{Mary Elizabeth} Observations at Parkview

When Kyun and I went back to Parkview to do some observational research we got to take a look into three apartments. The thing that stood out to me the most was that these apartments were often times very cluttered. Some times it was clutter of everyday products and other times it was more of an abundance of decorative objects or memorabilia depending on the person. I feel like this has a lot to do with the generational gap between those living in Parkview (55 yrs orolder) and myself (22 yrs old). Not that I am a neat freak or anything! – But I think it has to do with the fact that we collect more and more objects as our life goes on – AND – that they grew up in a different era where it is harder for them to throw things away. They seem to have the thought that: “Well maybe I will use it some day so I won’t throw it out.” They didn’t grow up in a time where the products they bought were meant to be thrown away after a few weeks of use. (I think we can take a lot from that idea!) Some of the people living in Parkview would have been children during the Depression – They lived though a time of having nothing – and they held onto what they had because they didn’t have a lot. Myself on the other hand grew up very differently. I am surrounded by a market that expects me to buy products, use them for a little while, and toss them so I will buy more.

I think that it is important for me to be aware of these differences but not necessarily try to change them. I wanted to look at where the clutter was affecting their ability to do things. The main area of the house that I found this to be potentially dangerous or unhealthy – Was in the Kitchen. I found that in all three of the apartments that they had limited counter surfaces to work on because they were storing things on the counters tops. They had little to no prep space to work on and all three were suffering from some form of limited mobility. Their health is already limiting their ability to move around the kitchen and they are only intensifying this but limiting their workable surface.

The main reasons that these situations could be dangerous in the kitchen are that:
1. It is hard to clean around the clutter – and when dealing with food this is very unsanitary
2. It is dangerous to work with limited space close to hot surfaces – It could cause fires or it could cause them to burn themselves
3. It is dangerous to for one to have limited workspace when working with knifes and other sharp objects – they could cut themselves

Here are some drawings analyzing these scenarios:

MY OPPORTUNITY:
To create more surface space in the kitchen

I found that the residents had their own reasons for leaving things out on the counter: whiter it be that they didn’t have space anywhere else or that it was easier for them to reach because they were suffering from an injury. Therefore my goal is not to clear away the clutter and just create a storage solution– because I think that there are some positive reasons for them leaving things there. – But – to create new surface space that makes it safer and easier for them to work in the kitchen.

The more and more that I look into this project the more requirements that I am making for myself but the main one that I think will affect the project the most is that I want to the surface to be temporary – I don’t want it to be permanent because if it is – than it just gives them another surface to store things on!

I want this to be a product that truly helps them to work in the kitchen and that keeps them safe!

[Kyun]Analysis

deeper analysis with few products that I think have a good portioning system
and I can use this analysis as a reference to design the product for my opportunity.

[Kyun]Market research

I went to grocery store to see what kinds of portioning system they have in the market.

and I found …



1.There is no such a special mechanism for better portioning in the market
other than having just different size of a dispenser hole, or container types(hard tube, soft tube)

2.Portioning of contents largely depends on hand pressure of the users

[Kyun]Significances and OPPORTUNITY

I analyzed those observation to think about the significances of the specific matters.

Spilling coffee; User might be feel depression and frustrated also it could be a cause of injury(by spilling hot contents on their skin- skin burn)

Dish detergent; It is wasting of contents and it is definately unpleasant looking.

So I defined my Opportunity as…

“How to help portioning SEMI-LIQUID contents”

What I mean by portioning is; “the certain amount of contents dispensing from the container”

[Kyun]Observation from Park view manor

Obervation; from park view manor. I met Juanita and Edith and had observation in their house. I took about 500 hundreds pictures about something related with “TOUCH” and “HANDLING”
and those are the most interesting observations for me.

1.Me and my partner brought a cup of coffee for interview with Edith. then she spiilled coffee, while she taking a sip, looks like she has problem with precision of handling.

2.A Dish detergent; mess around the cap, a dirtiness of container.
I thought this in interesting as we all have samething happening in our home too…

Transgenerational needs and what drives them?

We have been researching about transgenerational needs and what drives people.
This will be a good method to find out our interests and build a new interview form with specific aspects of
transgenerational needs.

MIND MAP

we made a mind map based on the information we found through research. basically, we defined seven different categories. Those categories are over-wrapped together and this conjunction indicated with another aspects

AFFINITY DIAGRAM

We built an affinity diagram. We came up with the idea of ‘mental health’ since we thought mental health is very important through every categories we set on the mind map and we focused on that idea. Mental health is very closely connected with physical health as well. and it even ended up with the aspect of longevity. We are glad to have such a critical fact of seniors. We are going to have few more interview and researches based on our learning through this practice

 

1st Interview: Jan 28, 2010

1st Interview with Juanita Taylor

"Create things to make other people have a fun" -Juanita Taylor-

These are images and video that we gathered in our first interview with Jaunita Taylor. She told told us a lot about herself and her background, which was a great way to start our relationship with her. She is a very loving person and cares about making other people happy. When being asked what her hobbies were she was quick to say, to “create things to make other people have fun!”. She is active in her community and devotes a lot of her time to organizing events at Parkview Manor. She even organizes community services for associations around Raleigh. She likes to give encouraging words to people whenever she can and I believe that she will have some great insight into the community event/activities and the emotional side of aging.

Practicing our Protocol.

After practicing the questions with an interviewee outside of the Parkview Manor Community, we realized that we needed to include more questions and to make more of an effort to keep the conversation rolling. Our goal of this first interview is to create a relationship with the interviewee and to get to know them better, with the hope that our friendship will lead us to better understand their day-to-day life. At the end of our research we hope to find a product that we can create to help them with their daily activities.

Revised Protocol

Beta Protocol.

When creating our Beta protocol we made guidelines for ourselves and established the approach we planed to take in our interviews. We created a list of questions to ask and created documents for us to log our information during the interview. We tested our beta protocol and evaluated what changes needed to be made before we conducted our interview on the the potential user.

Aging map.

Aging map by Kyun, Britt, and Mary Elizabeth

When looking at the aging process for an entire life span we can better understand the differences between generations and the battles that each age group faces. We took a broader approach with our research but it has helped us to understand how aging affects a person throughout their life. Which leaves us with an oppertunity to look further at how different age groups could find a common interest; a better way of communicating and interacting with one another.

Works Cited:       ”Aging: What to expect as you get older.” Mayo Clinic. 9 Aug. 2008. Web. 14 Jan. 2010. <www.mayoclinic.com>