Case study
DANY
Keeping People with Early-stage Dementia Socially Active
Dany is a multi-channel support system to help PwD to have more accessible to application to support making meaningful social connections
Our Intent
In today’s world, where technology empowers almost everyone, there remains a community that needs special attention—people with early-stage dementia (PwD). Despite retaining much of their cognitive abilities, these individuals often face isolation due to societal misconceptions.
Our project aimed to bridge this gap through a system designed to foster social connections and provide much-needed emotional support.
Our Goal
was simple: to give people with dementia an easy way to connect with others through virtual activities—whether it’s a movie night, a sing-along, or just a friendly chat.
Our system, integrated with familiar household devices like smart TVs, phones, and simple schedulers, gives PwD a new way to stay socially active without feeling overwhelmed.
Final Design
Intuitive, Social and Seamless
Our final system connects multiple devices into one seamless experience that encourages social interaction while reducing isolation.
The design is focused on familiar objects—like a scheduler in the bedroom, a smart TV in the living room, and an easy-to-use phone—making the transition to the digital world less daunting.
Core Features:
Scheduler: Intuitive design allows the caregiver to book activities with just a few taps.
Smart TV: Automatically turns on for scheduled events, prompting users to join group activities.
Mobile: Simplified phone interface for caregivers and family with auto-saved contacts and activities ensures they can easily stay connected.
The Challenge
The challenge was twofold:
Design an intuitive system
That caters to the unique needs of people with dementia.
Foster emotional connections
Through group activities and peer support, while maintaining their sense of autonomy and independence.
Through our co-design workshop, we gained a better understanding of our participants outside their dementia diagnosis. We analyzed the insights through an affinity diagram.
Frame
Frame
Discovery
Our research took us into the lives of people with dementia. We volunteered at Jill’s House, observing activities like sing-alongs and community events to understand what brings joy to PwD.
Realizing the importance of activities
We realized that, in addition to addressing health and assistance needs, our design should allow people to pursue what makes their lives meaningful, such as partaking in creative activities, social causes, connecting with nature, and so on. These activities reinforce their sense of purpose, and help improve their quality of life.
This was followed by a stakeholder interview with the Alzheimer's and Dementia Resource Service (ADRS), where we dug deeper into the emotional and social challenges that PwD face.
Key Insights
People with dementia are often isolated because their friends and family can’t relate to their struggles.
We delve deep into understanding your brand, target audience, and objectives, unraveling the insights that will shape our creative journey.
Social interactions with peers, who understand their condition, bring a sense of purpose and belonging
Armed with insights, our goal was to bring concepts to life, seamlessly blending aesthetics and functionality.
Ideation
Building Solutions that feel like Home
We brainstormed solutions that could be easily integrated into the daily lives of PwD.
The product ecosystem included a scheduler to plan social activities, a smart TV for joining virtual group events, and a remote control designed with simplicity in mind.
Co-design Workshops played a pivotal role.
We collaborated with people living with dementia to better understand their relationship with technology. Using sticker-based emotional response activities, we identified what worked best for them in terms of design simplicity and ease of use.
This led to the first concepts of our key touchpoints:
Scheduler for booking activities.
Smart TV interface for group participation.
Simple remote control for seamless operation.
Build
Wireframes
Evaluation
Conclusion
Future Scope
Design by MANSI
Made with Love, Pressure & Panic attacks