Henrique designed Atrium, a well-informed digital platform designed to reduce the friction of initiating social interactions between university peers.
The absence of university campuses due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a decrease in social interactions and, as a result, a decrease in well-being for many students. There is a need for platforms that enable the kind of relationship building that would normally take place on campus.
The project began with a qualitative research phase, mapping students’ experiences and routines during the Covid-19 pandemic. This was used to generate insights and design direction focused on stimulating and facilitating engagement in positive activities related to maintaining personal relationships. The ideation phase explored 10 different forms of virtual social interaction, which were later presented to the target group for feedback and combined into a final concept: Atrium.
Atrium was designed to create a shared online space where students could feel a sense of community and nurture their social relationships within the university. The desired outcome is twofold: to facilitate student networking and to indirectly contribute to their overall sustainable well-being by triggering or facilitating behavioural drivers related to activities that can potentially generate positive feelings, behaviours and cognitions.
