Spectra - A speculative project for enhancing note-taking and mood-tracking
Plenty of research has been generated around “mood colouring” and “mood scoring” – strategies developed for articulating and plotting emotions. The goal of these strategies is to determine standard, reproducible methods to both measure and document moods in order to better evaluate progress in addressing mood disorders. While note-taking serves as an accessible and convenient method for transcribing one’s thoughts, it can be skewed by prevailing perceptions brought on by mood swings and depression.
Spectra provides a simple outlet for day-to-day note-taking, allowing the user more reflective data on emotional progress. It is a digital product that provides tools for journaling, allowing the user to document daily moods through colour. As entries are made consistently over time, mood patterns can be deciphered to assess mental health and well-being. Colour is interpreted by the user, allocated to daily entries, providing visual documentation akin to a “mood board for daily living”. As colour is subjective to the user, each note time-stamped with a mood print is entered with journal content, providing richer data.
Sketch-noting and colour enhancement allow the user to transcribe thoughts and reflection in rich, tactile, and emotive detail. Evaluative psychology contends that emotions are often experienced as opposites in which opposing emotions can be experienced simultaneously. Colour theory and its long-standing tradition of contrast and complimentary values serves as an apt mode for the visual documentation of mood and emotion. Spectra is a digital product that seeks to serve this aim, acting as both container for documentation and representation of visual informatics.
