I am now making the transition from the research phase of this project into the making phase. I have chosen to celebrate Barbara Beskind's work by doing my own piece of human-centred design to help solve everyday problems. The characteristics of Beskind's work which I want to celebrate and pass on as a reference to my peers is her hands-on approach to design and her ability to channel her natural ability as a product designer to solve the problems of those around her. She gets to the heart of the problem by taking a genuine interest in the end user and their needs.
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I spent some time with my grandma, who is 86 and suffers from Alzheimer's disease. I wanted to observe the everyday activities which have become either mentally or physically difficult for her. This information will help inform my ideas for this project. I understand now that a lot of the features of everyday life are simply too overcomplicated for her (and probably many other elderly people). One of the things I know about her daily life now is that she regularly only watches one television program because she only presses the on/off button on her remote control. To represent this, the image above shows what the remote would look like if we removed all the buttons she will never need to use. The image is really quite striking and communicates simply but directly some of the issues with an environment built for a younger generation. After the group tutorial, it was clear that this image struck a chord with people and I think it has the potential to create a set of images to help people reflect on the issues faced by older people, while also providing the opportunity for me to reimagine what products might look like if we considered the needs of the elderly.
