I am an ID student working on a project to design a product for the elderly. My concept was to design something that would revive the habit of reading , both in terms of knowledge and interaction. I was thinking along the lines of grandparents reading to their grandchildren and vice versa. But now because of the divide in cultures and just the distance and other demographic factors what sort of a product do you think would make sense here…, now i am kind of having a problem here setting up my direction for this project.
Agreed. Savyas, you’ve decided what you want to design without finding the problem, whereas the problem you are trying to design out should lead the direction of your project. Dig deeper, you may find something you can use.
It’s true. don’t be so quick to jump to technology for you’re solution. ask yourself some questions about the problem:
What is it that makes you want to read? information? to hear a story? as a break from your day to day activities?
Do you view reading as a quick activity?–magazine article or an investment–the Iliad.
What outcome are you looking for? increase knowledge? If so, maybe there is another way to do this-movie/magazine/lecture/etc.
These are just some examples of types of questions to ask which might help you get a unique solution.
especially considering its for the elderly you might want to think more about the issues with resistance to technology and how technology could benefit in a transparent way. last thing i think old people want to do is learn some new tech if they dont have to.
there however lots of opportunities to use design to benefit. i’d first outline what the real issues are- accessibility? physical impairments? if combined with younger generations, ways to bridge cultural gaps (ie. grandparents who may not speak the same language as the grandkids), etc.
i dunno, but maybe its supposed to refer to reading books. i have no data, but can imagine that actual real-life book reading may have diminished with the internet, tv, video games and such. on the flip side though more people now are likely educated and having reading skills compared to ancient history when only royalty had books and an education…
It smells a bit like finding a problem for technology to solve as opposed to having a valid problem that drives the solution (as has already been alluded to).
Thank you so much for replying; your threads have been immensely educative…
Well let me get into the details first.
The assignment was to design something for the elderly to make their life easier by incorporating technology into smaller ways of life.
The reason i chose this area to design was because of the cultural gap between generations and when i say " REVIVE", i mean to revive the practice of grandparents reading to their grandkids , stories and such as well as when putting them to bed.
I researched the cultural orientation in the united states and most of the elderly live away from their grandkids and children as the society itself is considered individualistic and hence lead lonely lives without any interaction with the family. So the question i asked was " is there a way to bridge this divide , what would be the most interactive way to tie families together considering the distance".
Also the reason to use technology was not considered only for old people but also for kids of the current generation, i thought well do the kids after being used to the x boxes, play station generation go back to using something primitive. Also i wanted to make the whole interactive system of reading to the grandkids a pleasurable one with tactile feedback emulating human touch.
something like a dimming screen when they are about to sleep and maybe some sort of a fabric that can emulate human touch…
Please give me ur valuable inputs and questions …as many as possible.,…
Thank you so much for replying; your threads have been immensely educative…
Well let me get into the details first.
The assignment was to design something for the elderly to make their life easier by incorporating technology into smaller ways of life.
The reason i chose this area to design was because of the cultural gap between generations and when i say " REVIVE", i mean to revive the practice of grandparents reading to their grandkids , stories and such as well as when putting them to bed.
I researched the cultural orientation in the united states and most of the elderly live away from their grandkids and children as the society itself is considered individualistic and hence lead lonely lives without any interaction with the family. So the question i asked was " is there a way to bridge this divide , what would be the most interactive way to tie families together considering the distance".
Also the reason to use technology was not considered only for old people but also for kids of the current generation, i thought well do the kids after being used to the x boxes, play station generation go back to using something primitive. Also i wanted to make the whole interactive system of reading to the grandkids a pleasurable one with tactile feedback emulating human touch.
something like a dimming screen when they are about to sleep and maybe some sort of a fabric that can emulate human touch…
Please give me ur valuable inputs and questions …as many as possible.,…