The EEP Kit | 2018
product design • research • ux design
Project Lead
Self-directed
Tools
Arduino
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Premiere Pro
Duration
9 months
THE EEP KIT
The EEP Kit is a painting kit designed to enhance the whole experience of painting by focusing on the process and the act of painting rather than what you're putting onto paper.
PROBLEM
"I don't paint because I do not know how to paint."
People have this idea that painting is only for those who "know how to paint" technically.
The solution?
The EEP kit is designed to break this barrier.
Each tool in the kit is designed to trigger all sorts of emotions by focusing on the tools and the aspect of using them through the act painting and encouraging people to engage with it.
Through enhancing the experience, the process becomes the most crucial part rather than the outcome.
RESEARCH
The EEP Kit started as a personal exploration of my love for painting - how I began, my approach, how it made me feel, and why I eventually stopped. This self-reflection led me to a broader question:
Why do people paint?
To explore this, I conducted interviews (Figure 1), and protocol analysis sessions (Figure 2), which introduced me to the concept of the flow state, coined by Hungarian-American psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
The Flow State
A mental state where a person is so immersed in an activity
that time seems to disappear.
Figure 1: Interview with Carlotta Montella (left) and Izzy Pinder (right)
Figure 2: Protocol Analysis with Carlotta Montella (left) and Tanishaa Cunha (right)
To understand this further, I performed protocol analysis on myself, documenting my thoughts and emotions while painting (Figure 3). This helped me recognize that the sensory aspects - textures, sounds, and physical movements - made painting more engaging than the act of creating art itself.
Figure 3: Protocol Analysis on myself
Read my context report
As part of this project, I wrote a report (Figure 4) detailing my initial research and early experiments, which formed the basis of the entire project.
Figure 4: Context Report
My reseach led me into the world of art therapy, an area I was unfamiliar with. To deepen my understanding, I enrolled in art therapy classes, attended seminars (Figure 5), and researched its connection to psychotherapy and mental well-being.
Figure 5: Goldsmtihs' (MA) Art Psychotherapy Taster Evenings
PROTOTYPE & TESTING
Initial Prototypes
Building on my research insights, I began prototyping painting tools designed to engage the senses and create a more immersive painting experience (Figure 6). I experimented with:
• Brushes made of different materials to create unique sounds
and textures.
• Alternative painting tools that encouraged non-traditional
movements and interactions.
Figure 6: First set of painting tools
First Experiment with the Tools
My primary subject throughout the project was Carlotta Montella, who experiences occasional panic attacks and uses painting as a way to self-soothe. Although she had no formal art training, she found peace in painting freely.
I observed her interactions with the prototyped tools, noting how different textures and sounds influenced her emotions (Figure 7). Through one-on-one discussions and observational analysis, I gained valuable insights into how sensory elements could enhance emotional engagement in painting.
Figure 7: Carlotta testing the tools
Refining Prototypes & Additional Experiments
To further develop the project, I reached out to Dannie Panzid, a certified art psychotherapist in the UK, who became a mentor and consultant.
With her guidance and the data gathered from my initial experiment with Carlotta, I designed additional experiments using new tools. This included creating finger brushes (Figure 8), painting blindfolded (Figure 9), painting with enhanced brush sounds (Figure 10), and connecting Carlotta to a heart rate sensor to track her heartbeat while painting.
Figure 8: Prototype of finger brushes
Figure 9: Experiment with Carlotta blindfolded
Figure 10: Experiment with Carlotta painting with enahanced brush sounds
My goal was to gain a deeper understanding of not only the relationship between the user and the act of painting but also how my tools impacted this process while focusing on the user's senses.
FINAL DESIGN
After several iterations, the EEP Kit was formed.
The final set of tools were designed to help individuals explore painting as an immersive and therapeutic experience, breaking the misconception that painting is only for those with artistic skill. The tools included:
• A set of multi-textured brushes that produce different
sounds (Figure 11);
• A set of finger brushes
(Figure 12);
• A sound-enhancing easel that amplifies painting tool sounds
(Figure 13); and
• An immersive painting board with headphone-compatible audio
feedback
(Figure 14).
Figure 11: Multi-textured brushes
Figure 12: Finger brushes
Figure 13: Sound-enhancing easel
Figure 14: Immersive painting board
Final testing among different age groups showed that focusing on sensory engagement rather than artistic ability allowed users to experience painting as a deeply personal, expressive, and calming activity. You can view the final testing sessions I had with my participants below: