Inspiration
Only 4% of mental health professionals in the United States are Black, so it's not easy for Black people to seek help from people who look like them and can relate to their experiences and background more. This is devastating, considering how mental health issues skyrocketed in 2020 and has a ripple effect that can be felt even now in 2022.
Throughout history, Black barbershops were not just a place to get a haircut. They were one of few places that people could come together and seek counsel and get information. Outside of those doors it could be chaos, but in the barbershop, there's a lingering feeling of security. The barber was someone who knew everyone in the neighborhood, and, like a preacher, was someone with whom you can confide in.
What it does
The Barbershop is a mobile app that aims to replicate the traditional Barbershop. Here are five things a user can do in the Barbershop.
I am present
Every Barbershop has a waiting area, where you can meet and have conversations with other people. The virtual environment provides the user with a list of community members, their pronouns, their interests and what conversations they are interested in having. The user is able to connect with new people here.
I am aware
In a traditional Barbershop, the news is often on TV and there are often newspapers and magazines lying around to keep the guests occupied. The stories contained reported in these media serve as a spark for many conversations that occur at the Barbershop. This virtual environment replicates this with a News feed that gives the user up to date information about what is happening in the BIPOC communities.
I am beautiful
Every Barbershop has mirrors for people to appreciate their beauty after the haircut. The virtual environment allows the user to share text, pictures and videos that describe why they are feeling beautiful in their skin.
I am woke*
Barbershops have historically been a place for organizing and activism. The virtual environment connects the user with local community organizations fighting for justice in the BIPOC community.
Enter the Barbershop
Conversations with your Barber can be therapeutic. In the virtual environment, your Barber is a chatbot, enable with speech to text and text to speech functionalities, which you can vent to and have conversations with.
How we built it
We built the prototype in Figma and we built the Virtual Reality (VR) space using Unity and free assets from Unity Asset Store and the ensuing dialogue from the barber using Dialogflow.
Challenges we ran into
We originally wanted to allow people on this app to turn a room or an open area in their homes into a barbershop. However, we encountered challenges connecting the phone to the computer, so we pivoted to launching a VR space that's connected to a bot in Dialogflow. Hooking up Unity to Dialogflow was its own ordeal. Github was not happy with uploading all files we had for the Unity project, so we had to manually sift through and upload files that were actively being used in the project.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
With an eye for design in its multitude of definitions, we came up with innovative concepts such as organizing what you can do on the app as affirming mantra statements and bringing the barbershop feel to those of us who cannot risk going out to public spaces.
What we learned
As Figma newbies, we learned how to embed components into the Figma prototype. We also learned how to create an enclosed space, a mirror effect, and how to hook to Dialogflow in Unity.
What's next for The Barbershop
- Create AR portal allowing users to transform their space into a barbershop
- Web application for desktop users
- Develop the app to be published in the app stores!
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