Monica Bhatia: Mood Board, Market Research, Storyboard, Top 20, Sketches, etc.

I am designing a therapeutic tool that is meant to be given as a gift from a mother who is a survivor to her daughter, who is a previvor [a woman who has a history of breast cancer in her family and is very likely to develop it herself. Many of these women go to drastic measures such as a mastectomy before cancer is even found.] This group of women is an example of the fear that accompanies inheriting a genetic disease. So how can I use design to comfort this fear, communicate the family history, and predict the treatments that will exist in the future?



Top 20 = of people I have and people I need

Daniela Schiller - NYU Center for Neural Science Psychology Department [expert on fear and the emotional brain ]
Cancer previvors and survivors [ individuals, mother-daughter pairs, support groups ]
Dunne and Raby - Design interactions RCA, critical designers
Tobey RDH - founder of www.previvorsandsurvivors.com
Dr. Jaime Ostroff - Associate Attending Psychologist - Behavioral Sciences Service Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Expert on Genetic Health
Women of Ashkenazi decent
Practicing Oncologist
Gregory Hannon - Cancer Genetics researcher
David Servan-Schreiber - Integrative Medicine writer of Anticancer: A New Way of Life
Michael Clarkson - Intelligent Fear theorist

As for people I need to help me with the actual design/production of my object, I don't really know yet because I don't really know what this is going to be. This will come soon.


story board + ideas for what this product is....


Action plan for user testing:

-Continue to contact Dr. Ostroff at Sloan-Kettering, and talk to her about my ideas for objects.
-Use photos and drawings to communicate what I'm thinking about making to women on the previvor/survivor forums. Ask specific questions relating to images.
-Talk to all my experts about the objects.
-Get in touch with actual previvors/survivors and ask them how they feel about my project.