Major Project
Walkmate: Enhancing older people experience who have limited mobility and unconfident… [Read more]
Walkmate
Walkmate is a voluntary service from the community centre and coordinated by people and organisations in the community. It provides the companionship for post-retirement older people by encouraging them to utilise their ample time to go out for a walk and engage with the community activities. The Walkmate provides the opportunity for both older people who are more tech-savvy and those who are less tech savvy to access this service easily in order to reduce the loneliness, increasing social engagement, and help older people to stay active.
Key insights
Discovering the causes of social exclusion in older people and define the meaning and the measure of social exclusion in older people to state the in-depth insights.
Key insights
• Time is the biggest asset of older people. They have plenty of free time after retirement and can feel they have a lack of purpose in their life.
• Older people are not confident to try or do new things that they have never experienced, or they feel uncertain due to a fear of getting things wrong.
• Older people consider doing new things that might be arduous and tend to give up at the earlier stage.
• The health condition is a significant factor that limits the interconnection with other people.
Service Blueprint
The service blueprint shows the end to end service, where the user interacts with the touchpoints and the front and backstage staff and also shows how the local government can support the service by improving the outdoor environment to support the walking trip.
Research Methods
Behavior mapping, Fly on the wall, Online interview, Online poll methods were used to discover the user pain points from observation at the community centre and online interviews with the potential users.
User Journey Map
The user journey map shows the three journeys of the elderly and volunteer from the beginning to the end.
The first user journey is for Clayton, who learns about the Walkmate from the community centre Facebook page. He then sees the info and downloads the app. First, he read the instruction and book the trip by selecting the destination, date, time, and volunteer. He can use all the support function in the develop part and finish the journey by providing feedback.
The second user journey is for Megan, who learns about the Walkmate from her friend. She calls to the community centre to ask for information. Then she registers and will receive the instruction by post. She calls to book the trip. After finishing the trip, the staff call her again to ask for the feedback.
The third user journey is for Anna, who is the student volunteer, learns about the Walkmate from university club. She registers and fills the application forms, completes the DBS check, providing two references, interview, watches an online training video, and receives the volunteer number to register in the app.
Context Scenario
The context scenario shows the user pain points and how to use the Walkmate service to solve these problems.
User Interface Design
The user journey - Journey1 onboarding: it is important because the registration process and data provided are the important things for this service as some research indicated the out-of-box experience that has the potential to influence product or service acceptance and determine its future use for older people.
Journey 2 reminders: The research found that older people cannot remember things in a long time (Baharum et al., 2017). Thus, the app does not only remind an appointed time of the trip but also remind the things that they need to bring with them when going out.
Journey 3 Book the trip: This journey is the core of the application to allow the user to book the date, time, and destination to go out for a walk. It also provides the map to let users learn the suggested route with the resting area.
Journey 4 Activity: Before the trip, the users can check out the trip information on the ‘upcoming activity’.
Journey 5 Notification and Trip conclusion: The app will send a notification to remind the user before the departure and return. After arriving home, the user can leave a comment to feedback on the trip.
The app also passed all relevant checklists of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or WCAG 2.1 in A level. Moreover, the colour contrast level passed the AA level at a ratio of 4.5:1
User Interface Design
The user journey
Journey1 onboarding: it is important because the registration process and data provided are the important things for this service as some research indicated the out-of-box experience that has the potential to influence product or service acceptance and determine its future use for older people.
Journey 2 reminders: The research found that older people cannot remember things in a long time (Baharum et al., 2017). Thus, the app does not only remind an appointed time of the trip but also remind the things that they need to bring with them when going out.
Journey 3 Book the trip: This journey is the core of the application to allow the user to book the date, time, and destination to go out for a walk. It also provides the map to let users learn the suggested route with the resting area.
Journey 4 Activity: Before the trip, the users can check out the trip information on the ‘upcoming activity’.
Journey 5 Notification and Trip conclusion: The app will send a notification to remind the user before the departure and return. After arriving home, the user can leave a comment to feedback on the trip.
The app also passed all relevant checklists of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or WCAG 2.1 in A level. Moreover, the colour contrast level passed the AA level at a ratio of 4.5:1
Orapa Pachekrepapol
I am a creative and detail-oriented designer who is keen on the age-friendly design.
During my degree, I have developed my skill in user experience design through coursework, workshops, design competitions, and major project.
Coming from the interior design background, I used my expertise in environmental design for the elderly to develop the inclusive design knowledge and skill, which is the core of my major project. Also, to observe and collect data from potential users helped me to realise user pain points and analyse these pain points to the effective design solution.
I look to continue working in an organisation that focuses on the inclusive design and hope to utilise my design skill to contribute to the better society for all.
Major Project
Walkmate: Enhancing older people experience who have limited mobility and unconfident to go out to engage with the community activities
Awards
2020: Runner up award of graphic design competition - Shutter stock X Lecture in progress