Context

"Imagine waking up with one less problem in life", Sweet Dreams is a speculative therapy service, simulated in a virtual reality during user's sleep, with the help of a high-tech 'VR pillow'. In this 4th semester project supervised by Prof. Pelin Celik, I had the chance to explore Speculative Design by creating narrative Healthcare artifacts. The focus was on mental health within a fictive society in 2070, resulting in an audio podcast and short film that visualizes a critical perspective on the System and User Experience future health services such as 'Sweet Dreams'.

Audio Podcast

This audio podcast tells the story of the first two days in Kael’s life and explains how the artifacts work. Please use Headphones or a Spatial Sound System.

The Film

Animated with Cinema 4D, this short video portrays both general and very unusual conditions in the User Experience of 'Sweet Dreams' therapy service. This film was part of the HTW Berlin exhibition at the Dutch Design Week 2020.

How

The 'Sweet Dreams' VR Pillow detects its user through an identifier bio-chip 'ID' that contains personal and medical data, and hacks the natural dream reality, reconstructing it into a customizable virtual world. Eventually, the user consults with a professional AI therapist who knows the user best, thanks to the data collected by ID.

Why

Although the service is mainly available to 'premium' and 'regular' citizens, the focus lies on the user case of an immigrant named 'Kael', revealing a systemic ethics crisis. The story visualized in the podcast and film explains the exponentially destructive nature of AI-Tech through time, exposing the equal importance of the politics -, and the business models of design innovations.