Packagings visual process
01. Brief
Masar aims to provide individuals with early Alzheimer's disorder the means to maintain independence despite significant impairments.
The goal is to fill the 20% missing skills gap and empower patients to cope with the challenges of Alzheimer's disease.
Target Audience: Individuals with early Alzheimer's disorder, their caregivers, doctors, and medical researchers.
To begin the research phase, I first sought to understand both global and local challenges, as well as current solutions and possible directions.
Alzheimer's disease leads to a gradual loss of short-term memory, resulting in a decline in independence and self-esteem. Patients often rely on caregivers for daily assistance.
02. Research
Alzheimer's disease is a debilitating condition that causes a gradual decline in short-term memory, leading to a loss of independence and self-esteem for the patient. This means that they often require assistance from family members or caregivers to carry out daily tasks.
During the research phase, I faced the challenge of addressing the social stigma surrounding Alzheimer's, which made it difficult to find individuals willing to answer a my questions with an open mind willing to seek a "what if" scenario.
LACK OF KNOWLEDGE
Alzheimer’s diseases is usually associated mistakenly with old age symptoms. Many labeling it as “Kharaf” which literally translates to “loss of mind”. The disease doesn’t get discovered until the patient reaches the very late stages. Therefore, when it came to conducting interviews many expressed that it was a dead end.
FAMILIES PREFERS PRIVACY
Many of the Arabs and Emirati families prefer privacy, they wont let strangers into their homes to conduct research on their parents and especially for a sensitive issue such as Alzheimer’s.
SPECIAL PERMITS TO ACCESS ELDERLY HOUSES.
Elderly houses contain extreme cases and many of their residences are under medication. Only specific people and approved volunteers are allowed in.
What are the social behaviors that leads to Alzheimer's disease?
LACK OF SUPPORT SYSTEMS
There’s no proper support system for families or the patients that could help ease their way into the disease. Also UAE’s law for early retirements at the age of 65 increases issues with lack of active and social life.
LACK OF SOCIAL
& ACTIVE LIFESTYLE
The lifestyle is very challenging for elders or anyone above 50 to maintain an active lifestyle. Many rely on cars as the main source of transportations, roads are not elderly friendly, family members are usually busy at work during the week and the summer season certainly do not allow for any kind of activities.
FORCED RETIREMENT
UAE for example, forces retirement by the age of 65. Even by the time they reach their 50’s chances of any citizen acquiring a job or a purpose starts becoming very slim.
A possible directions to focus on
Neuroscientist Lisa Genova asserts that being physically active can build new connections in the brain, potentially overpowering neurons impacted by Alzheimer’s disease.
01. New functional synapses & backups connections.
When the elderly engage in mentally simulating activities their brain creates new functional synapses, new neural connections.
02. Create new experiences & learn new skills.
Learning new skills, meeting new friends and even learning a new language. As long as an elderly person is not left alone in a room lacking movement and social life.
Research Takeaway
Staying active and engaging in familiar activities can increase the volume of the brain’s hippocampus, acting like a strong muscle that can resist age-related cognitive diseases. This also aids in creating new connections that can overpower the effects of Alzheimer’s disease and delay its progression.
Goal
Provide people with Early Alzheimer’s disorder the ability to maintain independence while having a substantial impairment.
Need
To be able fill in the gap 20% of their missing skills:
1. Plan simply
2. Remeber easily
3. Directions calirty
Home
or any familiar environment such as office or volunteer center
Context
From the moment of introduction from the doctor & hospital
to the moment of usage between the patient & the caregiver.
End to End
03. Persona
Masar is a system designed to assist patients with Early Alzheimer’s to maintain their independence despite substantial impairments. It aims to bridge the gap by helping patients fill in the 20% of skills they may be missing. The system selects personas based on the extent to which the disease affects them and how they cope with it.
Wendy Mitchell
Early onset, no caregiver.
Accepting what the disease is taking and what she could do to adapt her life around it.She has monthly, weekly diary, alarms on her IPhone and IPad. She uses several visual hints and systems around the house. She makes sure to spend time outside and being engaged with people.
Age
60
Previous job
National health service nurse
Current job
blog writer & publisher
Fears
being treated differently
Wishes
to stay always connected and active
Disease Effect
Short-term memory loss
Changing directions is not smoothly coordinated between her brain and body
Early morning
Afternoon
Early evening
Late evening
Night
Type of Activity
Grooming
Making Breakfast
Taking pills.
