COVID-19 has brought significant changes to our lives and eating practices, where many of us are required to not only stay at home but also eat at home. This is particularly challenging for lone-person households as eating alone can be boring, less motivating and could lead to unhealthy behaviors such as mindless snacking or skipping of meals. To remedy such situations, we present Guardian of the Snacks, a tangible multimodal system that encourages mindful snacking by offering a playful companionship to snacking. The system is customizable to bear the shape of different animals and can be adapted to different snacking scenarios. Like a good companion, it encourages eating but moderates overeating through auditory feedback and playful nudging. In this article, we reflect on our design process and contribute ideas for the future development of technology-driven mindful snacking.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This research aims to support positive wellbeing by encouraging people to take regular microbreaks from continuous on-screen work. We present Zenscape, an innovative tangible system that offers subtle reminders to engage in non-work related creative micro activities, through the stirring water action and sound. Zenscape integrates the ideologies of the Zen garden philosophy in its design and features a mini Zen garden consisting of sand and stones, and a water cup with a stirrer, all offering multiple micro activities for the user to get an escape from their work. Unlike time management apps, we do not target productivity, but rather focus on making the most of the microbreaks. We present a descriptive account of how we brought Zenscape into being through a conceptual framing of Diversion, Destination, Play and Return. We hope that our design reflections will inspire future systems on microbreaks beyond reminder and notification systems.