Seniors 65+
Age Volunteers 18+ Age
This project aims to help older adults combat social isolation by creating a platform that fosters a stronger sense of community and neighborhood support by volunteers.
Problem
The elderly often need help with everyday tasks due to their old age. They don't have anyone to support them in times of need as their family live far away from them.
Solution
Designed two user-friendly and accessible apps which connects volunteers and older adults by bridging the gap with feature for asking and giving help.
Application 1 - Wise lets elderly individuals seek help for tasks like household, techonology or company from volunteers.
Application 2 - Helpwise lets volunteers to respond to the real-time help queries from seniors. The app motivates them by providing them points and certifications for their work.
Primary Research
Have you imagined your life at 65, alone and distant from your children and partner?
Life can be really hard when you are old and all alone by yourself. You can feel lonely, stressed, sad, helpless all at once. To understand what senior people's struggles are and how do they feel about their life, we interviewed Obfelden, Switzerland inhabitants. We tried to understand their daily struggles.
Here are some quotes from the interviews which are important for this project:
"I don't want to lose the few girlfriends or burden them. I therefore only dare to ask in doses when help is needed."
"People know each other (in my street), but everyone goes their own way. My neighbor's husband mows my lawn. When we see each other, we talk briefly. But apart from the neighbors, I hardly have any contact"
"Yes we have contact with sons and adult grandchildren, but they are fully occupied. The youngest had a birthday recently and I wrote her a WhatsApp and she answered immediately. You just have to keep up with technology, otherwise you're screwed and the young ones are far away""
"I no longer have a garden only raised beds on the balcony. I need someone to give me water. You have to see for yourself that you have contacts who do that"
"And those who used to come to me, they all left me on the left at some point, because then I usually can no longer do anything anyway - that is, I can't do any activities"
Secondary Research
According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, over 70% of Switzerland's professional home care recipients are over 65. It is crucial to recognize that not all elderly people can afford expert care.
In 2020, 41% of Swiss permanent residents aged 15 and older conducted official or informal volunteer activity.
Why this issue is important?
According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, swiss seniors are rising because to the low birth rate and long life expectancy. Therefore, it is important to prioritize care for the elderly due to their large population.
Ideation
The original concept for the app was to let seniors access their local social networks via group phoning, event planning, live streaming, and peer-to-peer support.
However, I prioritized the "request for help" option to simplify the application for the elderly.
For volunteers, I included gamification components such as points and certifications. Volunteers could benefit from points and certifications that enhance their profiles and resumes.
User Flow
Application 1: To view the user flow for the app for older adults through which they can place help requests click here.
Application 2: To view the user flow for the volunteers to accept or decline the requests click here.
Wireframes
I initiated the design process by sketching out low-fidelity concepts on paper. This approach provided me with valuable insights on how to kickstart the visual design phase.
Visual Design for WISE (App for Older Adults)
After several revisions, here's the visual design of the application keeping accessibility for elderly individuals in mind. To improve readability, I used the 'Nunito' typeface at a large size. Also, I chose colors and contrasts that would be easy on the eyes for them.
Visual Design for HELPWISE (App for Volunteers)
After several revisions, here's the visual design of the application keeping accessibility for elderly individuals in mind. To improve readability, I used the 'Nunito' typeface at a large size. Also, I chose colors and contrasts that would be easy on the eyes for them.
Future Prospects
As the project ended due to unforeseen reasons, I was unable to test the design with the participants; however, if the projects was still running, I would like to discuss and test the design prototype with them to better understand this concept and how it would benefit them. It would help me comprehend how it helps people. Usability testing would assess whether the design is easy to use and achieves its aims.
Hypothesis
Older people are afraid to seek their friends for assistance since they have always been self-sufficient, caring for themselves and their children. However, as they become older, they lose vitality and they feel that others may condemn them for seeking assistance. They also no longer have strong bonds with the individuals around them as they formerly did. They are incredibly lonely as a result of this.
Pain Points
Because of old age many older adults are no longer to do their basic tasks that they used to do.
They often need help from others with simple tasks like garderning
Older adults feel embarrassed/ashamed to ask for help from their friends and family.
Using HMW to conceptualize Ideas
HMW help older adults in their daily lives?
HMW make older adults not embarrassed for not asking help from someone?
HMW promote people to help older adults?
