Spire Breath Guide
Available in App Store. View reviews on Amazon.
Making meditation more accessible. Beginning as a self-initiated project, The Breath Guide developed into a favorite feature in Spire's production app. The first biofeedback of its kind uses real-time input of the user's breath to create the visuals. Through rounds of user testing, it developed into a gamified experience, encouraging users to attain a calmer state in minutes through paced breathing.
My Role
Self-Initiator
UX Design
Animation Design
Who I worked with
Firmware Engineer
iOS Developer
Project Manager
The Problem
Intended Journey
How might we..
improve app engagement with a quick and easy relaxing exercise.
Biofeedback Opportunity
When I joined the team, Spire's App had a simple line representing the real-time breath. I grew excited about its possibilities.
Creating a mood-board, I set out to teach myself how artists created simple, yet entrancing particle physics effects that invoked a state of relaxation and escape.
Visual Research
Prototyping with the Sensor
Befriending a Firmware Engineer interning with me at the time, we stayed after hours to experiment with programs and interactive games. Modifying our device to connect to the computer allowed us to use Quartz Composer and Max MSP to prototype simple graphics that responded to the breath in real time. We presented our excitement with the team and began a process for implementing it into the production app.
Biofeedback Game Logic
From some initial tests, we found a big challenge: If the game is difficult or gets stuck, people can get even MORE anxious.
3:30s
20% Dots Green
-2.1 bpm
0:30s
-1.8 bpm
60% Dots Green
Simple and rewarding.
Careful not to induce more anxiety!
100% Dots Green
In Production
Impact
Audio Alternative
An exciting potential avenue I proposed was an audio version of the breath guide which would allow for people who are blind to experience the effect.
Where to next?
Due to the success of the initial product, we explored the best path for it to evolve.
New Use Cases
Expanding the benefits of our guide to be ideal for more use-cases depending on the users' environment.
HRV Guide
Heart-Rate Variability, a measurement trusted by scientists as an indicator for health, can be taken each day while user remains still.
Journey/Lessons
New lessons and features are unlocked the more the app is used.
Sleep
With sleep tracking gaining huge popularity, our product presents new opportunities for its implementation .