Tuesday Week 8 (2nd exchange)

5 ways to well being

Our idea seems to easily hit all 5 ways to well-being. "Be active" is potentially the only one which is not as strong. But being active is a relative term, for seniors going for a 10 minute walk to the supermarket can be being active. Or cleaning for example. So the idea that we are getting seniors out of their houses and physically outside of their usual routine is an important factor. 

Journey map:

We brainstormed a quick journey for the elderly of how they might find out about the event to the logistics of getting there and what will happen there.

Because we have such different audiences, it's important we cater to each one. Elderly might be most comfortable with physical things which they can keep rather than say a social media advert or a poster. We already know that Wellington City mission visits the elderly and so a flyer could be distributed to seniors living alone and also in public spaces like the supermarkets or doctors etc...  We were thinking that maybe the flyer could have a form which the seniors fill out and gets sent back to us as an RSVP.  The flyer would need a lot of information, about what it is, where it is etc...

We would have a website where people can see the next events and get information and potentially sign up on the site.

We also just thought it would be nice to have a book which is a collection of recipes from the events. And because we want to continue the idea of sharing advice, the book could contain advice from the events.

At the event, we are still using cooking as an icebreaker to start conversations and make relationships. We believe the event could let two generations benefit from the company of each other and one way the seniors could help youth is through advice. The participants would be encouraged to chat and share advice with each other.

There could also be an "advice wall" where people pin up their advice for others to see.

Here is a list of potential print out touch points:

• Poster
• flyer
• contact card exchange
• question cards
• a loyalty card (like a coffee card). 
• a notepad
• business card
• name tag
• calendar/reminder/dates card
• the collective book

Another touchpoint would be the website.


2nd Exchange

Met up with my exchange group again. It felt like the first meet up again because I had to explain my idea from scratch and I didn't have any design to show them because our idea was is so new! I explained our new event-based idea and everyone loved it. Previously, a couple of people were concerned about the app and how it wouldn't work with seniors, but now they think its a great idea for targeting those who don't see their grandchildren much. It also means that seniors can bring their friends along and it becomes more of a social gathering.

Geogia mentioned that her Nana has become quite timid and comfortable in her routine and that a social gathering like this might be really intimidating. This is something to seriously consider. Perhaps we just advertise to bring along a friend. And also using the social workers who visit seniors to encourage them would be a great idea.

The atmosphere and things at the event would be important fo rthis aspect as well, to settle the participants and make them comfortable.

SuperCrit!! Week 7 Friday

Inbetween Tuesdays class and the super crit Tallulah and I weren't feeling completely happy with our idea. We saw so many potholes which we couldn't get our heads around. Something just felt off!

We started brainstorming how we could adapt our idea to something different and not as predictable as an app. We thought about product design and smart objects but in the end, we went around in circles and ended up wasting hours! 

In order to have something to show for the super crit we decided to stick with our original idea and mock up some low-fi wireframes.

Crit 1 

We received feedback mostly on our idea rather than actually how the app would work because we didn't have it mocked up to a stage where that was possible, unfortunately. Instead, we received some useful feedback about what features we might need or some areas which had problems to resolve. Tim quickly popped in and mentioned that this didn't have to be super realistic and we could pretend we had lots of sponsorship from companies or areas/spaces we could use. This idea of using a space sparked some big ideas!

We  changed  adapted our idea!!

Some frantic brainstorming...

So we have changed our idea... We are now adapting a cooking app where you cook with your grandparent. To a cooking space where you cook with strangers.

We thought we could have a communal kitchen space where you pair up with an elderly and cook together. It is an event which might be every week or every other week. This idea solves the issue of if a grandparent or youth doesnt have a relation or lives far away from a relation so that they can still have the benefits of engaging with someone from another generation.

We are currently brainstorming how the logistics of it would work out and where our designing would come in. We realised we could have a lot of printed stuff for the event which got us motivated again. At the moment there are many touchpoints we could cover. But what we need to do is work out how to attract both audiences and what our style might look like to do this. 

