Aging-friendly Participatory Design Research
The Future Lab, Tsinghua University
My Role
Design Researcher at AeX
-> Aging User Experience & Service System Design Team
Time
1 month, Oct - Nov 2022
Overview
I joined the AeX research team in October 2022 and conducted a Participatory Design workshop with senior citizens in Beijing. How do designers establish an engaging user research experience with senior people?
Introduction
Between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world's population over 60 years will nearly double from 12% to 22%.
How to establish an engaging user research experience with senior people?
Globally Aging Population
Increasing needs from elderly users
How do we empathize?
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My team(AeX) collaborates with the UK National Innovation Centre Ageing (NICA) to develop a platform based on WeChard named "集思社 / Insight Hub".
Insight Hub is a reciprocal feedback collection system for elderly users by involving them into tailored daily activities and complete simple tasks alongside to collect useful data for the innovation in global aging products and services.
Direction
The AeX team invited 8 senior participants aged 60+ to the Future Lab. Each of the participant was paired with a designer, which is also my position.
RESEARCH GOAL
-> Examine the usability of Insight Hub by implementing touchpoints specifically designed for elderly for better engagement and participation.
MY ROLE
-> Establish the UI wireframes for handouts
-> Refine and update prototype in Figma
-> Lead a senior user through the workshop
The research contains four main phases:
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01
Contextual
Interview
02
Usability
Testing
03
Co-creation
Workshop
04
Feedbacks
& Review
01
Interview & Idea Visualization
Greetings + Conduct interviews about their personal backgrounds life styles
Present synthesized responses with Post-it notes
03
Participatory Workshop
Co-creation map
What I SEE?
What I could DO?
What I THINK?
Painpoints & Gains
02
Usability Testing
"Think Aloud" — user needs to describe their interactions with the screen elements in the flow
Diary study - Real-time observation on every detail of their reactions.
04
Feedbacks & Review
SUS & UEQ Survey
Direct feedbacks shown in numerical data
Methodology
The globally aging population underscores the significance of elderly-focused design.
Our team employed various methods to facilitate collaboration between seniors and young designers.
My experience at the Future Lab AeX emphasized on the value of Human-Centered Design → to empower every participant and stakeholder in product development to articulate their vision.
My Learning