The current topic I’m thinking about is An Emotion Shredder APP for working women
Emotions are normally considered irrational or not professional in work. However, as humans, we experience a set of emotions on a daily basis. Studies have shown that women experiences more mental burden, trying to hind their emotions in work to look more “professional” and in order to be respected. For my thesis, I wish to help women better deal with emotions in work settings, also convey the idea that work emotions are common and should be to considered a weakness. Instead, if we can all work together to face them and deal with them in a healthy way, the overall work environment will be more friendly and inclusive, not just for women, but also for all genders. In this App that I wish to build, I want to help working women visualize their emotions, shape it as they want (3d modeling and personalization in the app), and then shred it. In addition, if it’s possible, I want to make the APP compatible with AR technologies where you can actually “see” the emotion avatar and smash/kick it away it in real life.

The following box is a representation of my disturbing emotions while working on a piece of side job. The contents are made by colorful clay that I randomly pick up near my desk. I was disturbed by the idea that I may frustrate my colleagues, as if the work is dismantling my confidence and creativity while stress is still holding me like a big rock on top of my mind.

Many feelings like imposter syndrome, not being recognized, afraid to frustrate others, feel like one have to be productive all the time, perfectionism, afraid to make mistakes are common in work settings. I hope my work could help people, for just a little bit, to deal with work emotions. I invited my mother, who’s an office manager for a big company, to discuss emotions in work settings. She mentioned that as a manager, her common emotions are stress for big/difficult projects and frustrations of distrust from colleagues and leaders. She feel pretty understanding towards my representation of stress in the box. The methods she often use to deal with these emotions are talking to friends and family, talking to herself and trying to care less, find a distraction, and working out. For the project itself, she feels like “trust” and “interactivity” will be a big part of the APP. She wishes the app can help her feel understood for whatever she’s feeling in work.