Through the course we did many explorations using persona’s and scenarios to work through the different possibilities. The design ideas did not make it through to our final concept and the stories are crude but they show a part of our process and the tools we used.
Persona 1
Age: 77 years old
Occupation: Pensioner, former secretary in FL Smidt
Family: Two daughters Marianne and Yvonne, her husband passed away some years ago
Marianne married to Torben
45 years old, married with two kids
Tobias 9 years
Maria 11 years
Yvonne married to Michael
48 years old, Married with two kids
Jacob 16 years and Mary 19 years old.
Anne used to live in an coop apartment in the centre of town but has recently moved into an elderly home in Vesterbro. She was not happy to leave her apartment but her motor skills have deteriorated to a degree where she needs help to perform simple everyday tasks. Her mental skills are not lacking and she is normally fully conscious of what goes on around her. Her hearing is not what it used to be though and she sometimes gets a little confused. This means that she is not a fan of big crowds and open spaces that makes it hard for her to participate in a conversation.
Anna has a positive view on live and would like to meet some of the other elderly living at the home. The people on her floor however are sicker then she is and she feels lonely as she can find no one to talk to. She is hoping that she will soon find someone in the home or in the vicinity to talk to but she is unsure how this should be done.
She attends the different gymnastic activities and other social events but still spends most of her time alone in her two bedroom apartment. Her daughters visits her as much as they can and they usually come once every week alternating the days. Anna does not see her grandchildren very often which she understands but she wishes it to b different.
Scenario “Chore sheet”
Anna has been at the elderly home for a couple of weeks now and she is starting to get bored. She has not yet managed to get in contact with the other elders and she is missing doing the things she used to do around the house. One day Mona, one of her carers, asks Anna to help her tidy up the room. Anna is feeling kind of sad for herself that day but she lets Mona talk her into helping her. She discovers that she has been quite annoyed with the other carers that has just been tidying her room without asking her where she wants things to stand. Encouraged by this thought she helps Mona telling her where things have their rightful place and they end up taking out the small garbage bag from Anna’s room to the garbage shaft together. On their way back Mona shows Anna a touchscreen with very large icons showing different chores. Mona pressed an icon of a lady with white hair and up comes an interactive keyboard. “Spell your name” she encourages Anna. Anna puts her fingers to the screen and puts in A-N-N and suddenly her name appears. “Push your name” Mona says and a scoreboard comes up. “Now that we know that you can help tidy up your room would you be up for helping next time?” Anna agrees immediately and Mona says “push the icon with the broom, now we know that we can ask you to help the next time we come by!”. Anna is happy and returns to her room. She has heard a rumour that once a month there is a lottery for the elders helping out where you can win Christmas treats. She has to remember to ask her about that the next time she sees her!
Scenario “Painting the feeling“
Anna has survived most of the elders that moved in at the same time that she did. The last ten years at the home has been good but her dementia is finally catching up with her. Anna has always been used to taking care of herself and as her memory gets worse a great anger grows in her. She has recently been trying to hit the carers that tend to her needs and serving her dinner has turning into a real challenge.
Luckily an experiment is being conducted in CPH municipality and the home has been selected as a test venue. The experiments entail ceiling mounting a projector casting a picture onto a white wall. A small web cam is mounted on the wall feeding information back to the Wii console on the floor. A number of imitated crayons in different bright colours are positioned on a small table about two metres from the screen. Anna in her wheelchair is positioned in front of the “whiteboard”. Mona puts a crayon in her hand and moves her arm up and down. At first Anna is unwilling to participate but as music starts to flow from the loudspeaker that is connected her attention is caught. She slowly moves the crayon around drawing lines on the “whiteboard”. Anna is lost for half an hour changing crayons and listening to music adapting to her movement be they slow or fast.