Writing
Reading
Writing on her blog
Being part of radio and podcasts
Walking
Hiking
Dinner
Planning for the next day / week
Bed time grooming routine
going to bed
Activity’s location
Bathroom
kitchen
living room
Living room
offices
train & taxi
Around the neighborhood
mountains
kitchen
living room
Bathroom
Bedroom
Needs of the activity
Choice making
Conscientious
Reliability
Individualism
Experience
Connection and growth
Enjoyment
Independence
Enjoyment
Structure
Accomplishment
Discipline
Familiar
Routine
Relaxed
Caregiver
Devices used
Mobile phone to check her plans for today
Notes on the fridge as reminder
Visuals cues on cabinets understand what each of them contain
Books
Laptop
Mobile phone
Tablet
House key
Her hiking essentials
Tablet
Laptop
Tablet
Laptop
Grooming tools
Based on the personas, I have identified the common needs of individuals with Alzheimer's disease.
NEEDS
PLANNING
Complex or simple
All five personas were workers, they managed jobs and tasks. The design outcome aims to prolong and aid in the process of planning.
REMINDERS
Hints
The aim of the caregiver is to remind and supervise. During the early stages many do not need to rely on a caregivers but simple tools that would provide them with hints.
DIRECTIONS
Volunteer, visit friends or supermarkets
Alzheimer’s patients face the challenge of figuring their way back home. Because the streets could be too confusing to use as visual hints.
EMERGENCY
CONTACT
Connected & Safe
Since Alzheimer’s could be unpredictable, it is necessary to keep the patient connected to their caregivers and to their doctors.
Narrowing down possible tools based on familiarity and age requirements.
40
50
60
70
80
Reading glasses
Mobile phones
Laptops
Ipads
Active
Transportations
Many other gadgets.
Reading glasses
Mobile phones
Laptops
Ipads
Medical aid tools
Less active
Medical help need increases
Medical tools to assist are a must
What if::: Smart medical
eye-glasses
By the age of 40 many of us would start relying on prescription glasses. By the time the patient develops Alzheimer’s disease he or she has already relied and familiarized him or herself with prescription glasses. Would it be convenient to use the glasses as the design intervention?
Advantage:
Part of an aging process
Non-intrusive
Private
Simple
Not labour intensive
No buzzing
Disadvantage:
Forgotten & lost
Requires applications and developers
Still being tested
Could cause confusion and distraction
What If:::Medical App
In the recent years mobile phones became a life necessity. We rely on it to schedule alarms, meetings, anniversaries, shoppings to connect to people and to save memories. Making it another tool that Alzheimer’s patient are probably well familiar with. Can we maintain the use of the mobile phone throughout the patient’s journey?
Advantage:
Varies from big to small screens
No keyboards
Direct interaction
Simple direct journey
Transforming day to day gadget into medical aid tool
Caregiver could oversea, behind the scenes
Organize and track
Easily paired
Disadvantage:
Battery life
Made for the youth
Might be too versatile
Get lost or forgotten
Can we solve the disadvantage?
Battery life: Caregiver could make sure its charged.
Made for youth: Not necessarily, based on the personas.
Might be too versatile: Could be customize to view one application.
Get lost or forgotten: Caregiver could always track it.
How does the system work?
MASAR
Caregiver
Patient
Doctors
Medical Research
Traceable beacons
Mobile medical app
01.
Pre-Arrival
& Awareness
02.
Arrival
03.
Using the system
04.
Consistency
-
Feeling symptoms
-
Diagnosis
-
Introduction to a coping mechanism (Our System)
-
Getting briefed by the doctor
-
Patient nformation scanned & uploaded by the hospital
-
Caregiver information added
-
Hanging the beacons
-
Plan a mealtime
-
Remember medication time
-
Meet neighbour
-
The system is being used as a coping mechanism across all the stage of Alzheimer's.
-
Option gets added or removed by the caregiver based on the patient needs
-
Doctor & nurses monitor the caregiver/patient
-
Easier adjustment once the disease progresses
-
Caregiver can add other patients and monitor
04. Visual Design
In the advanced stages of Alzheimer's, healthcare providers commonly use cue cards to facilitate communication with patients. This approach has been effective in identifying hand gestures, actions, and directions.
