Transcend

Motivation

Missing connection with my grandparents

The motivation for this project was my grandparents, ever since I have moved out of my house I have not been able to maintain touch with them and so I picked up this problem space.

Previous study

Provides crucial emotional support but lack of communication increasing

I found studies done at Pew Research Center and the University of Texas that more than 60% of adult grandchildren are not connected with their grandparents. Most them were also living far away from their families. Grandparents can provide a lot of emotional support to grandchildren.

Problem

Grandparents & grandchildren find it increasingly difficult to communicate with each other over long distance.

High-Fidelity Designs

Final mobile app design

Process: Literature Review

I need to narrow down my target audience

I wanted to analyze previous related work because it is a saturated area of study, find a unique problem space to solve. While narrowing down my audience, I also found a unique problem space. I narrowed down my audience to Indian international students and their grandparents living in India.

• 12 published research papers
• Case studies previously at Georgia Tech.

Process: User Interviews

grandparents face all major barriers

After narrowing user group - Indian international students and their grandparents, I took a deeper dive into their pain points/barriers. I realized that grandparents faced more challenges in communication than grandchildren and yearned more for communication than their grandchildren.

• 10 participants, 18 years & older
• 5 grandchildren, 5 grandparents
• 45 to 50 minutes, virtual + in-person
  

Process: Competitive Analysis

There is need for a simple and specific solution

I compared existing technologies solving for long distance communication between grandparents & grandchildren to identify opportunities. I realized most of them are not very simple to use, might be designed for tech savvy grandparents or not solving specific challenges faced by Indian grandparents.

• Completed the S.W.C.D.UX.O analysis - Strength, weakness, content, design, UX, opportunities
• 12 different digital means of communication
  

Process: Affinity Mapping

Processing + analyzing - 5 themes

I categorized the information from my research using affinity mapping on Figjam. Based on the affinity mapping exercise, I was able to identify 5 key barriers to communication between grandparents and grandchildren.

Process: Insights + Analysis

Technology becoming a barrier

I prioritized the barrier that was most important to solve based on the number of people it was affecting and how intensely it was affecting people - Technology.

Ironically, long-distance communication between grandparents and grandchildren was mostly hindered by technological challenges, leaving grandparents struggling to navigate interfaces & grandchildren cannot easily resolve these issues remotely, leading to frustration.

Barrier 1: Technology

dependency | difficult to help from far | too many features | wifi/data issues

Barrier 2: Language

Written English | Word context | Learning experience

Barrier 3: Physical

Hearing | Vision | Arthritis

Barrier 4: Cultural

Common topic | Difference in thinking | Conflicts | Pride

Barrier 5: Time

Coordinating schedules | Conflicting time zones

Process: Testing Design Concepts - Exploring

1. Love Light - using lights to communicate

Love light inspires both grandparents and grandchildren to communicate their emotions through light. Using LED lights on everyday wearables/artifacts like necklace or watch, to send and receive signals.

2. Easy Talk - pairing devices for easy communication

The main idea here is to pair grandparents and children to help talk over video/audio calls without barriers. So the grandchildren can have control over the call settings of grandparents with their permission of course.

Process: Brainstorming

Minimizing dependency on technology for communication

Combining Love Light and Easy Talk we can allow grandparents to focus on communication without having to worry about complicated interface. I brainstormed a few ideas on how to combine the digital light signals with a paired UI system for grandparents and grandchildren.

Process: User Workflow

human + artifact + lights + app

I started creating workflows to understand how the grandparents/grandchildren, artifact, lights and app will interact with each other, how would the ecosystem make sense together.

Process: Wireframes, Sketches & Storyboards

Pairing two users together

Explore how a mobile app would work to enhance the main solution - lights on artifacts/wearables.

Process: Low-Fidelity Designs

Early iterations

Explore how a mobile app would work to enhance the main solution - lights on artifacts/wearables.

If I had more time ...

• I would conduct usability testing with a lot more users.
• Explore co-design workshops to understand different ways in which light and artifacts can be used by grandparents to communicate.