Companion for End Of Life:
A tool to improve communication between loved ones about end of life.
Planning for the end of one's life is extremely difficult, but the isolation of undertaking this task alone makes it even more so. This project is aimed at bridging that gap in dialogue, enabling people to communicate about this sensitive subject.
It consists of an app, a service and some other helpful tools!
Interesting findings from my research. Research support from GentleDusk, CoordinateMy Care & HelixCentre.
While synthesizing my research, I realized that a major part of this communication is knowing when to share what. This diagram tries to map out the user journeys while using this design solution.
A work in progress video showing how the service will work in different scenarios.
The interface is a series of illustrations that take the users forward.
CEOL (Companion for End of Life) is a digital product and a service that helps people plan for their end of life with the help of their loved ones. By 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years will double from 11% to 22%. The number of people aged 60 years and over is projected to increase from 901 million in 2015 to 1.4 billion by 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050.
It becomes vital for the healthcare systems and government bodies to be able to prepare and plan for long term needs. However, the planning needs to start at an individual level. CEOL addresses all these aims as it not just makes the most difficult decisions of anyone’s life easier to make in the present, but it also helps the healthcare system provide better support and plan for the future.
The app has an easy to use, voice-based interface which talks to the user as a companion and connects them to their loved ones as a mediator. The app addresses both the emotional and practical sides of planning for the end of life. It understands the complex nature and sensitivity of the process and progressively discloses information to the users at the right time. For example, if an elderly user has made some funeral arrangements with the app, CEOL would record them and notify the companion (generally a family member) that these arrangements have been made but only disclose them when they are needed at the end of the elderly user’s life. This ensures peace of mind without preponing anyone’s grief.
Grad show, Royal College of Art & Imperial College, 2017.
Striving to create a more gender equal society by changing the stories that define our value system.
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"Those who can encourage themselves are truly remarkable," Dr. Daisaku Ikeda.
'Goonj' (resonance) is an attempt to make encouraging stories accessible to women. To help them connect to role models who inspire them to challenge both- their perceptions and circumstances. Hence paving the way for such stories of today, to become the myths of tomorrow.
Each object encapsulates the moral of a parable and allows the user to actively participate in completing the narrative. Every object has a different parable and a different interaction.
The sphere tries to capture the essence of the parable ‘winter always turns to spring’ and just like the actual cherry blossom flower when it gets warmth...it transforms and blossoms.
Once transformed, the object is placed on the device. The device recognizes the object and plays back a story based on the moral of the object, in this case- never giving up hope.
This story could be the account of another woman who was able to transform her circumstances by not giving up hope. The stories are different for different objects.
The device also allows women to record and share their own encouraging stories which over time would generate enough content for there to be a new story played back when an object is placed on the device.
Different objects, different parables, different interactions and different stories. (Work in progress)
Work in progress show, Royal College of Art & Imperial College, 2017.
A visual-mnemonic tool to help learn a new language and discover stories from a new culture.
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When in a new country, can a new language act as a barrier that prevents people from discovering a whole new culture?
The Japanese language comprises of three separate scripts which from an outsider’s view just look like a set of unidentifiable symbols and shapes. I wondered if this could work as an opportunity to create a solution that helped the user learn a new language visually and understand the culture better by doing so.
Focussing on one script- Hiragana, I created a simple paper prototype to quickly validate my idea and test different interactions for the user. I found the action of sliding the right image on top of a character seemed to work best for the testers.
To grow this idea further, I made a simple game mechanism for the users to retain their language learning while discovering stories from a new culture.
This not only made the experience more enjoyable, but also ensured repeatability.
The key interaction: overlaying the right image over text.
Different levels in the game.
Using a simple narrative to communicate the concept behind a new range of eco-friendly products.
My diploma project was a client project done with Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co, Mumbai.
A new idea that leads to a new range of products or designs is inadequate unless communicated efficiently. The philosophy of "Just Right" was facing the same dilemma where even though my clients had an Edison award winning cooling solution called the "Chotukool", the understanding of the philosophy behind it was not grasped by the common people. Even though it was aimed at meeting the exact or "Just Right" needs of society, it was facing problems because society itself was unaware of it's needs.
The project started with some primary research in the nearby slum area where I realized how challenging it was to just question people about the concept of "Just Right" in their life.
I asked various questions to understand what motivates them, what drives their decisions, what do they think about the future? For some, the environment was not something they considered to be a part of their lives, some did not want to go for just their needs, a lot of people had more pressing and important things to talk about.
Based on the insights from my research, I decided to take the public service advertisement (PSA) approach.
Screenshots from the PSA
A platform to help migration to the rural areas in Japan.
The project was a result of a short, collaborative workshop done with local students of Kochi city in Yusuhara (Japan).
This area, though rich in natural resources, was struggling with a poor economy and importantly, a sharp decline in population. Our aim was to help create a solution that increased migration to this region.
After trying to understand the reasons for a decline in population in this particular region, we came up with several ideas but our focus was to create a solution which would be adopted and liked by the local communities.
Interacting with the locals, we were able to gather feedback and propose such a solution. (Having a friendly mascot helped!)
Proposed idea:
The Sugoi Kochi (Amazing Kochi) space strengthens the local Yusuhara economy through facilitating start-up like incubation of existing businesses and new business ideas for locals and migrants along the subsidiary structures the town already makes use of.
It's key features are: conserves heritage; builds a human community; creates a landing pad for newcomers and facilitates sharing.
Embedded design aspects in local cultures: A comparison and study of underlying design aspects in Japan and India.
Through this paper, I have tried to think about what a person might experience through a culture, quite literally, his user experience and tried to identify design offerings which elucidate this experience.
I think design affects culture as much as is inspired from it and when trying to design for a context, it becomes important to try and understand the underlying aspects of a culture that manifest themselves in any form of design.
Read my dissertation here!
A team project on the future of mobility in collaboration with Volkswagen Germany.
A very exciting project to design future offerings of autonomous vehicles. Our team tried to focus on the human aspect and based our final suggestions on that.
Patent pending on project!
The dream team (including me!) preparing for a co-design workshop we ran to gather insights.
A simple, web based experience to spread awareness on unsustainable every day office habits.
In a self initiated project, some of us decided to create an experience to generate awareness about the earth day in 2014. We chose to create a story for the people working in our office to help them realize the impact of our everyday activities on the environment.
The mailer to navigate to the website.
The website had a simple narrative built around the statistics we collected of some of the unsustainable practices in our office.
