For a design theory class, I tackled the problem statement: “Design a product, system or service to foster inclusion of older adults in our digital society”.
After doing a literature review and observational research, I conceptualized a digital messaging system to be used within active living retirement communities.
The idea was further explored using participatory design sessions, a strategy where stakeholders are actively involved in the design process to increase the chances that a solution meets their needs.
For a deeper dive into this project, read the paper published in the 2018 conference proceedings of HCI International.
Design a product, system or service to foster the inclusion of older adults in our digital society.
I completed all the research.
Competitive analysis, observations, immersion, card sort, brainstorming
3 months (Fall 2017)
Older adults may not be as engaged with technology because of challenges using products or a lack of confidence in their abilities. But those who embrace technology:
Older adults are making up an increasingly larger percentage of the global population, so there’s a benefit to tackling this issue. One way to meet their needs is to involve them in all stages of design (i.e., not only in usability testing). This allows designers to take into consideration the older adult’s social influences, experiences, preferences and how they use technology.
To generate ideas, I watched older adults out in the community in varying settings interacting with other people, with each other and with technological devices. Based on my observations, I chose to design a product that:
I conceived of a tablet-based digital messaging system for older adults living in retirement communities that would feature a calendar listing upcoming activities within the community with prompts for residents to invite friends with similar interests.
But, was I on the right path? Would older adults actually use this? Before jumping into the ideation phase, I took a step back to evaluate my assumptions with three older adults using participatory design sessions guided by IDEO’s Human-Centered Design Toolkit.
I chose immersion to gain a better understanding of who I was designing for in context.
I spent two hours with one older adult in her home within a retirement community. She is highly independent and easily navigated the technology in her home (smartphone, laptop, Smart TV).
But communicating digitally within this environment did not appear to be important to her. She connected with her neighbors in person in their apartments or in the common areas, and learned about weekly events from the community bulletin board. Accordingly, she preferred face-to-face interactions with her friends in the city.
I used a personal values card sort to explore if the values chosen aligned with the perceived benefits of using the product.
Two participants sorted 50 cards into three categories: Very important to me, Important to me and Not important to me.
Both of them categorized these values as “very important to me”:
Both equated faithfulness with friendship, so I asked how they kept in touch with their friends. When possible, they would take the time to travel and meet their friends in person.
The focus of the brainstorm session was to generate as many ideas as possible related to the design problem. The discussion ranged from the goal of the free-cell game to their friends’ experiences with technology.
But the highlight came near the end of the session when one of the participants brought up an issue that arises as we age:
Sometimes the memory goes. Generally, as you get older you take more meds. Sometimes people forget so they have those dishes for pills for days of the week. You could come up with something like…
He then used nearby objects to build a rudimentary prototype of a digital pill dispenser with feedback loops. Ultimately, the session ended with a creative solution that capitalized on existing behavior.
This experience highlighted the importance of recording everything during these types of sessions because you never know what you might capture.
