appreciation · first moodboard. contents. 7 intro. 13 initial concepts. 15 audience. 17 research....

Phase II

appreciation

Tia Blunden | process book

first moodboard

contents

7 intro

13 initial concepts

15 audience

17 research

21 notebook

34 final concepts

40 works cited

7

In North America, the rates of depression have been increas-ing drastically over the last 50 years. In too many cases, this has lead to suicide. I believe that if we can increase the frequency of expression of appreciation we can increase overall happi-ness. This topic, appreciation is very broad, so I was figuring out where I wanted to concentrate on increasing our gratitude; for things, people, relationships, actions or services. so I soon decided to focus on appreciation

of our relationships with other people and all of the things they do for us. So in my initial brainstorming sessions I began defining these relationships and figuring out which relationships I thought could benefit most from an increase in appreciation. I separated them into relation-ships with pets, friends, family, lovers, and strangers. As a result, I figured we could most extend our gratefulness to our relation-ships with strangers. We interact with so many people everyday,

intro

questions

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but how often do we tell them how much we appre-ciate their help? If people could understand how much they are appreciated in their life, maybe this would give them a better sense of purpose and ulti-mately more satisfaction. Once I decided to focus on relationships with strangers I wondered if appreciation was really the problem or if it was the expression of this appreciation that we were most lacking.

I asked many questions in the beginning stages of development. From ‘Can design aid in making people happier without selling them a product?’ to ‘Can design promote ways to express appreciation?’ My goal is to be able to say “Yes.” to these ques-tions when I am done. This semester it is becoming increasingly more important that I am satisfied with the outcome and the development of the idea. I want to remind people of the benefits of these small easy actions, to bring understanding, and expression of appreciation. I don’t want to inflict any feelings of guilt or fear.

If you google the definition of appreciation, it is defined as “the recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something” or as “an expression of admiration, approval, or gratitude”. So what does gratitude mean? “The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.” and thankful is defined as the recognition of the benefits received. These basic definitions encouraged me to brainstorm the more abstract definitions of these words, and espe-cially of the word expression. I was concerned with how this appreciation, or gratitude was already

being expressed. I wanted to define the problems within the system so I could move forward with solutions of how we could better express this appreciation. In the end, it was decided that maybe we internally appreci-ate the actions people are often doing for us but we often lack expression of thankfulness. So my thesis is then, to increase the expression of appreciation between strangers.

Expression is defined as “the process of making one’s thoughts or feelings known.” I speculated that we do this: verbally, with our body language or facial expression, written in greeting cards, giving gifts – it could be money, store-bought, or home-made, and through music and art. These have all been success-ful methods of communicating at times, but they are also vul-nerable to becoming barriers for expression. While doing compet-itive research, the one campaign I thought was most similar to what I wanted to do initially was done by a student and was titled, the Workers Appreciation Campaign, it was basically a set of thank-you cards placed

in the lobby of a building. It included small reminder posters, and it worked with the phrase

“Without Them...”. This was quite simple to what I was expect-ing to do at first, so my first few concepts were variations of this theme.

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brainstorms

competition

13

initial sketches

My initial concepts involved the idea of visualizing appreciation in an attempt to redesign the tipping system, or comment card system. So often we are inclined to express our dissatisfaction rather than when we are completely happy. I looked at rede-veloping the comment card system in a way that would make it easier for people to “fill out” when they were satisfied, as opposed to only filling them out when they were upset. One concept was to use some sort of visual containers in the lobby of ser-vice buildings so you were able to visually see how they were being rated, and would potentially be more inclined to make your voice heard as well. I hoped that if you had a really great service, but the visual ratings showed that they were not being

initial concepts

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rated that well that day you could quickly make your opinion count, either by just placing a marble in the positive container or by writing a quick note. Another concept involved a website or app, with a public screen some-where downtown in cities, where you could text to the screen or website your appreciation and it would be displayed in an interac-tive way. This idea is inspired by the website “We Feel Fine”, the Georgia Straights section called

“I Saw You...” and MTV’s tweet to screen while watching music videos. The main issue with this concept is that the people who we want to receive the message are not very likely to get the message, and the relationship between the person expressing and receiving is extremely dis-connected. Another concept was to create a set of business cards that were like mini thank-you

cards that you could give out quickly in a variety of situations

– somebody holding the door for you, a bus driver who waited for you to run to the bus, the barista that made your drink super fast and delicious. But I doubted the convenience of this method and if it would be received well. In the movie 500 Days of Summer the main character works for a greeting card company and I think he explains it perfectly,

“People buy cards cause they can’t say how they feel or they’re afraid to. We provide the service that let’s them off the hook...[p]eople should be able to say how they really feel. Not some words that some strangers put in their mouth, words like love, that don’t mean anything. So if this is true, making more cards or methods to express apprecia-tion may not actually solve the problem.

