DESIGNING FOR PERSONAL-HAPPINESS: AN EMPIRICAL CASE STUDY

'Put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting others' the flight attendant reminds passengers just before take-off on a flight. When serving others, designers tend to feel overwhelmed, stressed and often without support. An overload of work, external emergencies and conditional situations may cause physical and mental health problems, such as anxiety, panic, or imposter syndrome. Before serving businesses and society, designers should learn to help themselves. To equip young designers for professional life under uncertain, time-bound, and specific external conditions and to practice mindfulness and happiness in designers' everyday life. An assignment and methodology for designing a solution for long-lasting personal happiness was created in 2015. A subjective theory of value, happiness, and personal satisfaction analysis in line with user experience methods were combined and applied to reveal an empirical study of personal happiness memorabilia, and values, experiences, identifying the potential for design solutions sustaining self-happiness. Identified solutions were prototyped, tested, and examined to reflect a paradigm of personal happiness and contentment. Master's design students reflected that the design brief of designing for personal long-lasting happiness was the most confusing assignment during their study years but at the same time it was the most meaningful. It allowed them to understand the pros and cons of personal happiness as human beings and professionals. This empirical case study analysis reveals that more than 70% of designed solutions indicate professional procrastination and anxiety. Individually designed time management solutions help to address personal happiness and satisfaction as an everyday routine. Designing for personal happiness is the first assignment that young designers reflected on their own emotional needs. It helped to equip students to be agents of their own self regeneration.