What I learned by reading the psychobiotic revolution

was that food that is healthy for our microbiome is
also more sustainable as it contains more vegetables
and less red meat. Thus this project is focused on
increasing the health of people and planet by
finding out how data from our gut could be expressed to
users in everyday life.

For the first user-test of this project, participants listened
to three different stories about ways of receiving data
about their gut. It was found that participants wanted
actionable feedback and appreciated a
combination of qualitative meaning making
along with quantitative accuracy about their
data.
A prototype of a smart bathroom carpet was created
based on the concept of Ponty’s body scheme. Bumps
emerged on the carpet when the participant deviated
from the recommended food intake. By adding a layer
of augmented reality the participants could gain more in
depth information about the meaning and location of the
bumps.
The goal of the project was to make people aware of
the relation between their food and their mood. The
prototype functioned as a bridge between the two,
making the composition of their micro-biome
explicit.

It was also found that users don’t want to constantly
receive data about their gut as it changes very slowly.
They also want to have an overview of the data over
different periods. That is why a circular calendar-like
shape was chosen which expresses their gut-data.

By visiting the company Mymicrozoo and doing
literature research I learned that bio-technology is
something that will greatly improve in the coming
decades. This suggests that in the future my
knowledge and skills might be used in
order to create products that convey biorelated
data to users in an actionable and
understandable manner.

During the prior project I learned i had to contact other
people earlier, and that is what I did during this project.
It is important for me to start the project by
getting out of my own bubble by talking to
others.