Re-Imagining How We Hold Phones
speculating the future of phones
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Type: Academic Project
Area: App Design
Team: Individual
Duration: 5 weeks
Context
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India’s increasing elderly population is dealing with loneliness and isolation due to factors like living alone, lack of communication with younger generations, and health issues.
To address this, there is a need for products or services that facilitate meaningful interactions between seniors and younger individuals, reducing isolation and promoting knowledge sharing.
Problem Statement
Cooking is a meaningful interaction between the elderly and children. Cooking and food can bridge the communication gap, forming positive connections. However, children often lack interest and do not want to engage in it.
Approach
In order to increase meaningful interactions between the elderly and children, it is important to define what these meaningful interactions may be. One way they are able to overcome this communication gap is through cooking and food. Through cooking they are able to share the family recipes or recipes from their culture and this leads to them sharing their stories and experiences of their younger years.
As people get older, their memory and cognition get weaker. Cooking is a good activity for older people to do as it is a sensory experience – it stimulates sight, smell, and touch. It also helps exercise memory as they have to recollect recipes and senses like smell can bring back old memories.
Cooking is a great activity for younger kids as well because it teaches not only an important life skill but also helps develop multitasking, learning how to measure and follow directions, improves coordination, and promotes healthy eating.
As people get older, their memory and cognition get weaker. Cooking is a good activity for older people to do as it is a sensory experience – it stimulates sight, smell, and touch. It also helps exercise memory as they have to recollect recipes and senses like smell can bring back old memories.
Cooking is a great activity for younger kids as well because it teaches not only an important life skill but also helps develop multitasking, learning how to measure and follow directions, improves coordination, and promotes healthy eating.
Research
Through secondary research, I was able to find that children of different age groups interact with the world around them in different ways. From around the age of 5, children are more curious about interacting with other people as well as refining their fine motor skills and senses. Interacting with ingredients in different ways is the perfect way to stimulate growing minds. This stimulation of senses is beneficial to older people too.
Obstacles
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To address this, there is a need for products or services that facilitate meaningful interactions between seniors and younger individuals, reducing isolation and promoting knowledge sharing.
Ideation & Prototyping
The initial iterations had a more game like approach with pretend play, cards, and board games.
Final Product
Since children aren’t allowed to play around experiment with food in the kitchen the kit will allow them to do exactly that in a safe and non-wasteful manner. The kit will contain tools that are child friendly and child sized, as well as a guidebook with a set of fun recipes that encourage sensory play.
The tools in this kit are only meant to encourage children to want to engage in cooking through play. All the tools and recipes are only meant to spark imagination and let the children and grandparents explore different things that can be done using them. The tools are all made of teak wood and do not have any dangerous parts. For example, the different shaped indentations may be used as moulds to create different shapes. Below are demonstrations of more suggestions of how the other tools can be used.
The hand illustrated guidebook includes cooking terms children can learn with a visual guide, interesting recipes and text boxes encouraging the users to engage in sensory play. Below are a few pages from the book.
The tools in this kit are only meant to encourage children to want to engage in cooking through play. All the tools and recipes are only meant to spark imagination and let the children and grandparents explore different things that can be done using them. The tools are all made of teak wood and do not have any dangerous parts. For example, the different shaped indentations may be used as moulds to create different shapes. Below are demonstrations of more suggestions of how the other tools can be used.
The hand illustrated guidebook includes cooking terms children can learn with a visual guide, interesting recipes and text boxes encouraging the users to engage in sensory play. Below are a few pages from the book.
Takeaways
It was challenging task to try to find a solution to a rapidly growing problem such as that of the elderly. My ideas were constantly challenged which allowed me to look at the problem in different ways. I was able to gain different perspectives after discussing my ideas with my mentor and my classmates. I learnt how to make changes to my ideas and iterate based on feedback received. I realized how helpful moving forward with sketches and making quick paper and Styrofoam mock ups can help visualize ideas better and help me proceed further.