A therapeutic & interactive tool to explore emotions
WHAT
HOW
WHY
The Cloud is my graduation project for Graphic Design at WDKA, Rotterdam.
It is a therapeutic tool that helps people truly experiencing their emotions, in order to become more mindful, self-aware and to make conscious healthy choices in their lives.
It is a therapeutic tool that helps people truly experiencing their emotions, in order to become more mindful, self-aware and to make conscious healthy choices in their lives.
Through research, I developed a system in which emotions are physicalised through colourful clouds, making them more visible as a way to counter emotional suppression.
A psychologist helped me clarify the role of this tool and we created a healthy method to explore emotions, intended for therapy sessions.
I personally designed and produced the tool's components, including laser-cutting plexiglass, printing and cutting paper and I designed a space for everything to coexist. Continuous testing of every detail, be it method or craft, played a crucial role throughout this process.
A psychologist helped me clarify the role of this tool and we created a healthy method to explore emotions, intended for therapy sessions.
I personally designed and produced the tool's components, including laser-cutting plexiglass, printing and cutting paper and I designed a space for everything to coexist. Continuous testing of every detail, be it method or craft, played a crucial role throughout this process.
I believe that emotions deserve more attention, and the idea of rejecting or hiding them in order to always appear happy disappoints me. Even though some emotions have made me feel ashamed at times, I’ve recently learned that we need to accept them as they are—valuable information—because we can't control them. They influence a large part of our actions, which is why we need to learn how to manage them. Having learned this lesson myself, it inspired my graduation project in the hope that others might benefit from it as well.
I wanted my graduation project to be closely connected to my personality, and since I’m an emotional person who struggles to hide their feelings, as well as a designer passionate about colors, shapes, and fictional stories, I believe I’ve achieved my original goal.
I wanted my graduation project to be closely connected to my personality, and since I’m an emotional person who struggles to hide their feelings, as well as a designer passionate about colors, shapes, and fictional stories, I believe I’ve achieved my original goal.
The Cloud started as a speculation
In collaboration with the Psychologist Ilinca Vlaicu, we created a tool to help people better understand and engage with their emotions through exploration, reflection and application.
The interconnecting clouds represent emotions, while the questions take people in a journey of becoming more self-aware.
This tool encourages building a cloud which encapsulates one's emotions.
Colourful clouds are used to bring inner experiences into the physical world, where they can be observed and analyzed from an external perspective. Due to their tangible nature, they make abstract concepts concrete, providing a clear visual representation of emotions and how they manifest, improving emotional literacy. They are particularly useful when emotions are difficult to identify, and words are hard to express. Like a pen on paper, coloured clouds freeze the emotions in time, showing how someone feels-how intensely, whether good or bad - up to highly specific emotions.
8 Basic Emotions come in different intensities. This is Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions which I used to develop The Cloud.
In this system, more than 80 different emotions can be visualised.
Clouds can be combined to create new meanings, because the basic emotions form complex ones when they're mixed.
MISERY
DESPAIR
Why Clouds?
Emotions and clouds are similar. They’re both temporary, coming and leaving depending on the weather, or mood. Clouds come in different shapes, sizes, and colours, and so do emotions. Emotions inform the body that something is happening or there is a risk to take. Clouds also inform about bad weather or sunny days and sometimes even protect us with their shade, like fear protects us from danger. Even though there are tumultuous clouds, as well as tumultuous emotions, which both seem heavy and dangerous, the puffy white clouds and pleasant emotions always come back. Their absence tells a story on its own, resembling a peaceful state.
Every object is unique, reflecting the diversity of human emotions.
It is healthy to feel them all, to embrace anger, sadness or fear, without avoidance or distraction. By observing, we can learn what they are trying to communicate.
Collaborations
Psychotherapist, relationship coach & vocational counselor.
- Provided useful inputs about the tool based on real-life experience.
- Tested the tool in her therapy sessions with multiple clients.
- Offered valuable feedback after the tests.
- Tested the tool in her therapy sessions with multiple clients.
- Offered valuable feedback after the tests.
Prior to The Cloud, I translated emotions into symbols.
