Calmseum

Challenges

In our research, we discovered two vital difficulties: 

1. Many individuals are unaware of mental well-being programs offered in museums, which could serve as valuable options for fostering mental health. This lack of awareness, combined with unfamiliarity with the concept of creative health, leads to doubts about the effectiveness of such programs. Additionally, preconceived notions about museums may create psychological barriers that prevent individuals from considering them as spaces for mental health support.

2. The short-term nature of creative health programmes limits their ability to provide lasting mental health benefits. These programs are often constrained by the limited timeframes associated with their pilot stages and funding resources. Moreover, there is a lack of supportive approaches and activities to sustain health improvement once the sessions conclude, reducing the long-term impact on participants' mental well-being.

Our Service- Calmseum

In the Calmseum capsule, users are offered a unique opportunity to engage individually with museum collections in a distraction-free environment. This setting is designed to foster relaxation, introspection, and mindfulness, allowing participants to fully immerse themselves in the tranquil atmosphere typically associated with museums. Over a five-minute mindfulness session, individuals are encouraged to be fully present, synchronising their breathing with the surrounding artworks, thereby enhancing their connection with the art and the present moment.

Value Proposition

Calmseum is a creative health platform connecting museums with people experiencing low mental wellbeing in communities. It partners with museums, local artists, health sectors, and social organisations. Besides, it leverages the unique collections and assets from each museum to tailor community-based, mindful art experiences with minimal resources, helping people with low mental wellbeing alleviate anxiety and build social connections.

Service Features

1. Connector for Health and Art Sectors : Calmseum coordinates the resources from health and art sectors and bridges the gap between our partners from different professional backgrounds, enhancing the collaboration interface and the quality of seamless service experience.

2. Tailored Mini Program : Calmseum helps museums develop and implement mini creative health programs tailored to their unique collections and assets with fewer resources, reducing the workload of museum staff in reaching out to people from diverse backgrounds.

3. Community Based : Calmseum is located in GP clinics and community that are close to people's daily lives, which decreases physical and psychological barriers to museum visits.

4. Inclusive Art Experience : In Calmseum, participants experience art through mindful activities rather than just thinking about it, which increases the inclusiveness of art engagement and enhances the brand impression of museums.

Prototyping

Service Users

We aimed to test our assumptions by focusing on key touchpoints, such as visiting the GP and experiencing the capsule, in order to gather relevant insights at crucial stages of the user journey.

1.Tools: MVP for Wizard of Oz & Role Play

Wizard of Oz: By creating an MVP version of the meditation capsule, we invited participants to attend a five-minute mindfulness session, using existing online meditation resources to simulate a real-world scenario.

Role Play: We developed a scenario involving a GP’s diagnosis and the recommendation to experience the meditation capsule.

2. process: participants getting  advice from GP-> experience the meditation capsule->Post-test survey and interviews

3. Participants’ information: 8 participants age around 24-31 years old, which are categorised as A Group- Cultural Enthusiasts.

Stakeholders

We aim to gather professional feedback from stakeholders through interviews to assess whether our assumptions align with their perceptions and expectations.

1. Tools: Storyboard

Use storyboards to illustrate our service concept to stakeholders, making it easier for them to visualise and comprehend. Afterward, gather their feedback to refine the concept.

2. Participants’ information: 5 museum staff members and 1 community and health centre director provided perspectives from museums, the organisation, and Group C: Unfamiliar Beginners.