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Breath as key to life: Designing an awareness campaign for University Students

Vasiljeva, Simona (2019) Breath as key to life: Designing an awareness campaign for University Students.

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Abstract:The educational system annually provides society with young professionals all over the world, forming the future and creating new connections. This structure became an orderly part of the modern lifestyle, that brings a wide range of possibilities, but at the same time adds particular challenges. One of the issues that universities worldwide have discovered is the decline of student mental health and increase in severe psychological disorders among the student population. In the past two decades, this problem has received more publicity among the general public as well as attracted attention in the academic world. Ben Bulsink in collaboration with Parvis Sassanian have been developing a breathing wearable that is capable of accurately tracking breathing patterns in order to support the wearer in developing healthier breathing habits. Breath as a Key to life is an ongoing project that has been passed on to Creative Technology students that have found scientific proof of benefits of abdominal breathing, showing that it can significantly improve both physical and mental health. Combining the motivation of the clients of this project and the student mental health issue it was decided to create a video awareness campaign that introduces breathing practices to university students as a possible solution for mental health treatment. This led to the research question: “How should an awareness campaign be designed in order to introduce breathing practices as a possible solution for mental health treatment for university students?” Background research collected information on the problem, providing insights on student mental health, as well as the existing support system. The research also includes a target audience analysis, describing general interests and design preferences of millennials. In addition to that information on current marketing trends and principles of persuasion were collected in order to support the future design of the film and message. Using the background research and feedback sessions with the client and representatives of the target audience a final film concept was chosen and the functional and non-functional requirements were formed. The final film had to be inspiring, motivating, relatable, truthful and focused on real personal stories. The evaluation of the campaign proved that the preferences of the target audience were included and the final film was a success. In conclusion, the report provides valuable insights on student mental health, the wellness market, existing marketing strategies and methods that can be used to develop a successful awareness campaign. The report also gives a detailed guideline of the ideation and realization process that can be used by scholars in future similar projects. The final film is evaluated through a user test and describes how the requirements were executed. It showed the importance of direct communication with the audience and client and how it greatly contributes to the result. For future work, a set of guidelines for designing awareness campaigns for university students is presented as well as suggestions that explain how a similar project can potentially be improved through adjustments in the planning and organization.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Subject:05 communication studies, 20 art studies, 21 art forms
Programme:Creative Technology BSc (50447)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/78721
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