As an introduction to Life-Centered Design, the team sought to focus on the topic of Mobility and Recreation, but more importantly, to understand the ways in which COVID-19 caused a domino effect on student lifestyles, in relation to navigating and socializing within the city in daily life. 

Investigation

During the investigation, the team interviewed 6 local candidates between the ages of 18 & 25 years old. These candidates were students from various universities within the city of San Jose, CR. The interviews were mainly regarding college students living in the city, who used to commute from home to university and travelling within the city for recreation and socializing, pre-pandemic. These were online In-depth-interviews.

Analysis & Synthesis

The process led us to 3 main reflection points: 

1. Students consider the change in daily routine to be temporary, but still aspire to learn from them.

2. The feeling of isolation is enhanced among students, since they are out of their eco-system (friends, campus, fellow classmates, teachers, etc), hence forcing them to interact in newer ways.

3. Having to react to this new lifestyle due to the pandemic, has caused the forming of unexpected habits and routines. Some good and some bad.

This brought us to think of ways in which students could rid themselves of the sense of isolation caused by COVID-19, in order to preserve their mental health and at the same time, empower them to take control of their time.

Solution

Amito is an app that the student downloads, and then signs up for the service. The student then selects habits that they either want to keep, get rid of, or new habits they would like to acquire. It then motivates them to continue good habits that they already have, abandon old habits that are undesirable, or get new habits which they've never tried. This is accomplished by reinforcing patterns in their schedule that promote those habits.

The app further reinforces those habits, by connecting them with their friends, through the app, that are also using the service, as a means for support, accountability, and motivation, through a healthy sense of competition and socialization. The service tracks their progress and notifies them within a few weeks as to the progress of their sustained new habits.

Once those habits are successfully sustained/lost/acquired, the app allows the user to develop new habits.