Design Thinking
How might we design a socialization product for a 70+ year old when meeting in person might not be possible? Human connection is a timeless need. Imagine having an outgoing, in your pocket, digital assistant to aid in being that virtual icebreaker. Let’s explore a way to break down those social walls.
The project challenge.
NEW PRODUCTS & SERVICES FOR TODAY’S 70 YEAR OLD
Gain insight to wellness and/or fitness services that lead to ways to shut down ageism and empower 70 years to live their best lives – even when managing through physical and mental challenges.
Words like retire, old, silver and vintage have such negative connotations. There is nothing graceful when you describe how it feels to be 70+ with those adjectives. Nothing feels empowering. Let’s start a movement for pro-aging.
My observations and interviews included extremes from 80 year old Cross Fit trainer to the 70 year old ovary cancer survivor with limited mobility. Being curious about these extremes yielded invaluable insights – they desired adventure, learning new things and being mentally and/or physically fit. There’s a desire to learn new things, see more places and build connections.
Overall, I noticed that attitude or perception played a big role of how they viewed their quality of life. Fear is really the thing that holds us back at any age.
“Aging is extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.”
— David Bowie
3 Key Insights
Field research, surveys and empathy studies result in research to cast aside assumptions and starting to formulate key insights. Something I felt strongly about was breaking down ageism. Here are key insights that emerged in initial research leading to the focus on companionship and how to care for that timeless need.
INSIGHT #1 - FITNESS/WELLNESS
Inform: Age with swagger. Age is a state of mind.
Inspire: Your mind is the fountain of youth. Keeping physically and mentally fit is the fountain of youth.
Memorable: Aged to wellness – the pursuit of mind, body and spirt is the fountain of youth.
INSIGHT #2 - FREEDOM
Inform: Free to be me and the time to do it. The time is now, knowing that years to do is more compressed. There is this pull back to that adolescence curiosity coupled with more time to explore.
Inspire: Living the dream in the Air Stream, exploring who I should have always been. It’s never too late to do what you love. Stay curious.
Memorable: Living the youthful dream in the Air Stream, being the adventurer of my life story.ice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
INSIGHT #3 - COMPANIONSHIP/SOCIAL
Inform: Living the Golden Years in the Golden Girls style. No matter what our age is – we love and laugh and fear and desire human connection. You don’t have to be single/widowed to feel loneliness.
Inspire: Aging alone doesn't have to be lonely, live like the Golden Girls in your Golden Years.
Memorable: Words – and more – with friends seeking connectivity rooted in independence.
Brainswarming Ideas
This is not your average brainstorming session. Now that the focus will be on designing a socialization product for a 70+ year old when meeting in person may not be possible with COVID 19. Brainswarming ended up being the ideation method of choice for the group.
Brainswarming - a form a visualizing innovative thinking and a nod to “swarm intelligence”.
Consists of two connected activities framing a goal and branching out resources.
Framing a goal: Spent time with thesaurus looking for verbs similar to connect, unite, social, companionship to eventually come up with “Socialize" (connect 70 year old)” in COVID 19 world.
Mapped out resources on bottom level: Digital Devices, Social Media, Zoom, Voice Assistants, Private Glass Room, Physical Meet Up Spaces
Starting out at bottom with resources to splinter out features and forcing a different course to take.
Pursuing this method automatically clusters ideas together and organizes the brainstorming session so participants are focused.
This process works from top down and when a set of vectors connecting where there is a “solution path”
Switching back and forth gives way for convergence and divergence methods.
Participants
Party of three - including a 16 year old perspective.
Participant Plan
Prior to the ideation session, I shared a HBR article on this brainstorming process and asked them to read it first.
Stated the problem and built up the insights that the 70 year old we are designing for doesn’t want things designed for them that feel “old”.
Shared as well to discard the notion that 70 year olds are NOT savvy with technology (at least more than we give them credit), and gave the stat that 73% use technology. Basically, they know Zoom too!
Covered the rules about no judgement, throw everything out there. No idea is stupid pep talk to build comfort level.
Started the brainswarming graph with the “socialize” verb.
Distilled the problem down to bare bones to lay the groundwork, and filled in a few of the resources on the bottom level to give example and comfort level for ideation.
BRAINSWARMING CLUSTERING
Bringing Ideas Into Action
Step 1 - Ideation
OVERVIEW
During convergence phase, a lot of ideas certainly connected and mashed up with each other. A big question my group kept coming up back to—"is this unique from what's already out there." "We have Zoom. We have a smart phone, digital conferencing." I reached out to a someone who manages an assisted living home and a lot of the interaction they have right now is with Zoom, phone call and texting for reaching out to their friends and family. I also posed to my group what would we want designed for us, use that mindset instead of getting caught up in this individual who wants large type and buttons on their phone...or doesn't know how to work an iPad. Seems like by trying to break down age barrier there might be danger of designing another Tik Tok.
Step 2 - Prototype
Now comes the fun part. Quickly pulling ideas to paper for first rapid prototype. This is the time to experiment and not fall in love with the first idea that comes to mind. Before starting rapid prototyping of the app, I really started to break down and map out how we make connections by creating a social circle map. There are those core sets of friends and that fringe set of friends. When you start making new friends or connecting at meet ups it is really important to follow up to build up the relationships. It can be scary breaking into a new social circle of friends.
PAPER MOCKUPS FOR DIGITAL ASSISTANT APP
The Unmet Need
Building a social community for members, by members personalized just for them.
Introducing the digital social planner connecting 70+ year old to friends and activities. Think ClassPass meets MeetUp meets Evite. Empowers them to expand their social circle, making it accessible while navigating ways to meet in a COVID 19 world.
SEE. NEW PEOPLE.
SEE. NEW PLACES.
SEE. NEW WORLD VIEW.
SEE. YOUR CIRCLE GROW.
The Pitch Deck
This is the initial process to break down walls and connect especially in a time where socialization is not so easy. This work is currently ongoing and looking to bulid partnerships to make it a reality. This is simply something that started from IDEO design thinking classes and has ignited a passion project. Please reach out if you would like to be a part of this journey. Isolation is a real problem. How can we provide ways to build human connection and move past age as a number?