Trypophobia Pattern Recognition in UI/UX Design Process — Problem
Abstract
Due to the increase in internet usage and product usage, there were also many negative effects that led to this growth. One of the current dilemmas is trypophobia. Many people around the world have raised the issue that some products on the market can cause bulimia (trypophobic). This trigger prevents users from interacting with the products they want to buy or experience. To avoid this situation, there is an urge to create awareness from a low level. Every product has to go through many stages, from zero to production. The designer is the key person in every product design process. Creating awareness on their part is the best way to solve this problem without any other complicated solutions.
What is Trypophobia?
Trypophobia is fear of clusters of small holes, bumps, or patterns. When people see these types of clusters, they will experience Disgust or fear. It’s known as “fear of holes” but also triggered by bumps and patterns as well. Studies show that 13–16% of people around the world have this phobia. When people get triggered by these clusters, they might have experienced some symptoms like: Fever, Nausea, Itching, Sweating, Shivering, Panic attacks.
Typical visuals from nature have those spatial features that the human visual system can read and produces minor discomforts which are induced by some stimuli. Fourier analysis may reveal such qualities by expressing any picture in terms of sinusoidal fluctuations in luminescence with variable spatial frequencies, phases, amplitude, and direction. Fourier amplitude spectra with slopes between 1/f were found to be more unnerving to look at.
Medical Proof
One case in medical history has proved that this trypophobia is real. A 12-year-old girl experienced visual discomforts when she encountered surfaces and objects having holes, bumps or dots. Record says that the symptoms began 3 months before her psychology treatment. Her fear of holes and patterns is always associated with neurovegetative symptoms such as increased heart and breathing rate, choking, nausea, pallor, dry mouth, sweating, and agitation. She explained her experience of fear while doing daily activities like having sliced or seed-covered bread, Gruyere cheese, and clothes with polka dots or animal print. The patient’s mother reported two scenarios that her daughter experienced the fear. When their bathroom wall was under repair she experienced fear while watching the concrete wall with holes on it. The mother also described an incident in which the patient viewed a picture of empty honeycomb cells and wept and cried, despite the fact that she had never exhibited fear of bees previously.
Real life Scenarios
By observing the current world scenarios some set of populations have started to complain about trypophobic triggering products. A Study has taken in Bahrain clearly shows that architectural buildings with these spatial features is generating a visual discomfort to experience that design without getting disgusted or fear. Not only in architectural buildings also created issues with daily use products like mobile phones and all. World-famous brand Apple has released its brand new iPhones and watches. People started to complain about the design concept in the rear camera of the iPhone 11 and later, and the strap of the Nike version iWatch. Those designs are started to make people feel anxious and have visual discomfort. It’s hard to train those peoples minds to get adapt or get rid of this phobia. It’s more of a psychological deal. From the psychological perspective, there are three ways to overcome this phenomenon as Exposure therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and Relaxation Techniques. It’s more challenging to deal with this phobia through psychological treatment just because of the variations in the factors from person to person. The best way to overcome this issue is to bring an awareness factor to the designer to consider about the design of every product before it goes into mass production.
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