While researching things that have already been done in this field, I found that it was often older women preaching the importance of being genuine and true and focusing on showing appreciation only for specific ser-vices such as soldiers or teachers. The “self-help” books are very interesting and written well but they target an older, more self-reflective type person, and are more broad, discussing appre-ciation in all of it’s forms. The youtube video type campaigns

audience

are definitely emotional and easy to relate to but they can seem like they are preaching. While I appreciate these values, I won-der if we can somehow make expression and appreciation cooler and focus more on the younger generations; the genera-tions that have even more and appreciate even less. We take so many things for granted. Maybe if we appreciated the people we have in our lives, and strength-ened the human connections we have with each other we would

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be less of a consumerist culture. I think it’s impor-tant to know that thanks does NOT go without saying. I have found that my project will be benefi-cial for everyone. When people show thankfulness for a service, not only the person receiving the gratitude should benefit, but the person express-ing should feel great as well. Knowing that they have made someone feel appreciated, or happy, can affect them in the same way. From further obser-vation, the project will be focusing on a younger generation – the ones who have yet to fight for what they have. Instilling these values at a younger age when they are more impressionable could be ben-eficial for the growing generation. In essence it’s about being polite and re-instilling values, but in a cool way so that the younger generations will be able to relate or latch on to. If younger generations are my target audience, I want to avoid just telling them what to do, as they are approached this way all too often, and may eventually rebel against this technique. In the end, this campaign will benefit all ages, and types of people, but the main target is on the younger side. One concern is the poten-tial for this expression of appreciation to become fake. This is key to the success of the resulting hap-piness. If the compliment is not genuine, authentic, and true to the person expressing it, the act loses all it’s power. It is not an action that should feel like a chore, but more something that becomes a natu-ral and enjoyable activity.

“For centuries, thinkers from various disciplines have believed this emotion to be essential for building and preserving social relationships, so much so that gratitude has been labeled ‘not only the best, but the parent of all other virtues’”(Bartlett). It’s weird to note that gratitude is often neglected in psychology even though there are linguis-tic equivalents for gratitude in virtually every language and major religions often express the importance of grateful

research

expression (Russell L. Kolts, et al.). I find it weird that some-thing that seems so important would be ignored by the insti-tution of social sciences when it so obviously is connected. That being said there is still a decent amount of work being done in the last few years that considers these very essential relationships between appreciation and well-being. Gratitude is experienced as a result when people receive something beneficial or felt when somebody does something

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kind or helpful (Jeffrey J. Froh, et al.). Research suggests that people who are more grateful are more positive, and often have fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression. And in a culture where major depression has become a pressing issue, any-thing we can do to improve well-being should be taken seriously. Depression affects more than 21 million American children and adults annually and is the leading cause of disability in the United States for people aged 15 – 44 years old. (MHA) Why in a society in which we have so much, are we so unhappy? It seems clear that appreciation is a key factor. If we can appreciate each other and feel appreciated we will then feel better.

Trait gratitude is defined as, ‘A grateful person may not experience grateful feelings at any given moment, but he/she will be more likely to experi-ence gratitude in particular situations,’ meaning that inherently grateful people will be more likely to appreciate the simple pleasures or ‘little things’ in life. But there is also the “grateful affect” which is described as the feeling of thankful apprecia-tion for favours received. (Trait gratitude is the susceptibility to experience that affect.) Increasing people’s appreciation involves changing their per-ception so that they are able to acknowledge these subjective benefits that occur every day. The four factors that are attributed to “grateful persons” are that these people have a sense of abundance, they appreciate the contribution of others to their well-being, they appreciate simple pleasures, and they acknowledge the importance of experiencing and expressing gratitude. (Russell) It becomes man-datory that I aim to expand on these values and

characteristics. It makes sense that if I can inspire these attributes in people, then they will in turn become more grateful people. And in time happier people.

The social relationships we engage in, benefit us despite their social roles or values (Russell). Through it’s encouragement of reciprocal, pro-social behaviours between a benefactor and a recipient, gratitude nurtures our social relation-ships (Bartlett, Monica Y., and David DeSteno). The system of appreciation is cyclical in nature; requiring participation from both the person who experiences the appreciation and the per-son expressing their appreciation. When this first phase is passed, ( the appreciation has been expressed and received ), the participants have potential to swap roles continuously. Appreciating the gratitude they are receiving. “Gratitude bolsters social bonds and friendships by building people’s skills for caring, altruism, and acts of apprecia-tion. Over time, gratitude- similar to other positive emotions- contributes to the growth of skills, rela-tionships, and resilience.” (Jeffrey J. Froh, et al.). So if our relationships with others directly effect our well-being, we must strive to keep these rela-tionships on positive terms and if expressing this gratitude for each other is benefiting our relation-ships, it is also benefiting our personal health.

In a recent study, results demonstrated that men were less likely to feel and express gratitude, made more critical evaluations of gratitude, and derived fewer benefits (Jeffrey J. Froh, et al.). It is speculated that men may regard the experience

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and expression of gratitude as evidence of vulnerability and weakness, which may threaten their masculinity and social standing. “If men are less ori-ented to the experience and expression of emotions, espe-cially in social situations, then they are at a disadvantage for benefitting from gratitude. These barriers of expression are a direct concern and must be considered in the final outcome of my project. Is there any way to eliminate or make these obsta-cles trivial?

