An enlightening opportunity
to explore the aggregation of user needs into a legible, graphically pleasing format.
The process was straightforward: I would interview someone I knew and learn about
their hobbies and any tasks they may struggle performing. This would form the basis
of a persona, which would serve as reference for the remainder of the project.
My interviewee's favorite hobby
is gardening, and as she ages she finds certain physical demands to be challenging, namely
bending, reaching and lifting. What she says, thinks, does and feels can all provide a wealth
of data that can be used to identify key pain points and potentially help develop solutions.
There are five main steps
in the journey through Leila's garden. She enters the garden, she trims
the plants, she waters the plants, she plants new seeds, and she carries
new plants and transfers pots to new locations. Each step is fraught with its
own challenges and hazards, to different degrees of difficulty. By creating a
journey map, we can visualize and identify the levels of challenge with a
more granular perspective.
A needs statement
can help identify specific pain points that we might help the user overcome.
It is an elegant, succinct explanation of what we as designers must factor
into our work. Leila needs someone to assist her in performing the more
strenuous physical tasks when tending to her garden.
This project served as a companion
to a larger movement called Hear Us Out, in which members of an older generation are interviewed
and given a chance to lend their voices to younger generations. Words of wisdom, life advice, or simple
inspiring stories are all precious and worth sharing. Students throughout the world participated and
designed beautiful posters highlighting what words they learned from their elders.
