The 5C Mindfulness Scavenger Hunt was inspired by many different user needs. One of these was a need for socialization, especially after so long in quarantine and at a time where half of the students are new to campus and just building their social circles. We also learned that several of our users benefitted from meditative walks in nature and had a need for outdoor spaces where they could decompress.
From all of these different needs, we came up with the 5C Mindfulness Scavenger Hunt. It is designed to include all of the campuses, providing fun and poetic clues that lead students to find aesthetic, peaceful, quiet spaces that we have identified. At these spaces, students could choose to do certain mindfulness/breath-work exercises as posted through a QR Code.
To test our prototype we described to users how it works and then showed them some of the clues. This enabled the testers to imagine themselves actually participating in the scavenger hunt. The feedback for this prototype tended to be mixed based on the tester. Some people really liked the concept and thought it would be a fun and novel activity that would help them explore the campuses and spend more time outside. Other users were unsure about the concept and doubted whether they would actually use it.
Overall the most insightful feedback that we got came from a user who helped us formulate our next iteration of the map. After speaking with this user we realized we needed to make the design more accessible rather than just being limited to a tangible paper instruction sheet. They recommended having an app where you could press different buttons in different locations in order to listen to and be guided through different mindfulness exercises. They also said that having this around the Claremont village would be very useful too, allowing people to explore the village and make Claremont feel more like home.
From this feedback we formulated an iteration onto our existing idea. Rather than a scavenger hunt, you would have a playlist of different recorded audio, each that would guide you from one place to another and walk you through some kind of meditation practice there. We decided to go with this format instead because it would allow the experience to be more freeform and accessible online. It would also allow people to add their own voice overs, making the platform collaborative.
