Talking Teens

Since the rise of social media, the focus on beauty and body image has drastically increased. Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube and all other image-based platforms show countless examples of bodies in their most “flattering” form. Everybody is confronted with mostly unobtainable, but norm-setting images and ever-changing standards, set by celebrities and influencers above all. From that, new societal expectations regarding the body arise, e.g. not being asked to be incredibly skinny anymore like Paris Hilton promoted in the 2000s, but instead to be slim-thick like Kim Kardashian.

Due to intense online judgement and many contradicting statements on body image, only a few people feel like they actually belong to a specific group or movement – even after online representation becoming much more diverse in recent years. To do so, one would have to satisfy impossibly strict conditions. There is only little room for being multifaceted.

Bullying, shaming and even cancelling people and movements is prevalent in online spaces. Even the body positivity movement, which was created in order to abolish unrealistic and discriminating beauty standards, is now criticized to be too positive and therefore toxic.

Realistic self-assessment has become difficult because of the excessive amount of critical commentary (that can be positive or negative), leading to a lack of confidence and self esteem. Obviously this seriously impairs mental health, and can also limit people tremendously in social situations. This is especially problematic since true connection is not only inevitable for humans to survive, but also to evaluate oneself.

Despite the efforts of many people to contribute to a healthier conversation around body image, a strategic design perspective seems to be lacking. So far, apart from social media postings by individual users, efforts have been made predominantly by schools and brands. The educational side is very important, but might not provide the students with the safe space they need to be open about their struggles. The brands’ main objective is to make profit, for which they often rely on the customers’ insecurities.

All of this leads to the following research question:

How might we assist/educate people in the digital age to deal with the pressure resulting from the focus on body image in a way that is beneficial to their mental health in order to be able to self-assess in a realistic way and ideally form true connections?

This is a summary of the project I came up with as part of a solution for this incredibly complex issue. Feel free to find out more about my process down below.

Please wait while flipbook is loading. For more related info, FAQs and issues please refer to DearFlip WordPress Flipbook Plugin Help documentation.

RESEARCH AND SYNTHESIS – MAIN OPPORTUNITY FIELDS AND HOW I GOT THERE

The research for this topic was very broad. Even though I had a feeling for who the specific target group might be and what issues are the most common, I needed to make sure to get it right. I focused my research on my own knowledge and different kinds of media first and then extended it to the general public (with the help of a public grafitti wall and an online survey), extreme users (through two workshops, several interviews and cultural probes) and experts (through interviews with people working in education, fashion and social media).

The first thing the research clarified was the target group. Everyone – no matter what gender, age, country of origin or current living situation – defined teenagers as the ones most in need for a project like mine. People often identify their early teenage years as the most detrimental phase when it comes to body image and confidence. Direct contact with teenagers confirmed that they feel pressured and confused by all of the unrealistic standards set online, that are not only connected to beauty, but also to lifestyle and success. They are in intense need for guidance and acceptance.

The main goal of this project is to help develop teenagers’ self-confidence, in turn boosting their resilience. It is inevitable that teenagers will encounter criticism and hurtful situations, but with this project, I am committed to preparing them to deal with these negative experiences in a more constructive manner.

Opportunities to achieve this could be summarized into these opportunity fields:

Self-Seeking Education
Authentic Self-Expression
Diverse Representation
Empowering Connection

With those in mind, I was able to enhance the already existing HMW-question:

How might we build a safe space that enables teenagers to express themselves fully and confidently in order for them to become more resilient against insecurities?

IDEATION, PROTOYPING AND TESTING – HOW TALKING TEENS CAME TO LIFE

For concrete ideas, I facilitated two more workshops. The first one was with women in their 20s, who were very open about their former struggles and gave their opinions and thoughts on social media usage and how it affects their body image. The second one was with the actual target group: a big group of 8th grade students. Together, we talked about and bonded over teenage struggles and developed countless approaches on how to make their life easier – especially online.

From those workshops and a few additional brainstorming sessions, Talking Teens was born: workshops, an online magazine, social media channels and self-help-tools – all providing German teenagers with safe, professional and personal guidance on all things body, mind and self-expression. Talking Teens empathizes with them and always encourages their thoughts and input during a lively and constant exchange.

After a competitors analysis, I developed prototypes for the design concept, the website and the marketing strategy. Those were all tested with both experts and the target group. I was even able to invite a group of teenagers for the first ever Talking Teens workshop. As I had become a makeup artist during my bachelor studies, I was able to show them makeup basics, current trends and to answer all of their many questions – it was a full success and by far my favorite part of the whole master thesis journey.

IMPLEMEN-TATION – HOW TALKING TEENS CAN BECOME REALITY IN THE FUTURE

As I am planning on actualizing Talking Teens in the future, I do not feel comfortable with sharing the business model, the road map and other highly specific plans online. Instead, I’d like to clarify the brand’s values and vision.

Talking Teens is well-informed, caring, non-judgmental and cool. It does not only educate through direct and personal user/expert-exchange, but also encourages the teenagers to self-reflect and self-express – and provides them with safe spaces to do so. Including teenagers and thereby allowing them to shape the process is what makes this project extremely special and promising.

The vision is to be the safe space for teenagers to come to for advice. With the help of Talking Teens cultivating an open mind and an engaged worldview, they can then grow into confident and empathic adults.