DREAMR.
DREAMR. is a mobile visual microblogging platform for users interested in creating and sharing collages inspired from their everyday thoughts, ideas and dreams.
Through combining user input via audio and text, users are able to access and array of digital imagery available through image engines such as Google Images, Bing and even Instagram.
Precedents & Inspiration
Initial Personas & Users
Ryan, 18 - 25, Recent Grad
Kept a dream journal as a kid but not likely to remember dreams now. Highly into visual content, especially illustration and graphics
Sofia, 18 - 25, Digital Art Enthusiast
Spends a lot of time on Tumblr and Instagram. Highly visual but also experimental and quirky. Doesn’t take the internet too seriously
Paper Prototyping
Initial User Testing Feedback & Interviews
Hard to remember dreams from the night before making tracking them harder
Specific objects in dreams may have personalized meanings that may not captured by a general “dream dictionary”
Strong preference for use of imagery over audio and text journals. Users thought words were not enough to make them want to come back to the app
One user questioned whether subconscious dreams are directly related to conscious life
Interface was confusing to use. Also felt that the use of images would be more desirable than words
- 4/6 interviewees thought visual imagery would be a cool way to reframe their dreams
- 3/6 interviewees stated that they would not be able to remember their dreams or would have trouble writing about them
Re-Evaluating Concepts and Interaction
The initial interviews made me re-think how "accurate" a dream recording app could be after receiving feedback on how hard it is to remember a dream. The added emphasis on the need for imagery prompted me re-evaluate the purpose of the app and transition from a keywords based storage system to a photographic content generator that uses keywords and search engine functionality
Less serious, less focus on being "factual"
- Users feel less pressure to memorize their dreams 100%
- Can be beneficial for users who may not want to share dreams, but form thought collages
Implementing imagery
- Using the web to scrape for relevant imagery, animated gif, etc.
- Using this imagery to form dream collages that users can show and share instead of dream journals
Prototype 2 & Product Demo
My second prototype allowed used to input keywords into the app using voice or text. These keywords would be used to source images via API-based image search engines such as Google Image or Instagram. Each image returned would be layered on the other to produce collages