collectives. Using design methodologies, I explored this emotional dimension and ultimately proposed a digital platform—Emotional Reservoir—leveraging the gathered insights to shape a meaningful digital experience.
Methods
Throughout this project, I used a human-centered approach, placing activists at the heart of the experience and carefully considering their needs, values and aspirations. This approach helped me go beyond problem-solving and strive to create/enhance meaningful experiences. Activists, researchers and peers were involved in the project through a blend of investigative and generative methods. This included interviews and conversations to gather valuable insights, brainstorming sessions to generate ideas, and feedback sessions to gather input on concepts and design prototypes.
Additionally, I employed a value-driven approach to guide my design decisions and explorations. At the project's beginning, I proposed using both designer and activist lenses to shape my design process. This evolved into a framework, resulting from an iterative process of reflecting and articulating values to translate into design principles. The values framework was instrumental in guiding the project steadily. It provided reassurance and enabled me to evaluate how my decisions aligned with my initial intentions.
Result
Emotional Reservoir is the prototype of a digital platform that aims to aid youth-led grassroots groups be emotionally empowered, by fostering awareness and reflection. It visualizes the emotional landscapes within these groups and surrounding communities through interactive data, helping them tune into ongoing resonance and synergies. The platform also presents other features inspired by practices of emotional reflexivity, such as assessing collective and individual profiles and identities; reflecting on the alignment between motivation, action and intended impact; and addressing emotional imbalances.
This approach leverages the observed potential of emotions to generate engagement momentum and build resilience in activist groups. The concept focuses on raising awareness, inspiring reflection and encouraging groups to develop their own emotional practices. The proposed platform exemplifies how such practices can be aided by existing technology.
While exploring the intersection of technology with the deeply human experience of emotional engagement, the concept highlights the dynamic role and impact of emotions in activism, offering a tangible opportunity for discussion and exploration.
Group Profile - To understand the group's identity and the spectrum of values it represents, strengthening group bonds and discussing compromises between individuals and collective.
Emotional Reservoir - Groups can identify resonating topics and associated emotions, providing insight into their current emotional landscape.
Aligned Actions - Members can reflect on how to transform their emotions into activities that align with their motivations and intended impact.
Supporting groups manage emotional imbalances.
Community Reservoir - Groups can access how their community is responding to relevant topics, identifying emerging trends for mobilization.
Approach - Human-centered, placing activists needs, motivations and aspirations at the center + involving them in the process through various phases of the project.
Approach - Value-driven, to guide my design decisions and explorations, based on research insights, selected through reflection and assessment.
