Building Design Resilience
Exploring AI on supporting design students’ mental well-being throughout the design study
X. Chen (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
Valentijn Visch – Mentor (TU Delft - Society, Culture and Critique)
G.J. Pasman – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Human Technology Relations)
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Abstract
Mental health concerns are increasingly prevalent among university students. Due to the unique nature of design subjects, design students experience different challenges during the study which often trigger anxiety. While anxiety is commonly regarded as a negative emotion, psychology suggests it can also serve as a catalyst for resilience and growth when addressed constructively. This project explores how to support design students’ mental health by targeting their anxiety and helping them to build mental resilience during their study.
Building on literature from psychological theory, positive psychology, the Resilient Designer principles and wide implementations of AI in mental health fields, the research led to the final outcome – Lumi, a mental health tool designed to support design students’ emotional well-being. Lumi aims at supporting design anxiety and also helping in building mental resilience, enabling students to capture and reflect on emotional moments throughout their projects.
To ground the design for real users and scenarios, I conducted user research with design students at TU Delft, who shared experiences of anxiety around their study lives in IDE. Their voices revealed two distinct needs: immediate support during moments of anxiety and deeper reflection afterwards to learn from these experiences. These insights shaped Lumi’s dual role as both an emotional companion in stressful moments and a reflective coach for long-term resilience building.
The evaluation of Lumi focused on the main functions: anxiety coping and end-of-project reflection. Findings suggest that Lumi can reduce momentary anxiety with proper AI support and the AI insights of the emotional journey encourage the self-awareness of anxiety triggers. Furthermore, participants highly praised the value of Lumi as a self-improvement tool, though they also expressed a preference for more autonomy and a balance between AI intervention and personal reflection.
To summarise, this project contributes to the emerging field of integrating resilience into design education by exploring how AI can implement mental health care into students’ study lives. By reframing anxiety not as a barrier but as an opportunity for growth, Lumi aims to strengthen students’ capacity to cope with setbacks, build confidence, and ultimately develop design resilience. The outcomes highlight the potential of AI in mental health fields, pointing out future opportunities to expand Lumi beyond design education into broader contexts of designers’ well-being.