Mind(less) Colours
an immersive VR art experience about mental health
by Tina Do, Tanja Heinrich, Pascal Hartmaier, Leonardo Zaspel
Mind(less) Colors
It is a silent pandemic. More and more people are affected and the death rate is rising every year. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill and spread another silent pandemic with it: Depression.
The VR project Mind(less) Colours deals with the topic of mental health. What does the world look like when you suffer from depression? What can you do as an outsider and what can those affected do? It shows worlds that suddenly lose their color.
“I found that with depression, one of the most important things you could realize is that you’re not alone.”
— Dwayne Johnson
Work Process Overview
Back then VR technology was considered as quite new in Germany. There were not many immersive experiences, and no VR art exhibition format that were popular. Thus, to create one, many steps and throughout planning was required.
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We used the agile project managemen methods to pan our project and resources carefully. As we had high ambitions we recognised early, that resource planning and time management was essential. The pipeline was not suppose to stop.
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During the pandemic, where we all could take more time for ourselves and realised its importance, the topic of mental health was equally important to all of us. Back then, it was not a topic to discuss openly about. Important as well, was the possibility to share stories and send out the message: “you are not alone.”
During the concept development process we:
defined our USP, which is an immersive experience about mental health to raise awareness and sharing stories
conducte a market analysis (e.g. market positioning, SWOT analysis…)
did user research through interviews and survey to personas
partnered up with an art therapist, who helped us understanding how the topic is being conveyed through art
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We wanted to write authentic stories. Thus, we asked volunteers to share with us their stories. We interviewed people who struggled with mental health issues and wrote their story for the experience. In best case, they also included their personal art works.
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We sketched the storyboard first. After some review process we executed it and programmed it in Unity.
I provided the assets and the art for the scenery.
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We tested the MVP with participants. Some people do not have a VR headset, so we provided it as a mobile experience as well.