Evan Burr
Evan Burr
Evan Burr
Microsoft Care Team
Design a mobile app that connects older and younger generations
Project background
​
As our elderly population is increasing, there will be a shortage of caregivers, doctors, and nurses to attend to their needs. To accommodate these needs, healthcare for the elderly is slowly shifting from assisted living facilities to the comfort of their own homes. The conflict that arises from this shift, however, is that care recipients and caregivers will have limitations on socializing and connecting with others which could negatively affect their mental and physical well-being.
Tools Used​
Figma
Miro
Adobe XD
Keynote
Team​
Evan Burr
Chorong Park
Annie Giang
Alex Lederman
Olivia Le
Sophie Regele
Titan Hoang
My Role​
Leadership
User Research
Interaction Design
Prototyping
TimeLine​
Jan 2021-May 2021
​
01
Introduction
What does Microsoft want us to do?
With the mental/physical effects that come with receiving healthcare at home, we want to promote care recipients' wellbeing by fostering deeper connections with their caregivers and loved ones.
Our end goal is to design a meaningful, social experience that will bring the older and younger generations together. To enable this experience, our job is to create an application that naturally creates family togetherness. Our application aims to reduce isolation, improve health outcomes, and create shared experiences among families.
​
​
02
The Solution
Design an Interactive Application
​
Within the existing ecosystem of Microsoft Teams, my team and I created three unique and dynamic solutions that effectively addressed users' needs of reducing feelings of isolation, improving health outcomes and creating shared experiences with loved ones.
03
The Process
From Concept to Presenting to Microsoft Executives!
.png){kind=small}
Process
Learn
Secondary Research
User Interviews
User Personas
Synthesis
Research Insights
Branding Guide
Market Space
​
Prototyping
Sketches
Wireframes
Mi-Fi Prototypes
​
Test
Concept Testing
Usability Testing
Guerilla Testing
​
Finalize
Hi-Fi Prototypes
Interactivity
UI Polish
Deliver
Presentation
Documentation
Share Prototyping files
04
User Research
Understanding our Users/Problem Space
​
​
Literature Review
​
I conducted multiple rounds of research to gain a better understanding of what creates a sense of togetherness. We also wanted to gain insights into the users we will be designing for.
With our research findings condensed down into six guiding principles, we utilize this information to help inform our ideation and sketching process.
Isolation
Users should feel comfortable sharing experiences with one another which leads to a more connected family
Care Recipient
Disconnect from family leads to feelings of isolation and guilt for causing extra burden of their loved ones
Health
Care recipients want to have a purpose that mutually benefits all parties which causes reasons for everyone to be together
.png)
Primary Caregiver
Feelings of responsibility to care for loved ones can cause a number of issues such as stress, anxiety and depression
Shared Experiences
Promoting mentor and mentee relationships can benefit all parties and allow users to be comfortable sharing love and affection
Secondary Caregiver
Supporting the primary caregiver can cause stress and feelings of guilt for not “doing more” to support loved ones
05
Prototyping
Time to get Creative!
Sketching
After developing a foundational knowledge of our problem space, we used our research insights to guide us through our ideation process.
This project was extremely exploratory. We went through multiple rounds of ideation and sorted through hundreds of sketches using our user research and criteria matrix to help us narrow down.
​
06
User testing
Validating Our Solution
Concept Testing
The goal of our testing was to understand what parts of the idea motivates users to engage with other family members and contribute to the app in a meaningful way. We also wanted to test the usability of certain functions within the application to see if they were straightforward and easy to understand to optimize generational inclusivity.
Testing Takeaways
.png)
This idea needs to promote the encapsulation of a loved ones life so they can have an eternal legacy
.png)
Looking back over a loved one's life, creates feelings of nostalgia and an itch to learn more
.png)
Media captured within the app will always be there to look back on, even after someone passes away
07
The results
Final Design Overview
High Fidelity Prototypes
Following multiple rounds of testing, ideating, and polishing our ideas, my team and I presented our solution to Microsoft executives and VP's for future implementation into the Microsoft Team's application.
​
Wish Board
​
Wish Board is a creative tool that enables family members to create a memorable experience by helping each other to accomplish wishes, and naturally bringing in family engagement and togetherness. The Wish Board is designed to help family members, especially care recipients, to achieve and live the best life possible..
Team's Legacy
​
Team's Legacy is a central hub for families to store and look back at life events and fond memories of loved ones. Family members can create a timeline of important life events or memories they want to share with the rest of the family. If someone is stuck or does not know what to share, they can choose to be prompted with specific questions that are important in everyone's life such as “tell me what it was like to graduate high school”.
Family Hub
​
The Family Hub is a collective space where family members can discuss old and new stories. It enables family members to have more frequent and meaningful conversation through participation of weekly discussions and weekly highlights. It also allows users to look back on old stories shared in a saved space.
08
Reflection
What Did I Learn?
The design process approach for this project was not linear. Because of the seasoned mentoring from our clients, I grew and refined my skills as a designer. The project challenged me to deepen my skills in user research and really explore user empathy. The opportunity to experience the positive emotional response from our project sponsors was a satisfying outcome that made all of the program effort worthwhile.