Bock-Aronson Design (Bad) Studio co-develops interactive objects to support individual and communal thriving.
Can objects abate our mental health crisis?
Over the last 10 years, I've struggled with my mental health. While traditional interventions - such as therapy and medication - can and do help, I believe environmental factors play a subtler, but deeper role in either supporting (or hindering) the development of emotional intelligence, resilience, and capacity.
While some aspects of our environment are too large to control and nearly impossible to avoid (including the presence of our dominant socio-technical attention economy), the objects in our immediate environment often guide our attention and thus play a dramatic role in how we think, feel, and behave.
So, how might we use tactile, interactive objects to promote mindful, values-aligned behavior, and drive individual and communal thriving? That is the question that is currently guiding the my design practice.
A collective design practice
Bad Studio aspires to become a participatory online design practice that develops interactive objects and systems and studies whether they promote mindfulness, values-aligned behavior, and better overall health.
Below is a working draft of some guiding principles that define Bad Studio:
- Intentionally crafted objects can promote values-aligned behavior
- Values-aligned behavior is the foundation of good mental health
- Good mental health brings out the best in people and the world
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Principle
Max Bock-Aronson is an artist, designer, and engineer passionate about using design to give form to a healthier, more just world.
As a design engineer with 12+ years of experience, Max has worked with companies such as L'Oreal, Medtronic, and the Mayo Clinic to support the technical development of new products and innovations. He holds 11 patents (with three patents-pending) for his design engineering work in consumer products, medical devices, and industrial goods. He also co-founded Breathe99 and was the principle designer of the B2 Mask: a TIME Magazine Best Inventions of 2020 that was featured in the New York Times, Kare 11 News, and Minnesota Monthly.
Max holds a Master's of Design Engineering from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin.
