Emergency Frustration Relief Station

OFFICE THERPY

PAMELA JANE MENDOZA

PARSONS NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN

2011 - 2012

EMERGENCY FRUSTRATION RELIEF STATION

3EMERGENCY FRUSTRATION RELIEF STATION

The EMERGENCY FRUSTRATION RELIEF STATION (E.F.R.S.) gives the employees the satisfaction of pulling the fire alarm out of pure rage. E.F.R.S. is a five step emotional aid for employees who are at

their absolute breaking point.

The common oppressed workspace constituents are employees who are forced into roles of dependency, carefully monitored and given orders to, without explanation or respect. These are the people who will experience frustration. The desire for a desk has been redefined; the cubicle can be considered as a place of employee drudge. The never ending pile of duties, the demanding manager, and the lazy coworker that gets away with everything– the workplace is a complex interpersonal environment in which virtually anything can and often does happen. People who feel insecure and unprepared to cope with organizational life will very likely have felt offended, frustrated and become anxious and angry as a result, thus there is a need of a space specified for the release of frustration to act as an emotional aid. The cause of mass dissatisfaction within workers is the fault of not living up to life’s expectation when graduating college or even high school. Today’s generation of adults are struggling to find a job within their discipline and most are found settling for jobs outside of their preferred profession to sustain a living. This way of living is neither chosen nor desired and can cause low self-esteem and a loss of dignity. Workers are unhappy because human instinct tells us to find a purpose doing something that the individual is

good at, yet ironically many individuals find themselves stuck for forty-five hours, fifty weeks a year, doing nothing meaningful or rewarding for the rest of their lives. After analyzing these factors how can one not succumb self-restraint towards their frustrations at the wrong given day or time. Some say if you are not happy with your job, “Why not get a new job?” or get that annoying and irresponsible co-worker fired, however these actions does not solve the tyranny of the nine-to-five day. No matter where the worker goes, whether its up-stairs with the big boys, in another city, country or even a new job, the nagging mother of unwanted duties will pile, the fluorescent lights will buzz, that annoying co-worker will continue to tell those stories when one would rather listen to a baby cry. There is a need for an emotional outlet. When a worker feels belittled, overwhelmed and utterly defeated by their work environment, the pent up rage can be safely unleashed, similar to the functionality of a reset button, the worker can then return to work and feel productive again.

-PAMELA JANE MENDOZA


As a native New Yorker, I have been commuting in and out of the island of Manhattan experiencing little outbursts of aggression from complete strangers in passing. I have observed sporadic bursts of anger in public spaces, such as; on sidewalks, subway cars, customer service, public telephone conversations, waiting rooms, lines and the workplace. Unfortunately society does not accept these emotional expressions in public because it not the place for these moments. When I worked at a small start-up in Midtown, Manhattan as a support technician for clients, I discovered a new kind of depression. I was a third year undergraduate student as a Design and Technology major at Parsons the New School for Design when I took the job. I was told that it would be an interface design related job. Never would I have thought they actually mean fixing HTML & CSS codes as well as respond to support emails. I shared a room with 6 different cubicles. When a co-worker would need to speak to another co-worker, he or she would “Skype” or email each other, rather than physically speaking to them. Everyone was so socially disconnected; it took me six months to finally realize that “Albert” the neighboring cubicle beside mine was actually “Alan”. The first couple of weeks working there I worked pretty hard, to only find myself finished with all

the duties I needed to do 3 hours into my 9 hour shift. I felt like my life was being wasted away in that cubicle. I began watching episodes of J.J. Abrahms’ Lost and Showtime’s thriller-drama series Dexter. Every time an episode ended, I was shot back to reality, and wanted to scream because I felt like I had no purpose. While at work I would have instant message conversations with my other friends who were unhappy with their jobs, this only fed to my depression, making me feel like my life had hit rock bottom. When I would get home, I would vent to my partner, telling him how much I hated my job or even be angry at him when he could not understand or make me feel any better; this eventually led to our break up. I wish I did not depend on my friends and relationship on my happiness, nor did I have the money to hire a psychiatrist. If there had been something that existed at work where I could have gone to unleash my anger, my built up depression would not have lingered.

IMPETUS


Areas of expertise that describe Emergency Frustration Relief Station and my work as a Design and Technology major are; Interaction design, Experience and Social Perspective.

