Designing for reflection: What we learned from the Deepwood project.
Technology is generally sold on speed. Faster connections, quicker results and instant responses. But somewhere along the way, we risked losing sight of the reality that not everything worthwhile can be rushed.
What if the future of digital wasn’t about acceleration but about stillness?
The culture of always-on technology
From push notifications to real-time analytics, technology hardly ever gives us a breathing space. The constant vibrations, buzzing or popping sounds alert us to messages, emails and reminders. Digital tools often assume we want more information, quicker. But humans don’t just need speed. We need space, the time to reflect, breathe and connect in a meaningful way with the world around us.
Slowing down in a good way
We recently worked on Deepwood, a project that turned tree data into a relaxing soundscape. Instead of forcing blinding graphics or real-time live feeds, it instead invited people to pause and to listen.
By tuning into the rhymes of a living tree, audiences weren’t overwhelmed or stressed. They were calm, curious and reflective. This wasn’t technology at warp speed. It was technology as slowness, a gentle reminder that digital technology can help us slow down, pay attention and be in the moment.
Why does this matter?
Slowing down isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity in:
- Healthcare: Giving patients space and time to process information, rather than bombarding them with excessive alerts and notifications.
- Mental health and wellbeing: Encouraging people to slow down can help improve all aspects of their life by preventing fatigue and burnout, and instead provide them with enhanced mental clarity and focus. It forces us to be in the present moment to create deeper connections with those around us, such as family and friends.
- Education: Providing students with room to learn, to absorb, not just gloss over important information.
- Sustainability: Creating experiences that encourage thought about the planet and our place on it.
What we learned
Project Deepwood, created by Mechanimal, was to guide them through a human-centred design process to develop the project from a concept to a user-tested digital and physical experience that encourages nature-positive behaviour.
It wasn’t about building a digital tool; it was about testing it with real people and users. Throughout our user engagement sessions, we encouraged participants with different backgrounds to test and try the soundscape for themselves.
Here’s what we found:
- Slowness was rejuvenating - Participants described the experience as meditative, even calming, compared to the constant noise of digital life.
- Connection won over understanding - People didn’t need to understand the scientific details to feel the significance. They left with a deeper sense of connection to nature and curiosity about the science behind it.
- Reflection added meaning - The experience made them stop and think about the hidden life of trees, something that they hadn’t considered before.
This feedback reinforced what we believed, that stillness isn’t passive. It’s powerful and it allows people to absorb, reflect and make meaningful connections.
In summary,
We believe meaningful digital experiences don’t have to compete for attention; they can instead create space for it. Deepwood showed us that technology can offer more than speed. It can invite us to slow down, listen, and connect in ways that last.
Explore the full Deepwood case study here or get in touch with us at https://www.hiveit.co.uk/contact-us