The exam itself was a very good experience and I would like to thank Anna Kirah from CPH Design, Mikal Hallstrup from Designit, Joachim Halse from The Danish Design School and Simona Maschi from CIID for a highly useful, professional and challenging feedback. The project is still very much alive and I hope to continue it at a later date.

Starting from January 1.st. I have been employed as an Interaction and Service Designer at CIID (http://ciid.dk/consultancy) where I primarily will be working on a project with Erhvervs – og Byggestyrelsen creating a design process teaching User-centered Design to manufacturers of assistive technology and companies producing lifestyle products.

More information about CIID can be found here: http://ciid.dk/

I started out by doing observations around the venue to get a feel of how a day was put together. A day could pass like this:

Getting up between 8-10 am depending on the level of physical autonomy that the individual is in possession of. If one needs help a caregiver will come and give the required assistance. The morning awakening can take between one and five quarters of an hour depending on the mood and the physique of the person. Starting the day also means listening to any thoughts or doubts that the person might have. As depression sometimes occurs the time can be spent solely in conversation. Breakfast is served before 10 an can be eaten either in the private room or at the communal kitchen on the floor.

From 10-12 the local activity centre is offering up activities. Most participate in the communal event where coffee is served  along with a couple of slices of fruit. Different caregivers play the piano and songbooks are distributed. People join in at their level while the caregivers tend to arising needs. As half the people living in the home has dementia of some kind there is a large spectrum of capabilities and of situations that need to be handled.

After this session the inhabitants are returned to their floors where they have lunch. The activity centre opens once again at 1 pm with communal activities like movie screening, walks and different games with occasional room for activities suggested by the users of the centre. In the adjacent room a work shop is located that has a number of activities on offer. Sewing, painting, post card making, and other handicrafts can be taken on with support from the staff. Once a week a volunteer comes in and teaches basic computer usage teaching the use of the Internet, word and publisher.

At 4 pm the activity centre closes and the inhabitants returns to their floors. Dinner is served around 6 pm and bedtime for those that need assistance is 9 or 10 pm after their own choosing.

There is of course a lot of activities in between the above mentioned and the inhabitants can come and go as they please some though inhibited by mental or physical handicaps. I will be going back to the centre next week where I hopefully will experience life on a floor and if possible interview staff and inhabitants.

Magnus

Motivation
The familiar things project is to date still the project that moved me the most. In my opinion there is a lot to be done in the area of elderly care. Also, slowly losing your cognitive abilities and thus your identity and dignity has to be one of the worst ways to pass away. The emotional consequences for the next of kind and the impact of the diseases on society financially are also meriting a closer look at the area.

My personal and overall goal is
The elderly represent a growing part of the Danish populace that in my opinion is marginalized and not sufficiently researched or funded. Our investigations in the GUI project showed that a lot of steps could be taken to improve their daily lives in the elderly homes. My goal is to identify the needs of the person/patient stricken with dementia and to look into the ways of improving or changing current state.

Domain and boundaries
The domain of the elderly home is a defined one. I have set this boundary in order to have a starting point. As the project progresses it could very likely be a good idea to look at elderly people to learn more about life as an elderly without the need for facility care.

During my thesis I would like to challenge myself in
I would like to challenge myself in areas such as graphic design and visualisation. I intend to work with different ways of presenting my data and communicating my ideas using tools such as video prototyping and posters. I will work with GUI where it makes sense. I will further challenge myself into the topics that I am more comfortable with such as ethnography and concept development trying to go as broad as I can before narrowing my focus. If the thesis takes me into product/GUI design I will also be looking into flash programming.

Adviser
Vinay Venkatraman