SEL Mood Meter Project

This job aid / handout offers a simple self-guided activity that helps both children and adults get a quick 'pulse check', self-assess their emotional state, and suggests strategies to cope.  Users are guided through a structured approach to understand and manage emotions effectively. 

Audience: Children (10 and older) and adults

Responsibilities: Instructional Design, Visual Design

Learning Theory: Constructivism

ID Model: Successive Approximation Model

Tools: Figma, Adobe Illustrator

In order to have a productive day at work or at school, it helps to understand and reflect on one's emotional state at the onset of the day. Many organizations are in need of a simple activity that can help users navigate their feelings and develop a productive line of action.  

I designed a simple structured, guided mood-meter activity that helps users understand how they feel at the moment, what makes them feel that way, how they behave as a result and what are the possible courses of action. A printed version of this job aid provides a tactile, tangible and hands-on solution towards developing better self-awareness and increased productivity.     

Needs Analysis

I conducted an online search to assess existing solutions. Some solutions were found to be in poster format with no hands-on activities, some did not address the underlying cause for each specific emotion and some did not guide the user through a structured sequence to analyze emotions and pinpoint a course of action. I also developed an understanding of the importance and significance of colors in creating mood charts.  

Additionally, I referenced best practices such as the RULER approach to social-emotional learning and understood the structured technique involved. 

Storyboard

Based on the needs analysis, I developed a four step structure which guides users through a simple sequence of activities in a Q&A format. I also envisioned four mood 'zones' typically used in mood charts with a commonly used color scheme. 

For every question in the activity, I selected key words depicting emotions experienced and activities recommended for each zone. 

Visual Mockup

I started out sketching a quick rough draft of the visualization of the job aid on paper. Early on in the design, I realized that having a visual indicator of progression through the activity will help users understand the direction of flow. Therefore, I decided to use arrows to depict each zone. 

I tried out a couple of different placements of the question bubbles before deciding that having them on top of the page will make most sense.   

This project helped me understand the thought process involved in designing a simple job aid, the nuances of visual design and attention to detail required to develop an effective end product.  

On hindsight, I realized that I selected visual icons that were far too complex to be rendered when scaled down in size. Moving forward, this is an aspect I would like to improve by utilizing simpler visual icons that render clearly when scaled down and are easy for users to understand.