Aromatherapy LightBox — Medium Publication
By Mimi Pham
https://uxdmimi.medium.com/aromatherapy-light-box-e6b4915c24f0
One of the most successful music records of 2020 was The Box by Roddy Ricch. His song references the feeling of being trapped and suffocated in a box but wanting to break out to achieve his ambitions and goals. Roddy Ricch wanted to push himself further outside his comfort zone with The Box. This idea inspired my team and I to hack the traditional concept of a box.
Given the design challenge to transform a typical eight cornered structure, my team began to brainstorm. We all had unique ideas when approaching this project. Using these ideas, we collected all of our similarities and differences and narrowed them down. As a class group, we tend to stress out about school. We would use remedies and methods to help ourselves become relaxed. What helps us to relax the slightest bit are essential oils; this is how our box came to ideation.
The team researched different essential oil methods that would complement a box. We then came across the reed diffuser as they operate with reed sticks that are stuck inside a jar. The purpose of using reed sticks allows essential oils to be soaked and released into the air. Therefore, we imagined the reed sticks diffusing oil inside a glass jar, being surrounded by a box.
We were off to a great start hacking our box. However, a reed diffuser surrounded by a box sounded too easy and bland: so, we researched more ways to relieve stress. One of the team members suggested a light therapy screen. I’ve never heard about light therapy screens. Though upon further research, I became intrigued about its functionalities and later had it added. By including a light therapy screen to the outside of the box, we can relieve more than just a bit of stress from the user. Light therapy also relieves seasonal affective disorder. Light therapy mimics natural sunlight, thus helping users regain their sunlight exposure. As exam season reaches cold dark nights, using light therapy can also improve moods. Essential oils and light therapy are a great combination through our sense of smell and sight.
Now that we have the concept of our box, it was time to make it functional. Will the box have any sort of wires for technology, is there a placeholder for the sticks, is the box battery-powered or chargeable? A lot of questions were asked, which led us to tweak massive components of our original ideas. We wanted to make our box as accessible and inclusive as possible. Not only does our design help relieve stress and improve mental health, but we also wanted it to be easy to use. We made the box to be chargeable, allowed it to be portable, and included an adjustable light option for the light screen. Also, to avoid messes, there is a lid for the glass compartment and a placeholder to hold the cover (when it is taken off) and sticks (for when they are not in use).
Learning about how to hack the traditional concept of a box made me realize that a simple idea is more complicated on paper. Hacking a box design seemed easy, but it’s boring when the team isn’t challenging themselves. I love a challenge where I can be creative and critically think about certain aspects that I haven’t considered before. I’m glad I worked on a box design that tackles mental health: the Aromatherapy LightBox.
Resources
Minguillon, Jesus et al. “Blue lighting accelerates post-stress relaxation: Results of a preliminary
study.” PloS one vol. 12,10 e0186399. 19 Oct. 2017, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0186399
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5648169/
“What To Know Before Using A Reed Diffuser.” Iberchem Fragrances. 28 May, 2020.
