Say Yes
A research project into ageing communities, products for mature adults leads to an initiative for a digital platform to connect not just the elderly to services, products and social contact but to support neighborhoods in a "Tauschring" structure
Role
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Research primary and secondary
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Concept and branding
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UX/UI design of prototype
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Create pitch for entrepreneurship fund
Tools
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Adobe illustrator
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Adobe XD
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In Design
Year
2017
(revisted)
2019
Challenge
Prototype a platform with a user-oriented design towards ageing communities, which meet different needs.
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Dating
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Hobbies
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Emergency Access
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Health care courses
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Wellness
Constraints
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How can we engage the market for this specific product?
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How could we make it easy to use for all demographics?
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Can we connect different community out reach platforms and give them a platform to connect
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Could this be a multi-generational touch point?
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Could this work with a "LETS" currency?
Research into the Silverliners
The dreaded "ageing population"
Our research began primarily into digital products for smart homes oriented towards safety, and ease for the ageing community. There was an overall lack of "sexiness" when it came to certain design trends. The language and copy always mentioned "geriatric" terminology. The "Silver Liners" nickname suited us better, as we considered that this ageing demographic included us, who were technologically competent. We also looked at what are the biggest risks for the growing demographic. We decided to then focus our energy on developing a platform which would focus on information, connection and not single out mature populations as a target, but rather create a universal usable product.
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Multidisciplinary thinking, and collaboration is imperative with considering the design needs of older adults.
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Universal and accessible design should not limit the design of the products, but create an interesting dynamic to its conception.
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"Cognitive decline necessitates strategy change, not feature removal" -Not reduce, but adapt
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Focus on what your users can do, not what they can’t.
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Minimal UI design in terms of colours and contrasts but it does not mean reducing the overall scope of the product.
Neighborhood Stakeholders
The target user group includes older adults, but deciding to focus on the neighbourhood and not the individual was an important decision. Cross generational participation would be imperative to the success of this platform. The idea of the local exchange trading system occurred to us:
"Local Exchange Trading Systems or Schemes - are local community-based mutual aid networks in which people exchange all kinds of goods and services with one another, without the need for money."
How could a LETS system benefit elderly populations:
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The community can save money and resources and communicate with each-other
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This could lead to the creation of neighbourhood hotline on the platform, in the case of emergency
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Establishment of social networks via telecommunications for people who are no longer are so mobile
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Pre-configured activities like "Online-Bridge" Games with partners (establish links).
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Help revitalise and build community:
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Assistance for the existing technological queries
Interviewing potential users
We interviews four people in the Munich area between the ages of 50 and 75, to get an idea about the kind of questions which might be interesting for a survey. What we learned is that the "barrier" or "digital divide" was not really there due to ignorance, or lack of understanding of products, but often out of pride and frustratation when trying to figure them out. The concept of a "tauschring" was not discussed directly, we were more interested in community initiatives and where the interviewees learnt about new events. They all answered via print media. There seems to be as bigger trust in print media which was not surprising, the question was would there be a trust in a digital platform. One issues seemed to be about the ability to stay independnt and live at home. This could get more more and more difficult and there was a tangible fear for the future. One interviewee made an observation about her mother, that computers were some how too complicated but a tablet was more accessible in general. Which could be an argument towards a platform fo this exchange ring existing on an App instead of a website.
"Example of my friend: she can't handle a computer, but does almost everything on the iPad - and has fun doing it"
How might we?
Moving forward we decided to do a round of "How might we" questions to see where we would focus this prototype.
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HMW- make an easy interface with a short learning curve?
3 buttons
Easy to go back to the main menu from everypage
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HMW - allow social interaction as well as exchanges?
Spontaneous meet ups as option (maybe on maps)
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HMW- gurantee people safety ?
Create review system
Make onboarding safer with some kind of identification info necessary
Create emergency button in app to ask for help
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HMW- creative incentives for different demographics to take part in the exchange?
Make the app easy to use for all
Incentivise the financial benefits of community exchange
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HMW- make it easier for existing communities to use the platform?
Allow them to create their own communities in the app
Sketching and low fidelity iterations
The first sketches were really trying to understand the user flow, and which parts could be stripped away. We also did not want it to look like a dating app, or a meet up app, but still have those functions on a lower level. We were also struggling with the name, Proxi-Me? Freed? Yes Community? It had to be catchy but also relate to the positive, fun image we wanted to create.
Say Yes to "Say Yes"
The name of the product was also a tough one. There are many applications with names includting "Neighborhood", but we wanted the entire thing to feel posotive. Say Yes to your neighbors! Say Yes to social interaction! And Say Yes to sharing and exchanging. And since we were called Yes Architecture, it seemed to work pretty well to.
Our initial sketches and ideas helped us organize the flow of the product and then when it came to the UI we wanted to have larger text when necessary but not so large that it seemed no longer aesthetic. We tried to use colours to create contrast as much as possible and to allow the app to be as simple as possible.
How we failed
The prototype was a culmination of our research into issues such as loneliness, fear and lack of support that many older adults feel today, our decision to focus on the neighbourhood as a unit and not the individual means that the product depends on that collaboration. This could mean these neighbourhood exchanges need a catalyst to take off. The application is a tool to bring the community together, so rather than making a website for every individual exchange ring, they could use this product to create one.
Problematic? Risky? We prefer "Optimistic".
Where we failed is that the product needed to be created in closer collaboration with the users in mind. Perhaps in conjunction with existing exchange groups, and they needed to be interviewed and their experiences integrated. The older users also need to be involved in a more collaborative way to explain specific queries they have with product flows.
Say Yes, is a starting point. We did not win the entrepreneurship grant, but we enjoyed working on our pitch and the idea is still there, waiting to grow up and age gracefully like the rest of us.