Within my four years in Parsons, I had taken classes to strengthen my knowledge in interaction design, technology culture, critical design and urban studies. I find that the E.F.R.S. project is a combination of all that I have learned. I have used my design skills to

choose aesthetics, target audience, location and how the human will interact with my piece. The concept was driven by critical observation of peoples’ commute and workplace

behaviors.

DOMAIN


I found inspiration from reading about the mood organ in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick’. The Penfield Mood Organ is a device which allows one to control their moods by dialing different settings. Rick Deckard, the protagonist of Dick’s book, used this device to change from being pessimistic to gain confidence and creative prospective about this first day at his new job. I wondered after reading this, what will come of the future to help us deal with our negative emotions. I am aware of prescription drugs to maintain used to alleviate mood disorders, but medication is not for everyone. As a design and technology major, I felt that it will be my social contribution to design a technological related system for those who need an emotional outlet In result of disgruntlement, some may alleviate themselves to procrastination– most of that frustration is released on technology. Thanks to the Internet, most of our lives are spent consumed in front of screens while working; whether you are catching up with your favorite television program, gaming, shopping, socializing, or looking at the latest celebrity gossip, most of our time is spent with our eyes and minds completely zoned out by the screen. Unfortunately, this is what helps workers get by a regular nine-to-five shift.Dunne and Raby’s Design Noir investigates

the real physical and cultural effects of the digital domain. They demonstrate that mobile phones, computers and other electronic objects profoundly influence one’s experience of their environment, much through an employee spending time on the internet. Consider Dunne and Raby’s series Placebo Project where they created a GPS Table that has a global positioning sensor inside of it. It can only display it’s position in the world when it has a clear view of the satellites, the rest of the time it is lost. In one instance, the owner of the GPS Table stated that he felt a sense of worry and panic for the table being ‘lost’. He then immediately repositioned the table until the table was ‘found’. The human had felt compassion and had personified the object. Similar to Sherry Turkle’s Evocative Objects, a collection of testimonies by scientists, humanists, artists, and designers that traces the power of everyday objects. These essays reveal objects as emotional companions with memories and lasting relationships. They also provoke new ideas such as the topic of having dependency on a datebook- this object is meant to organize your day. When one loses their datebook, one may find themselves disgruntled, or even lost. This is similar to the employee’s procedure of surviving a mundane nine-hour shift by venting onto their social network account, or chat with other friends

REFERENCES & INSPIRATION

to procrastinate at work because it helps to loosen tensions verbally while exploring the hope of finding a group who not only agrees, but gives support. Humans find comfort in technology because it’s the only way of escaping work, at work. What I like to take from these projects is the relationship between the human and the object. The individual develops compassion for the object in which s/he begins to personify it. S/he begins to believe if they care for the object, it will function better and therefore help them with their routines. Technological procrastination leads to a build of work– or possibly even losing a job due to the lack of contribution to the company. Therefore creating a public space for employees to release spontaneous emotions would assist toward an active workflow by alleviating hostility within the office environment. This space will contain accessories to help the employee with work related frustrations. This is similar to Noam Toran’s Desire Management, a film comprised of five sequences in which objects are used as vehicles for dissident behavior. In the film, the domestic space is defined as the last private frontier, a place where bespoke appliances provide unorthodox experiences for alienated people. It is similar to Kelly Dobson’s ScreamBody Wearable Organ, which is a portable device which an individual can

scream into while in a public environment without disrupting the surrounding people. The object stores the scream, to later be released when in a vacant environment. What I would like to take from these inspirations and implement into E.F.R.S. are how both projects are new perspectives in assistive technology and psychological therapies toward emotions that are socially unacceptable in public space, however these projects allows them to deal and further investigate their feelings. Neither of these two projects is considered socially acceptable, due to cultural perimeters and social customs where it is not “okay” to express one’s emotions in public. This is considered a sign of weakness or unstability. However I feel that once a space is created and acknowledged as an area of emotional release, these preexisting judgements of revealed emotion will dissipate.


The Emergency Frustration Relief Station is a place to let go of frustration so that the individual can carry on and pursue the rest of their duties and or life. While designing E.F.R.S. there were critical questions pertaining to how the subject simply “releases”. I wanted to make a design that was accessible and something that the workers would acknowledge as a designated place to act out when emotionally suppressed. When I was working in a small startup company that had the characteristics of an oppressed working environment, I had plenty of time to observe the places the workers all went to when they are away from their desks; the water cooler, the fridge and the bathroom. The location of focus was determined in two ways; should this station be an individual experience, or be communal and available to others? To help me further focus on the two different spaces I compared the spatial behavior of the cubicle and the water-cooler. The cubicle is the individual space of the employee. This space can be personalized and private (to an extent), however it can be invisible and alienating in relation to other workers. Arguments against a motion of having an E.F.R.S. in each cubicle could be that it may be wasteful, in terms of production and the station would be taken for granted. Thus the station would be similar to the water-cooler.

