Happy Places: Meditation App Tests

  Headspace

I tried out Headspace's three minute meditation they have as part of the free version, as for more extensive exercises you have to pay a membership fee which I'm looking to avoid for my app as I want 'Happy Places' to be accessible as possible to everyone, particularly as many people may be sceptical about meditating and it's benefits if any.

I found it quite useful as a little breather from the day, you can select to do 5 or ten minutes as well which I feel is an ideal way of easing people in. Their interface uses pastel colours and simple shapes with purposeful use of white space, I feel this aesthetic is uncomplicated thus making it more accessible and visually calming.


Meditation Timer

 
 

 I chose this app to explore as I want to look at something more visually based, I couldn't find a meditation app on the app store which lends itself purely to visual simulations but these different backgrounds can be chosen when listening to audio which you can select yourself. I found the 'bell' sound most soothing and I could set this to reoccur at my preferred timing. 

These images are the backgrounds I personally found most calming, one was of a lighting bolt which for me was unsettling, however usually if you're meditating you're instructed verbally to close your eyes but my app aims to be more of a visual experience, I was thinking I may therefore create my own spoken audio to be played whilst creating your 'happy place', or have the option to just have sound effects such as waves, wind and other natural sounds. 

I could possibly even use music, find instrumentals or songs I find soothing and create a playlist accessible whilst using the app, to help better set the mood. Typically the most soothing music I associate with is jazz, recently I've been listening to more experimental modern jazz, my friends are also incredibly talented jazz musicians, I could collaborate with them in creating a relaxation soundtrack. Here's an example of the kind of vibe I'm thinking of:

Fkj & Masego - Tadow

Plumm my friend the singer in this has a really soothing voice which I feel would work really well, the more modern twist on jazz may help update the app, engaging with a younger audience. This song isn't necessarily the best suited as it's not the most soothing however I like the concept of updating people's perception of meditation.

R;a X Plumm - Told You 

And / or I could include more classic meditation music, using Tantra music and binaural beats:

An issue I faced whilst playing Tap Tap Fish where you can through playing the game through a point scoring system, was to advance your fish kingdom you could watch adverts, whilst this would increase your 'vitality' and earn you gems/ pearls, it interrupted the game. Often the adverts would be for apps and games that focused on war, violence or were just generally hectic. I feel this would effect the players mood and disrupt this state of calm the game seems to set out to create.

Having done some research and used Headspace's 3 minute meditation, I used a recording of this to mock up a 'meditation test video' roughly including visuals I plan to use in my app.

Meditation Test 

I used Tantra Music overlaying a meditation tape, while the visuals overlapped and split screen with visuals of me meditating for 3 minutes, using the Head Space App. The concept behind this was that people could see what I was hypothetically visualising in my head as my eyes were closed. 

Through use of cut away screen I could place the video over my head at certain points in the video, alongside the video in split screen as well as a less than perfect green screen, this effect I really like as it has a psychedelic feel which is fitting in context of my 'revamped aesthetic' of meditation.

 It also has a more personal feel as you can still see elements of the body and room, as well as these beautiful landscapes hinting you're not completely out of your body, rather this is just an extension of your imagination, you're still aware importantly of your breathing which will be focused on when I record my spoken meditation guide.