As a result, I depended on reenacting situations, capturing images from various perspectives, and transforming them into illustrative icons.
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The system is being used as a coping mechanism across all the stage of Alzheimer's.
-
Option gets added or removed by the caregiver based on the patient needs
-
Doctor & nurses monitor the caregiver/patient
-
Easier adjustment once the disease progresses
-
Caregiver can add other patients and monitor
Patient's Service Map
Planning
Daily schedule
Find my
Help
Home
Touchpoints
Meals
Activities
Shopping
Doctor appointments
New medications.
List of existing planned reminders.
Act as a visual cue/hint for the next tasks
Rooms
Shoes
Medication
Closet
Washroom
Bedroom
Reading glasses
Calls the caregiver directly.
In case the caregiver is not reachable it would call the 2nd listed emergency contact point.
The patient’s location is sent to the caregiver
Using a map or Augmented Reality as a visual cue tool for the patient to track his/her way back home
Interaction
Short quick steps to plan.
Relies on icons as visual queues.
By default notifies the patient 15 minutes before the planned schedule is due.
An hour after the planned schedule the patient gets notified again to confirm that the task was done.
Using Augmented Reality as a feature to provide visual aid in order to track lost items.
The AR traces the signal from the traceable beacons.
One click system to reach the emergency contact
One button that will always lead the patient back home
Caregiver's Service Map
Planning
Daily schedule
Find my
Help
Home
Touchpoints
By default doesn’t have access
List of existing planned reminders.
By default doesn’t have access
By default doesn’t have access
By default doesn’t have access
Interaction
Depending on patient’s progress, caregiver could take over certain tasks by disabling the feature from the patient’s profile
Has access to view the list of patients plans
Receives notifications whether patient finished or didn’t finish a certain task
Depending on patient’s progress, caregiver could disabled it from the patient’s profile
Notified of patient’s current location
Notified of patient’s current location
Notified when patient is back home
Caregiver could disable it from the patient’s profile.
Caregiver signup
Caregiver page would show the list of patients they are caring for and what tasks they are controlling.
If the caregiver is aware that the patient cannot schedule complex tasks such as medication time, the caregiver would take over that action and once that is done the the options of medication will no longer be accessible one the patient’s page.
Steps
Sign up
Scan the barcode of the caregiver’s file.
Confirmation Screen
A confirmation screen appear to review the details.
Main page
Contains the patient’s image, information and tasks that the caregiver has full control over.
In this scenario
The caregiver cares for two patients. Heba needs help with certain tasks while Sam requires minimum supervision.
Patient signup
Every patient’s home page would differ depending on their progression and daily needs. This scenario showcases the standard home page.
Steps
Sign up
Scan the barcode of the patient’s file.
Confirmation Screen
A confirmation screen appear to review the details.
Main page
Contains the patient’s image, information.
Meal Time Planning
Planning a meal’s journey was designed to be completed with the least amount of clicks. Icons were designed to give visual hints and every screen relies on a level of redundancy to give the patient enough hints to complete the task.
Steps
Main page
Click on planning
Meal Planning
Determine meal type: breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Schedule Meal
Choose which date and time is suitable.
Confirmation Screen
Last screen to review the plan’s schedule
Daily Schedule
A visual hint of the remaining day’s plans.
Back to Home
Automatically shares schedule with the caregiver by sending a notification of the patient’s new schedule.
Way back Home
Based on previously researched personas, many demonstrated the need to go outside, walk around their houses or visit their friends. Home was designed to give the patient visual hints incase the he/she lost his/her way back home. This feature is suitable for patients with the early symptoms and enough level of independence such as Wendy or Hillary (personas).
Steps
Main page
Click on Home
Home
Either use the provided map or click on camera. .
AR
The camera option relies on augmented reality to give the patient enough hints
Application automatically sends notification to the caregiver confirming that the patient reached home.
If I were to re-work the visual system
Reflecting on the project six years later, I believe it would have been beneficial to develop a system where both the caregiver and patient could customize their own visual icons. Instead of using pre-made illustrations, the system would allow users to incorporate their own images. This approach would create a stronger connection between the user and their environment, making it easier to identify and locate tools, rooms, bottles, and other items.