Arti
MFA Thesis 2020
Traditional talk therapy can be awkward and trying for adolescents as well as for the counselors working with them. When adolescents are working out identity and personality, creativity can serve as a powerful medium for articulating who they are and how they feel, despite struggling to get the words out.
Arti is a set of four figurines designed to be canvases for creative, nonverbal expression for adolescents, while simultaneously acting as tools for a therapist to help engage their young clients. Arti's materiality as an object provides the structure of a physical form for the adolescent to handle and move. On the other hand, its blank facades offer an opportunity to customize and surfaces to manipulate at will.
The client chooses whichever figurine they respond to the most. They then mark on or modify the surface of the figurines using easily accessible art or craft supplies, such as markers, paints, stickers, glue, etc., that the therapist has on hand in the office. In this way, Arti is both object and activity. First, it invites the user to engage in a creative process of their choosing. Then, it becomes an object to reference and hold throughout the therapy session. Arti becomes a tool with which the adolescent client can communicate with their therapist and express how they feel.
Skills
3D Product Design
Research
Prototyping
CAD Modeling
Storytelling
2D Animation
Storyboarding
Icons by Victoruler