2024
Service Design
Workshop Facilitation, Service Prototyping
Wanderest
service design to support seniors’ walkability in urban environments
ROLE
Service Designer (on team of 6 designers), collaborated across all stages, with ownership or digital prototyping
TOOLS
Miro, Figma, Canva, InVideo
PROBLEM
My service design team and I were assigned to address the challenge of urban walkability (focusing on NYC/DC). Our focus was to design an innovative and inclusive service that stimulates the local urban economies while making urban spaces more sustainable, safe, accessible, and enjoyable for pedestrians of all ages and abilities.
SOLUTION
My service design team and I honed in on designing an inclusive experience for seniors ages 75+. Through interviews, observations, ideation workshops and prototype tests with seniors and local business owners, we designed Wanderest, a digital app and local service that allows seniors to find participating businesses that offer accessible spaces for them to rest — a win-win for both local businesses and seniors.
Prep | SECONDARY RESEARCH & SYSTEMS MAPPING
Through ecosystem mapping, we identified a vital but underserved audience segment: seniors
After reviewing external resources on walkability trends, challenges, and opportunities, we created a systems map to aggregate key actors in the service ecosystem and their relationships to pedestrians.
In our synthesis, we realized that there was a clear gap in serving the needs of the elderly, especially those in urban areas.
OUR HYPOTHESIS
If we create desirable "life-centered" walking conditions for elderly people (75+) to complete routine tasks, it will increase quality of life, accessibility, safety, and health for all humans in urban environments.
Explore | INTERVIEWS
Seniors share: walking is a source of emotional and physical wellbeing, but it’s hindered by safety concerns
We started with in-depth research (interviews, observations) to understand the lives of seniors in walking environments.
These activities helped us define the 3 personas, among which was Amelia: a 76-year-old who values her independence and wants to “age well”, but needs an assistive device and faces mobility challenges on her daily outdoor walks.
Through journey mapping Amelia’s typical walk, we realized a critical source of tension and (sometimes actual) pain: road intersections and sidewalk hazards!
Define | HMW
How Might We...
eliminate hazards along pedestrian pathways to make walking safer for elderly folks?
Ideate | IDEATION WORKSHOP
Within a co-creation workshop, we realized we’d overlooked a critical factor: restrooms!
We invited 4 seniors to join us in a virtual co-creation/ ideation session. To adapt to participants’ technology familiarity, we combined analog workshop methods (paper & pen) with Zoom to capture their ideas for Crazy 8’s.
From this session, we identified a key insight about walking: while considerations about physical harm are high, seniors have the specific need to find a place to rest and socialize, especially to use the restroom.
Concept | STORYBOARDING
We honed in on the concept of a “senior VIP rest card” to address needs of seniors and local businesses
After reviewing the workshop outputs, we considered 4 ideas:
benches with comfort & interactive features
pop-up amenities (e.g. booths) along walking paths
convenient search tools for local activities/amenities
senior “VIP passes” to access local businesses rest spaces
We voted to move forward with option 4: VIP Pass, as it aligned best with our design challenge to make streets more accessible and stimulate local economies.
Prototype & Test | RAPID PROTOTYPING
In testing our concept, we found that “ease of use” means flexibility, but it looks different for seniors vs. business owners
To test our proposed service solution, we conducted:
2 virtual workshops for 4 seniors to present a service advertisement video and complete a Lego walkthrough
4 in-person interviews with business owners (restaurant, cafe, wine shop, gift store) to test the interactive wireframe app
Findings:
Seniors prefer flexibility and resist restrictive language or interfaces —> frame instructions as suggestions rather than mandates
Seniors rely on established strategies to get around —> keep information up-to-date to ensure their confidence
The busier a city, the lower the incentive for offering free services —> give business owners easy customization to adapt to unexpected foot traffic.
Prototype & Test | SERVICE BLUEPRINT
Our service blueprint addressed the concerns we heard from seniors and businesses
Outcome & Reflections
WandeRest can significantly impact seniors' quality of life by increasing their comfort, confidence, and community interaction
By addressing key barriers to walking for seniors, our solution:
Empowers senior independence
Enhances city's quality of life
Creates a win-win situation for local businesses
Contributes to seniors' holistic health
Reflections:
Double ideation time: At the 1-hour mark in our ideation session, participants were only starting to get comfortable with the process.
Meet your users where they are: Instead of teaching people to use a new platform like Miro for our workshop, we combined analog workshop methods (paper/pencil) with familiar technology (Zoom) to streamline the experience.
Keep your eyes open for hidden insights: What is a key need, goal, or pain point to users may be so obvious to them that it requires an extra push to get them to reveal it (i.e., realizing that restrooms are essential in the walking experience for seniors)
