You've got (real) mail

The week long task was to create a list of people/studios/ whoever it is that we admire and to choose one or multiple to contact. This did not mean sending over an email to someone, we instead had to physically create something tailored to the person on the receiving end, whatever that might be.

Just to name a few, my list included:

Craig Oldham
Andy Puddicombe
Brian Eno
David Berman
Nancy Bernard

Out of these I was most interested in Andy Puddicombe, he's someone who I admire for a number of reasons. Being the co-founder of Headspace, a meditation app I use on a daily basis, his whole attitude towards life is something I aspire towards being like. Even just a conversation with him would be ideal, which is why I aimed my project towards making contact with him.

He brought meditation to the masses, without the stigmas surrounding it which made it more appealing to a wider audience. In short, whole concept behind the app is to be more mindful in everything you do, which ultimately brings about it's benefits; reduced stress, better sleep, less negative thinking.

The one thing I thought of that could be a way to contact him was to put to life an idea I had as an extension to the app and propose it to him. Currently Headspace is only contained within the app, but he does suggests doing smaller exercises throughout the day which is where my idea came in.

I haven't made this yet simply because I didn't want to just settle for an idea for the sake of ticking a box. As this idea only came about last minute I figured if I was going to do something I wanted to put a solid effort into it. I feel like this could become a bigger project than just this task in itself.

THE IDEA

The idea is to bring the mindfulness exercises that are part of the app into the physical world with a set of small cue cards. In a way like Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies. If you're stuck creatively, these cards are little suggestions on how to spin the problem around, help you out in one way or another.

So I thought that these could be little physical reminders that would assist with day to day life. Phrases that would evoke a physical/mental response.

These are something that could also be embedded within environments so that every time you open your laptop or go to brush your teeth, it'll hopefully make you a bit more mindful in everyday tasks.

My plan from now is to develop this basic design further and actually produce these as a small pack, which will form part of my proposal of the idea to send off to their headquarters in the hope to spark conversation.