Info 360 Design Methods Project
By: Justin Chen
Tags: Design Process

Design Space

The design space we are exploring is a speculative one: the home of the future, particularly with a focus on older homeowners and how the home can support their needs and independence. I was especially interested in this because my grandma lives alone in China and she has several medications that she has to keep track of.

In conclusion, the design space that our team is working in involves a rapidly aging and isolated population with a lot of health and safety hazards existing within that same environment.

Context Studies

Even though it was difficult to conduct context studies in an online format, our team managed to conduct 4 context studies to further explore our design space. During this stage, we connected to Lynn Rauch, a caretaker of a senior at Sunrise of Mercer Island Nursing Home; Dongqing Liao, a retired accountant living in China with his wife; Nhu Nguyen, a fellow peer whose grandma was hurt in a car accident and needs painkillers; Yuegui Chen, a retired senior living in China alone. We found that health monitoring was one of the most frequently mentioned features they mentioned during the interview. When I was talking to Dongqing Liao and Yuegui Chen, I also found that the learning curves for those older adults were very high as it took me awhile to teach them how to use the phone camera for better views of their daily activities. Thus, our goal should be limiting the physical interaction between the users and our product.

Intervention Ideas

Our intervention ideas

As to monitor health statistics, a wearable device seemed important because it acts as a media between the user and other device. However, we listed several problems regarding information security and privacy. Finally, the intervention we had decided was a smart medicine cabinet paired with wearable device.

It was important for us to reduce the learning curve that older adults are facing with new health monitoring technology. To achieve that, we decided to have limited physical interactions that require the users to choose. For example, we compared facial recognition and fingerprint methods as a way of authentication. Then, we applied facial recognition because it requires minimal physical interaction. Our second intervention was during where the user is getting medical help.

Because of the growing demand of geriatricians, it is sometimes hard to connect to find a primary care provider. We decided to take advantage of remote medical help that would provide more immediate assistance. Connecting the older adults, caregiver, family members and doctors is another intervention we planned to do. When the older adults live by themselves, it is important to notify people such as their family members if any emergency occurs. Thus, we focused on integration of the cabinet, cell phone and wearable devices. While the cell phone will have SMS text messages to make notification as reminders of medication and emergency alert, the wearable devices will have vibrational alerts to gain attention.

Example of how the user interacts with the Medic Mirror

Proof of Concept Prototype

Initial Prototype of Interface that we made on Figma:

Details about the design:

Our design focuses on the integration of wearable devices and software support. Our wearable device will be in a format of a watch that pairs with a medical cabinet. According to the To prevent, or reduce high blood pressure and high blood sugar levels, a close monitoring of those statistics has become even more important. The primary usage for the watch is monitoring the glucose levels, current heart rate and blood pressure. The mirror embedded in the cabinet will present the medication for the day and help the user track doses taken. The device does not require direct interaction after getting consent and informing the users during the setup. Because of the learning curve the older adults have with new technologies, our purpose of such design is to make the users not feel the existence of the device.

The software installed in the device and the furniture receives the data from the sensors to monitor the user’s health conditions. It then shows the user if any attention should be paid to any of the metrics. When the user unlocks the homepage, a health summary report will be shown and the user will have the options to connect to emergency services, family members or doctors depending on the situation. The data will be deleted automatically if the user wants to. We use facial recognition as a primary way of authentication because it requires minimal physical interaction. The details such as medication or health data will only be revealed after it confirms the identity. The cabinet design mainly focuses on providing convenience and recommendations.

Doctors of users can get health data sent from the watch regularly according to the agreement between the user and the doctor. Thus, the users will not have to worry about the timing to notify the doctors of their health data. While the doctors can adjust the prescription according to the data received, the caregiver or the family members can get the emergency notification in situations such as a fire or if the user falls to the ground via SMS text messages and vibrational alerts. This will help the caregivers and family members since they will also be a group of stakeholders that require such information.

The wearable device will have a minimum user interface to reduce the active learning of the users. It will be created to have minimal distractions, since it is a passive device that requires little to no interaction, thus defeating the learning curve issue stated above. We decided on the cabinet’s features and reasonably created it to, in its own way, interact with the user and adjust to their needs.

Example of Interaction:

With our prototype, we were trying to answer the following questions:

How can we make it easier to track the kind and amount of medication to take for older adults?

How can we achieve with minimal physical engagement?

How can we connect the older adults, doctors and family members remotely?

How can we offer help when older adults have an emergency?

How can we help with keeping track of health statistics?

How can we keep the information of medication safe?

Evaluation

Our evaluation stage consists survey and Wizard of Oz Observation. The survey was created via Google Forms that included a sample of 6 potential users. As for Wizard of Oz Observation, I had 3 people that are in different occupations and backgrounds interacted with the prototype. I found that almost everyone would have at least one error that I didn’t think about. The time I recorded that tracks the user interacting with the prototype was a bit off from our benchmark.

Presentation Video

Final Prototype Design

Conclusion

Medic Mirror is my first design project. It has special meaning to me because I worked with two other amazing teammates 100% remotely. During the process, I conducted context studies with two stakeholders remotely. It was a unique experience because they live in China and have steep learning curve with technology. I learned that the development of technology cannot leave this group behind. I put this thought in every step of our design. As I was designing the interface, I did research on font color, size and type to make it more user friendly.

Even though it is currently a prototype, I do believe that it will come true in the future.