Open for the use of all, the employees can share a mutual care for the form and its presence. Seeing others use it will cause a gradual social acceptance of publicly expressing one’s frustration in a form that it is allowed. When working in the office an employee can experience different kinds of emotions such as, depression, anger, sadness, tension and betrayal. Whether the individual is upset that s/he is doing an assignment that has nothing to do with his/her chosen profession or her technologies are functioning against him/ her, E.F.R.S. has to be able to aid each emotion the worker experiences. After making prototypes, such as; the Frustration Check, DAMMIT TECHNOLOGIES, Evocative Technologies and the Thought Box, I found that accessories are best for designing towards specific emotions. This discovery led to the next question: how could I make these accessories into a “place”? Referencing back to my exploration of accessible and reusable precedents (locker, punching bag and kiosk), I decided to make the E.F.R.S. into a 5’4” cabinet and drawer type of form. Each drawer would contain a different therapeutic process.

METHODOLOGY

The front-end implementation of E.F.R.F. is similar to a file cabinet, and the height of a double tier gym locker. This is because the form should blend in with the rest of the interior furnishings of an office and a locker is the appropriate height for accessibility. The functionality of the form replicates the analogy of an Emergency Box, which is a metal box with a glass front the user would have to break to obtain the objects inside in case of an emergency or life threatening situation. Usually these boxes are provided by a Fire Department and are required by law to have in any establishment. There are many different kinds of Emergency Boxes, pertaining to the situation. However, the one that I am deriving from is “In Case of Emergency: Break Glass”. For years, individuals who have seen this box have been tempted to break that glass or to pull the ultimate stop button in the elevator. This gives the user a chance to cause a controlled chaotic situation. The technologies and code implemented in the back end are simple. In the first drawer is one motor to roll a fresh sheet of paper which the user punches through. This motor is activated by a button found on the face of the cabinet. The second drawer contains a laptop monitor with a looping video of pop-ups and error messages that would frustrate a device user.

Drawer three contains an operating shredder and a hole at the bottom of the drawer for the shredded paper to fall through the next drawer. Drawer four contains all the shredded paper from drawer three, and the last drawer contains a broken printer, computer fans and memory chips. The cabinet works as five stages the subject must go through to find satisfaction.


SITUATION: Employee, John Price, 27 years-old, has just gotten an rejection e-mail from his supervisor concerning his new project proposal. This depresses John because not only

has he been working on this project for six weeks, this was his chance to move up in a company he has been working at for 3 years. With no one to vent to, John experiences a deeper kind of pain and suffering. Is he supposed to ignore his emotions and think that he is okay? No, John is not okay. When at his cubicle, John feels his emotional

distraction has gotten in the way of his duties, he runs to the Emergency Frustration Relief Station to help clear his mind.

USER SCENARIO


I spent two years of researching oppressed work environments, one year spent immersing myself in an oppressive work environment as a support technician and another year developing my concept. My design process

followed two motives; to change social perspectives and to let go of stress. I designed this project to be acknowledged as a place for emotional distress so frustrated humans can reconcile this piece and not be judged by observers.

I found that accessories towards specific emotions were the best way to help aid employees.

>> ANGER ( FRUSTRATION CHECK)

The first prototype I created was the Frustration Check, made with acrylic, rubber, acoustical foam, and a metal rod. This project is a space in public where distressed individuals can relieve themselves and carry on their day without any emotional baggage. The user would punch through a sanitary cover then scream into the sphere. This project was perfect for individuals who are in need to curse and scream when in public; however hygiene was a reoccurring dilemma.

EVALUATION


“We think with the objects we love; we love the objects we think with.” –Sherry Turkle

>> HUMAN-TO-MACHINE (EVOCATIVE TECHNOLOGIES)

The second prototype I created was used to explore how technology affects our everyday. This project was called Evocative Technologies, which is a photographic series of humans and their companion device or technologic service. Each individual was asked what technology that they possess or use often and felt an emotional connection and expressed their story.