Understanding elderly and research

Designing for elderly

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/02/designing-digital-technology-for-the-elderly/

• Avoid font sizes smaller than 16 pixels (depending of course on device, viewing distance, line height etc.).

• Let people adjust text size themselves.

• Pay particular attention to contrast ratios with text.

• Avoid blue for important interface elements.

• Always test your product using screen readers.

• Provide subtitles when video or audio content is fundamental to the user experience.

Motor Control

Our motor skills decline with age, which makes it harder to use computers in various ways. For example, during some user testing at a retirement village, we saw an 80-year-old who always uses the mouse with two hands. Like many older people, she had a lot of trouble hitting interface targets and moving from one thing to the next.

In the general population, a mouse is more accurate than a finger. But in our user testing, we’ve seen older people perform better using touch interfaces. This is consistent with research that shows that finger tapping declines later than some other motor skills.

• Enable connection with a smaller, more important group of people (not a big, undifferentiated social network).

"“I know there are things down there that I want to read” he said, gesturing to the bottom of the screen, “but I can’t figure out how to get to them.” After I taught him how to use a scrollbar, his experience changed. "" 

-We should assume anything when designing for older people, we take for granted even that fact that we intuitively know how to scroll

https://www.cna.com.br/sobre-cna/exchange#
video...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK3885/ - Changes in Cognitive Function in Human Aging


http://ci-journal.org/index.php/ciej/article/view/778/890 - Life-based design against loneliness among older people.

• "Despite many anti-technology arguments throughout the mass media, communication technology and social media do not have to restrict or replace other forms of social contact. Quite the contrary, these technologies should be seen as tools to facilitate them."
• "As has been evidenced in the Facebook phenomenon, a vast majority of users appreciate the way they are able to re-connect with old acquaintances, friends and family with the help of social media. This would seem to be of benefit to older people, too. Being able to expand connections to reach those whom you once knew, or even making new friends with similar interests and experiences, should work to decrease the feeling of loneliness. Of course, one of the main obstacles for older people using social media as a tool for gaining and finding social contacts is not just whether or not they can use the technology but also whether or not their friends and peers are present in cyberspace." - at least we know that the youth will most likely be on social media platforms. 
• "Prevention of loneliness presupposes face-to-face contact, although genuinely interactive kinds of social media can form the basis for the prevention of loneliness."

The following sub-services can be seen as logical steps in concept design:

1. Discourses;

a) Everyday chat - an easy way to build trust between people and to approach other people.

b) Hobbies - another important type of relatively neutral way to approach other people with similar interests.

c) Thoughtful consideration - earnest chats to deepen relationships.

2. Sharing;

a) Memoirs - memoirs and the possibility to find people with similar backgrounds, can be used in the search for friends.

b) Photographs –an easy way to communicate with people.

3.Tutorials (brief videos on communication, feelings and social habits);

a) Tutorials – brief pieces of information presenting typical problems associated with loneliness and coping with communication and emotional models.

b) Social discourse practices – can be helped by presentations.

4. Events;

a) Information about where one can meet other people.

5. Friend finder;

a) A service to contact other people via definable criteria.

• "In older people's lives, self-efficacy is an essential factor of coping."
• "If we wish to eliminate the difficulties encountered with usability, it is essential to find usability metaphors which remind the user of past technologies, such as the use of the traditional ringtone as an option in modern mobile phones. It is also important to eliminate any unnecessary steps in accessing a service, and it is essential to consider the difficulties of usage caused by age-related decline in vision, hearing and dexterity. The main thing is to maintain familiarity with the kinds of interfaces the target people have used over the years."
• Elimination of unnecessary steps in accessing the service can be achieved by icons with familiar metaphors for older people and accompanied by clearly readable texts.
• Technology for elders - "It should be applied to support the strengths of older people and to facilitate their participation in society.

https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/blog/two-cups-tea-podcast-sharing-older-peoples-extraordinary-life-stories/ - elderly stories podcast. "It made me think about all the people out there who’ve got amazing experiences to share and stories to tell, but who’ve got no one to tell them to."