Suffering from a skin condition comes with many responsibilities, and one of these is care work - which is the time one takes to take care of their skin. However, primary research shows that Gen Z in particular are not feeling up to the task and find it exhausting and sometimes even pointless as there is no cure. This ruins the relationship that they have with their skin and therefore worsens their mental health - which is especially bad when linking to the connection of the mind and skin. This is where stress and other negative emotions show up on the skin in the form of a flare-up. This project focuses on Gen Z as statistically, Gen Z has the highest levels of anxiety. Anxiety causes stress, stress causes flare-ups. The cycle never stops. But

Ottoglow is here to break that cycle. Ottoglow is a design that uses four sensory features - aromatherapy, visual stimming, ambient lighting, and low frequency sounds - to make the user achieve a calmer state of mind; which reduces the probability and intensity of a flare-up. It promotes slow living, which is a lifestyle that Gen Z are actively adopting, where you take mindful and intentional breaks. By encouraging the user to take on this lifestyle, it will allow them to achieve a calmer sense of mind and associate care work and their skin in a brighter light than before - breaking the vicious cycle of stress and flare-ups. Atomic Habits by James Clear was explored in this project, and Ottoglow uses the Four Laws of Behaviour Change from the book - which explains how to make a task easier to repeat so much that it becomes a habit. This is done through intentional design decisions.