It is inevitable to develop feelings and memories with the objects. Whether it is a bad experience or came with sentimental value, we make history with our things. Inspired by Sherry Turkle’s Evocative Objects, a collection by scientists, humanists, artists, and designers that trace the power of everyday things.

“If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences” –W.I. Thomas


>> “I got my MacBook Pro in the summer of 2008, he was perfect. He has never disappointed me, never crashed, never lost any files. However, being in design school sometimes get stressful working on the 15” screen. I would use the school computers because the screen gives you more space. I talked to my parents about this and they decided to get me the 27” iMac. I was so excited when I got the computer! He was so gorgeous and the space was endless. However, my poor laptop was sitting on my bed alone. He was in perfect condition and I replaced him with a much bigger and nicer computer.This always reminds me of Toy Story, my laptop is Woody and my desktop is Buzz. Nothing will ever compete with the

relationship I have with my laptop but I really love my new computer. When 2011 Hurricane Irene came to New York, the news channels told everyone to remove all your objects near your window. My desktop is right in front of my window and I had to move him. I was so worried for him because I was not going to be in my apartment all weekend! I placed him on my couch, surrounded by pillows and blankets. I was so worried about him all weekend, but luckily he was fine! You develop a relationship with your technology, with computers and iPhones. They learn your vocabulary and your work. They understand you and spend so much one on one time with you.”

EXCERPT FROM EVOCATIVE TECHNOLOGIES

27” iMAC + 15” MACBOOK PRO | CHELSEA BAKON


>>“As a little kid, my twin sister and I were obsessed with playing dollhouse. We didn’t just have a house though, we set up and entire city in our basement over years of collecting Playmobile dollhouse sets. It was our own little world that we could esc ape to every afternoon after school; a place where our imagination could control life. It was the fall of ‘99 when my family bought our first computer and the winter of 2000 when the first version of The Sims came out. I remember being at my uncles house for the holidays when he gave my sister and I the game- it was the first time anything had kept me so intrigued that I stayed up until the sun began to rise playing it. My mother didn’t like the game, she refused to let us have it because she felt it carried a negative influence of a god complex.

My determination to get back “my Sims” lead me to write letters and drawings to my parents for a week giving them all the reasons why I should be allowed to have my game back. Clearly, I succeeded– and still play it to this day.We all carry characteristics of who we were as children into our adult lives and The Sims is just something that was and always will be a part of me. What was once an outlet for my 10 year old imagination is still an outlet from the everyday stressors of my adult life. Things not going so well in reality? That is okay because with The Sims anything is possible and somehow knowing this helps me to see my own life and world more as a game and an opportunity to try new things and have fun rather than stress.”

EXCERPT FROM EVOCATIVE TECHNOLOGIES

SIMS | ZOE PELETI


>> FRUSTRATION (DAMMIT TECHNOLOGIES)

Dammit Technology, my third prototype, was inspired by a traditional DIY “Dammit Doll”. It is made of foam, wood, scrap cloth, and vinyl. I constructed these elements into facsimiles of every day technology. When creating this prototype I asked; do you get stressed because you get worn down on your PC due to technical difficulties? Or, got into an argument on the phone and then the call drops? Or do you just want to put blame on something else and relieve some stress? A Dammit Tech is needed!

When you want to kick in a desktop or throw a phone and shout, here’s a little dammit doll you cannot do without, just grasp firmly at each end and

find a place to slam it. Even place a stick into the device for the full breaking affect and yell dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!


>> REFLECTION (THOUGHT BOX)

Thought Box is a prototype made of acrylic, and a portable tape recorder. A small precious white box where you can archive your thoughts as well play back when reflection is needed. Thought Box wants to listen to you and lets you listen to yourself in a different light. Re-contextualizing the recorder in a white box turns it into a portrayal of something valuable. When an individual documents or talks to another person about their feelings, the immediate result is a sense of relief or importance, because the subject’s feelings are taken by consideration and stored away by the receiver. The process of self-awareness within the device is during the playback feature, which projects slower distorted version of the speaker’s voice to give the individual the ability to notice what the subject is feeling, thinking, and why without the distraction of being confronted with one’s ‘self ’.

Can you hear me Thought Box?


