An immersive experience reconnecting humans and nature
Tools
Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Figma, Blender
Role
Ideation, research, branding, UX/UI design, prototyping, 3D modeling
Duration
September 2024 to April 2025 | 8 months
The Research Question
What positive impact does nature have on mental health, and how can involvement in nature be encouraged?
Overview
Nature in Touch is an immersive experience based in the heart of the urban city. The space provides nature to individuals where nature is inaccessible.
The Process
For the project, I conducted both primary and secondary research through a questionnaire where I uncovered essential findings on the beneficial connection between humans and nature. With these findings, I developed a solution to encourage involvement in nature.
Primary Research Insights
Humans and nature have become disconnected due to urbanization (Mantler & Logan, 2015).
Nature helps humans both physically and mentally decreasing loneliness and stress, encouraging better immunity, lowering heart rate and more (Franco et al., 2017; Tate et al., 2024)
Spending time in nature and using the senses brings positive well-being (Franco et al., 2017).
Nature greatly benefits humans, and at least 120 minutes per week should be the goal for time spent in nature (White et al., 2019).
Technology can be used to strengthen the relationship between humans and nature (Charles et al., 2018).
Questionnaire Findings
Design Deliverables
After collecting the research, I determined to connect humans and nature, an immersive experience would be the ideal solution. This would be an accessible, convenient, affordable, and enticing way to get people closer to nature, and encourage a greater interest in the outdoors. For the design, I determined I would create a 3D model to envision one of the spaces, establish the branding of the space, a campaign including two posters and a billboard, and a website to frame the project and share the immersive experience with audiences to bring them closer to nature.
Personas
Branding
3D Model of the Space
Videos of the Space
Please set the quality to 1080p HD in the video settings if blurry!
The following video is shorter but at higher quality to show the ideal presentation of the space.
Campaign to Advertise the Immersive Experience
Billboard
Website
Figma Prototype of the Website
References
Mockups
Mockups-design.com. (n.d). Billboard mockup / 12x4 m [Mockup]. https://mockups-design.com/billboard-mockup-12x4-m/
Mockups-design.com. (n.d). Free macbook pro mockup [Mockup]. https://mockups-design.com/free-macbook-pro-mockup/
Audio in Video
Artembirdman. (2022). River in the forest [Audio]. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/river-in-the-forest-17271/
Dr. Macak. (2021). Forest wind and birds [Audio]. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/forest-wind-and-birds-6881/
Textures & HDRIs
AmbientCG. (n.d). Grass 001 [Texture]. AmbientCG. https://ambientcg.com/view?id=Grass001
Baglioni, C. (2025). Trident maple bark [Texture]. Poly Haven. https://polyhaven.com/a/trident_maple_bark
cgbookcase.com. (n.d). Wood 09 [Texture]. cgbookcase. https://www.cgbookcase.com/textures/wood-09
Majboroda, S. (2024). Autumn field [HDRI]. Poly Haven. https://polyhaven.com/a/autumn_field
Mischok, A. (2020). Urban street 04 [HDRI]. Poly Haven. https://polyhaven.com/a/urban_street_04
Savva, D., & Cilliers, R. (2022). Rock boulder dry [Texture]. Poly Haven. https://polyhaven.com/a/rock_boulder_dry
Savva, D. (2024). Knotted pine bark [Texture]. Poly Haven. https://polyhaven.com/a/knotted_pine_bark
Tuytel, R. (2023). Concrete layers 02 [Texture]. Poly Haven. https://polyhaven.com/a/concrete_layers_02
Tuytel, R. (2021). Plywood [Texture]. Poly Haven. https://polyhaven.com/a/plywood
Tuytel, R. (2019). Rock 01 [Texture]. Poly Haven. https://polyhaven.com/a/rock_01
Icons
Facebook. (n.d). [Facebook logo, image]. Facebook Brand Resources and Guidelines. https://about.meta.com/brand/resources/facebook/logo/
Instagram. (n.d). [Instagram logo gradient glyph, image]. Instagram Brand Resources. https://about.meta.com/brand/resources/instagram/instagram-brand/
X. (n.d). [X logo black, image]. X Brand Toolkit. https://about.x.com/en/who-we-are/brand-toolkit
Information
Charles, C., Keenleyside, K., Chapple, R., Kilburn, B., Salah van der Leest, P., Allen, D., Richardson, M., Giusti, M., Franklin, L., Harbrow, M., Wilson, R., Moss, A., Metcalf, L., & Camargo, L. (2018). Home to us all: How connecting with nature helps us care for ourselves and the earth. IUCN. https://iucn.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/hometousall.pdf
Franco, L. S., Shanahan, D. F., & Fuller, R. A. (2017). A review of the benefits of nature experiences: More than meets the eye. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(8), 864. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5580568/
Mantler, A., & Logan, A. C. (2015). Natural environments and mental health. Advances in Integrative Medicine, 2(1), 5-12. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212962615000371?via%3Dihub
Tate, W., Chawla, L., Lavelle Sachs, A., Litt, J. S., & Razani, N. (2024, December 2). Nature prescribing or nature programming? Complementary practices to increase time in nature to support mental health. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc Publishers. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/10.1089/eco.2023.0064
White, M. P., Alcock, I., Grellier, J., Wheeler, B. W., Hartig, T., Warber, S. L., Bone, A., Depledge, M. H., & Fleming, L. E. (2019). Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Scientific Reports 9, 7730 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44097-3
Additional Background References
Shu, Y., Wu, C., & Zhai, Y. (2022). Impacts of landscape type, viewing distance, and permeability on anxiety, depression, and stress. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(16), 9867. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169867
Weir, K. (2020, April 1). Nurtured by nature. Monitor on Psychology, 51(3), 50. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/04/nurtured-nature