Smart TV reminder system

Academic Project

ROLE
UX Researcher, UX Designer

Team
Vianey Garcia, Rachael Legge, Eduardo Paz

TOOLS USED
Figma, Adobe Illustrator

SKILLS DEVELOPED
User Research, UX

Timeline
5 Weeks
May - June 2022

Project Challenge

Problem

A routine can help people with dementia, but remembering daily tasks can be challenging. Being constantly reminded by others can make people with dementia feel dependent on their caregivers. How might we encourage routines to give people with dementia a sense of independence?

Insight

Independence. People with dementia want to feel independent but it is challenging to feel this way when they are constantly reminded what to do by their caregivers.
Entertainment. Caregivers need ways to maintain their loved ones entertained during the day to catch up with their daily personal activities.
Peace of mind. Caregivers need to keep track of important activities their loved ones have to perform during the day.

Solution

Memo is a smart TV app that allows seniors with dementia be reminded of daily tasks and be entertained with activities that offer mental, physical and social stimulation such as games, exercises, photographs, and music. Caregivers can set these reminders and activities and get notified when they are completed through the Memo smartphone app to monitor from a distance.

REsearch

Competitive Analysis

We compared direct and indirect competitors and learned ways to provide more value to caregivers and people with dementia.

Insights

  • Devices for people with dementia need to be intuitive and conversational because otherwise their use will decrease.
  • Many devices are not affordable for people with a fixed income therefore need to adjust and hack affordable devices to try to fit their needs.
  • Most dementia devices are only in english.With no way to customize the language.

Secondary Research

We researched articles related to everyday problems of people with dementia and tools they use to improve their way of living.

Insights

  • Tone, simple language, gestures, and repetition avoidance improve communication with a person with dementia.
  • Mental, physical, and social stimulation improves cognitive and behavioral issues.
  • People with dementia use familiar memory aids that give them clear signals.

Netnography

We reviewed dementia subreddits and forums for people with dementia and caregivers to understand their experiences, needs and pain points.

Insights

  • People with dementia feel comfortable with a familiar person, but primary caregivers cannot provide 24/7 care.
  • Caregivers and people with dementia want set routines, but they are disturbed by caregiver breaks.
  • People with dementia don't like to be reminded by other people but like familiar
    memory aids and assistive technology.

Someone in the world develops
dementia every 3 seconds. Source: Alzheimer's Disease International

Who are our users?

We interviewed the caregivers of a person with dementia. These interviews helped us understand important needs from dementia people and their caregivers, which made us decide to switch gears from our original ideas to ones that address these needs.

Insights

  • They want their father to still feel like he has some independence.
  • Their father is less argumentative and more passive with people he doesn’t communicate with everyday.

Motivation

  • Ensure that their father is safe, content and entertained.
  • Monitor their father but still give her some independence.
  • Spend time with family outside of caregiving.

Frustration

  • Not able to provide 24/7 care.
  • Their father gets side tracked a lot and it’s a daily struggle to get him to complete tasks.
  • They have stay calm and be patient even when their father is being uncooperative and aggressive.
"He doesn’t like anyone telling him what he needs to do. He still feels like she's independent."

Ceci

Caregiver
“The cost of living here sucks. Let me just leave it at that. But what makes it worth it is the culture and the diversity, everybody that's here”

Catarino

Senior diagnosed with dementia.

Personas

Based on research and interviews we created personas to define and center our solution around the needs, goals, and pain points of caregivers and people with dementia. The persona allowed us to present our findings to reference later.

Prototype

Mobile App - For Caregiver

We created a mobile app prototype on Figma which would allow caregivers to input tasks and activities. The reminders would sync to the smart TV device to remind patients of their daily tasks.

Version 1
On our first round of prototyping we kept screens simple and basic. We wanted to get a general understanding of the layout and user flow that caregiver would need to input tasks for the person with dementia.

Version 2
We decided to add more illustrations to our final prototype based on feedback that our screens needed to be more visual for caregivers. We also kept steps simple and short so caregivers could quickly input tasks for their patients.

Try the Figma Prototype

Smart TV App - For Person with Dementia

The smart TV app allows people with dementia to be reminded of daily tasks and do activities throughout the day such as games, exercises, photographs, and music. These activities offer mental, physical, and social stimulation that slows cognitive deterioration.

Version 1
On our first round of prototyping for the TV we conceptualized a way to visualize reminder notifications on the screen. We also needed to change Memo’s smartphone app home screen to fit in a horizontal screen like the television.

Version 2
We implemented a speech feature, so that memo could speak aloud reminders and we learned that they needed to use a conversational language. We added visuals to reminders and activities and make other changes based on user feedback.

Try the Figma Prototype

Testing

We tested our app to see if caregivers could set reminders and understand the app flow. We also tested our Smart TV prototype for legibility.

"I like it because, if we get sidetracked doing something else, at least something is there, physically telling them […] So we don't have to be hovering over him because that's what he gets upset about."

Lizeth

Caregiver
Testing design and user flow with caregivers.
Testing TV design and legibility with a senior.

Insights

  • We realized that users needed a timer on the screen to announce the upcoming exercises.
  • We learned that we needed to provide language customizations for Memo because the caregiver’s dad spoke a different language.
  • Caregivers said they could see themselves using the product and enjoyed that it provides a visual aid because their dad can’t hear well sometimes.

Reflection

What Worked?

I thought our narrative presentation structure was strong. We worked well together and incorporated feedback to revise our presentation multiple times. I also thought our chosen platform, the TV, was the ideal touchpoint for a person with dementia.

What didn't?

Acquiring an interview with someone with dementia was difficult for us. We struggled to find a person with dementia who could give competent consent and understand the purpose of the interview. Although, the netnography helped us answer gaps and pain points from the caregiver interview and gave us the perspective of people with dementia.

What will I do next time?

Caregivers carry a lot of the responsibility. In the future, I'd like to look into how to automate Memo task creation so that creating and updating routines are faster and less strenuous for the caregiver. Additionally, I would center the final presentation around the caregivers perspective.

Vianey Garcia

2022 Vianey Garcia| created with Webflow and Freepik