Individuals must overcome the worry that they will expend time and resources building a rela-tionship only to receive little or nothing in return (Bartlett, Monica Y., and David DeSteno.) This becomes another barrier for the – As human beings we tend to fear commitment. This underlying tendency to evaluate situations in a ‘cost versus ben-efit analysis’ method can effect the decisions we make in social situations, or any situation for that matter. But if this method of analysis is hindering our expres-sion of appreciation, it is also hindering our overall happiness,

as it forbids us to enjoy the ben-efits established above. In short, I must tackle barriers of expres-sion such as the connotation that gratitude implies a weak-ness, and I must fully express the benefits of expressing this appre-ciation so that it doesn’t seem like it will cost more than it will payoff.

In the next phase of my project I intend to conduct some pri-mary research. This will involve a survey, potentially contacting a psychologist, and user testing. I am excited for feedback on the ideas I have come to.

notebook

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initial feedback

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idea

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layout

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feedback

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layout

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ideation

34

final concepts

sarcastic thank-you cards

People are reluctant to show their appreciation because they fear it will make them look weak, or dependant. So they may mask this appreciation with insincere remarks & sarcasm. By showing them a collection of “thank-you’s” in this tone of voice, it will make them realize that this is not actu-ally a valuable way to communicate with people. This technique concentrates on two main points brought up in research, the fact that men often feel that showing appreciation would make them seem weak, and that one of the four attributes of a grate-ful person is the ability to recognize the benefits in expressing appreciation. These cards could easily become a book, posters for a campaign, and would most likely have a web component where people can learn more about sharing and expressing their appreciation. My concern with this concept is that it can be very difficult to convey sarcasm in text, without the emphasis that sound adds.

1 THANKS FOR HOLDING THE DOOR, BUT I’M GOING TO BE LATE ANYWAYS.

Thanks for making dinner, what else did the tornado leave behind?

drafts

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sharing pamphlet

The goal for this form is to bring the social media aspect of shar-ing information to life. This pamphlet would be small and handed out or available in com-mon areas where people are often waiting around. Each pam-phlet would come with stickers or pins, things you could “post” around town. They may be “like” or “heart” stickers to show your appreciation for certain things or people you could give them one. It could be more simple, in that it just has little parts that you can tear off and share with people. The goal is to get people’s interest and make it exciting to read and interact with.

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inspiration

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binary book

Like a double issue in a maga-zine, the binary book will have two covers and the content will merge in the center. This format yields potential to discuss two topics, a world with appreciation and a world without it. It will be a collection of stories from peo-ple, of both experiences in which appreciation enhanced their day, and stories of situations in which the lack of gratitude was apparent. This way we are able to show in two different meth-ods the importance and value of appreciation. In doing so, we are encouraging people to express this gratitude for their own well-being. There could be more than one edition. Reflective of how interrelated the two sides are.

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two-sides

4140

Works Cited

Alspach, Grif. “Extending the Tradition of Giving Thanks: Recognizing the Health Benefits of Gratitude.”

Critical Care Nurse 29.6 (2009): 12-18. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 8 Oct. 2011.



Bartlett, Monica Y., and David DeSteno. “Gratitude and Prosocial Behavior.” Psychological Science (Wiley-

Blackwell) 17.4 (2006): 319-325. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 8 Oct. 2011.



Cloud, Dr. Henry. The Law of Happiness. New York: Howard, 2011. Print

Green, Walter. This is the Moment! USA: Hay House, Inc, 2010. Print.

Jeffrey J. Froh, et al. “Gender Differences in Gratitude: Examining Appraisals, Narratives, the Willingness to

Express Emotions, and Changes in Psychological Needs.” Journal of Personality 77.3 (2009): 691-730.

Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 8 Oct. 2011.



Krause, Neal. “Religious involvement, gratitude, and change in depressive symptoms Over Time.” Interna-

tional Journal for the Psychology of Religion 19.3 (2009): 155-172. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO.

Web. 8 Oct. 2011.



Lesowitz, Nina., and Mary Beth Sammons. Living Life as a Thank You. San Francisco: Viva Editions, 2009.

Print.

Lynn, Michael. “Gratitude and gratuity: a meta-analysis of research on the service-tipping relationship.” Jour-

nal of Socio-Economics 29.2 (2000): 203. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 8 Oct. 2011.


login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&AN=3428431&site=ehost-live

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Mental Health America. Ranking America’s mental health: an analysis of depression across the states. (2011).

Web. 11 Oct. 2011. 

Russell L. Kolts, et al. “Gratitude and Happiness: Development of a Measure of Gratitude, and Relationships

with Subjective Well-Being.” Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal 31.5 (2003): 431.

Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 8 Oct. 2011.


login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&AN=10893202&site=ehost-live

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Visser, Margaret. The Gift of Thanks. Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2008. Print.

500 Days of Summer. Twentieth Century Fox, 2009. Film.

final moodboard

appreciation · first moodboard. contents. 7 intro. 13 initial concepts. 15 audience. 17 research....

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