>> STEP 1: PUNCH AND SCREAM

Approaching the station takes determination and concentration. The subject would want to have a reason to use the E.F.R.S. for a fulfilling, satisfactory result. When confronting the station the individual reflects on his/her reason of executing procedure. This phase prepares them for breaking out of their emotional tensions. Punching through a Paper Wall - This symbolizes the acceptance of letting go, the breaking of social appearance and enter as individual of strength. The act of release - Scream until you have reached satisfaction.

With these prototypes, my findings were that not only are accessories towards specific emotions necessary, but so is the context and what technologies can be

re-contextualized therapeutically.

>> STEP 2: SMASH

Presented in drawer two is a broken screen with looping error messages. This drawer gives the user an opportunity to smash that screen with any office appliance of their choosing. Smashing the screen allows users the opportunity to efficiently get rid of the stress that comes with the benevolent yet noxious burdens of computer technology on their work life.

>> STEP 3: SHRED

It is time to let go. Drawer three allows the user to shred that document or project they have been spending endless days and sleepless nights working on, only to have to say good riddance. There is something therapeutic about sharpened metal quickly and ef-fortlessly slicing paper into tiny particles that gets your blood pumping. Most likely a complicated case of deep set emotional issues, but whatever the root cause, you are not alone. Shredding is more of a relief than means of protecting private, sensitive and/or classified information. The user is given an opportunity to destroy documents of value. It is a way to regain the control when a higher authority rejects a project or even when the project was successful but still caused the individual much stress. This is the indi-vidual’s chance to let it go.

USER SCENARIO PT. 2

>> STEP 4: SQUEEZE

Stress is often accompanied by muscle tension . Any typing or doing any physical labor done to the body can result in tense feelings in the muscles only add to the mental effect that stress already has on a person. As an individual squeezes the shredded paper, his/her hand muscles contract and relax. If the individual breathes deeply while squeezing the shredding paper, the individual will begin to achieve something called progressive relaxation. This means that every time one squeezes and releases the paper, s/he relieves a little more tension from all the muscle in the body. This also helps the individual disconnect themselves from their environment and focus on something else rather than their stress. The reason it is paper and not “stress balls” is because the paper is taken from drawer three, which is a resourceful alternative then being wasteful.

>> FINAL STEP: STOMP

The last and final step of E.F.R.S. is to “stomp out” old, outdated and recycled technology devices. This allows the user to seek and exact revenge on those technical devices that have betrayed “you”.


When the participants realized that this is no longer an art and design project but as an installation they can call on when in need of emotional release, the users found E.F.R.S. therapeutic. As I expected, each individual was drawn to a specific stage. Some skipped drawers 3 & 4, and only interacted with drawers 1,2 & 5, possibly because they felt more angst, or spent time with drawer 3 and found intricate and interesting ways to shred paper. The cabinet had fully captured their attention away from anything else they may had been worrying about.the open.

Some observers thought the E.F.R.S. mission as “unrealistic” or not appealing for their own reputation if they were found using it. Others found that it is not spectacular enough and that it should be a piece that could explode and then reassemble itself. My response to these comments and critics are “Forget what your employers and colleagues think”. As for the explosion suggestion, I wish. However the point that I want to call to attention is that there is a need for a controlled destructive situation for frustrated workers. This project hopes for social acceptance. Civilization evolves into etiquette and social expectation, so when a person breaks out of character, unfortunately that act is not considered “socially accepted”. The design of E.F.R.S. is a humorist’s way remind others that it is human to get angry, or to get frustrated enough to scream into the open

CONCLUSION


SPECIAL THANKS

MELISSA MENDOZA

ROBERTO MENDOZA

PATRICIA MENDOZA

PRECIOSIA MENDOZA

PATRICK THOMAS GLASS

JANE PIRONE

JOHN COHRS

JOSEPH SIMONS

LUIS DOMINGO

CLAUDIE MABRY

AMY LAUGHLIN

MELROSE LUMBER TRI LOX

LEN BELLINGER


RESOURCES

PHOTOGRAPHYPamela Jane Mendoza

Turkle, Sherry. Evocative Objects: Things We Think with. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2007. Print.

Dunne, Anthony, and Fiona Raby. Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects. London: August, 2001. Print.

IMG SOURCEPAGE 11:

fig.1 http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/content/projects/70/0fig.2 J. Cevetello, “The Elite Glucometer” in Evocative Objects (2007)fig.3 http://noamtoran.com/NT2009/projects/desire-managementfig.4&5 http://web.media.mit.edu/~monster/

fig.1

fig.2

fig.3

fig.4 fig.5

Emergency Frustration Relief Station

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