Wearable Wellness Jacket
A jacket that quietly monitors stress signals — heart rate, breathing, skin temperature — and responds with calming haptics, warmth, and hug-like compression. Wellness support that feels like clothing, not a medical device.
Sketching the concept
Early sketches explored sensor placement, cooling elements, and how the jacket fits into daily routines like studying and commuting.
Testing with users
I ran feedback sessions with two target users — a law student facing long, sedentary study sessions, and a real estate agent commuting between client meetings. Their reactions reshaped the design: wrist sensors clashed with smartwatches and typing, automatic blood-pressure readings felt clinical and anxiety-inducing, and bulky cooling packs read as “medical device” rather than clothing.
The physical prototype
Sensors moved off the wrist and into functional zones across the chest, back, and torso. The chest tracks heart rate and breathing; the upper back monitors posture; adaptive compression along the torso delivers a soft, hug-like pressure tied to stress levels; and gentle heating panels replaced the bulky coolers.
Blood pressure is now measured only on demand, via a removable upper-arm cuff triggered by an intentional gesture — the user decides when to monitor, not the jacket.
Companion app & smart hanger
Biometric and environmental data syncs to a mobile app for deeper insights, and the jacket recharges automatically when hung on its smart hanger — charging folded invisibly into an existing habit.
Reflection
The biggest lesson: wellness tech isn’t about collecting accurate data — it’s about how the user feels while wearing it. Features meant to help can become stressful if they feel too medical, automatic, or intrusive. Every revision moved the jacket toward being a subtle extension of everyday clothing rather than a gadget.