Challenge
To create a platform that allows elderly people to interact and ultimately be befriended by someone else.
Role
Lead UX Designer
Duration
February 2022
(4 weeks)
Tools used
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
#1 To create a way to safely communicate
#2 To create an platform that is easy enough for people with little tech know-how to use
#3 Create a platform that is trustworthy and has safeguarding at its core
#4 To ensure accessibility is at the heart of the design
Timeshare is an app aimed at tackling loneliness in our elderly community. The app was created for my third project for the Google UX Design Certificate.
Over two million people over 75 years of age live on their own in the UK, and more than a million older people say they go for a month without speaking to a friend, neighbour or family member. The core aim of Timeshare is to connect those wanting company with those that have time to share.
Responsibilities
Conducting interviews, paper & digital wireframing, low & high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility
Iterating on designs
Goals
The Process
Empathise
Time to conduct research and
understand user
needs and how they think, feel and the challenges they face.
Define
Next to understand the problem or users' need that my designs will address, based on the findings in the user research.
Ideate
Time to think, sketch and experiment to find an array of design solutions.
Prototype
Next to bring my solution to life in the form of a functioning prototype.
Test
Finally, to test my design, gather feedback, and make changes before the product is built by engineers.
User research
Research took a mixed quantitative and qualitative research approach. Starting with quantitative and existing research literature to understand the core user group. This then moved on to a competitor analysis, stakeholder interviews, and the creation of persona hypothesis. Some of the questions I asked myself included:
Who are the target users?
Who are the competitors?
Who is most likely
to volunteer to
share their time?
What kind of tech
know-how will they have?
Which groups are likely to be in most need of company?
Loneliness is likely to increase your risk of death by 26%.
https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/the-facts-on-loneliness/
Befriending has significant effect on depression symptoms.
ttps://www.scie.org.uk/publications/ataglance/ataglance60.asp
1.4 million older people in the UK are often lonely.
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/our-impact/policy-research/loneliness-research-and-resources/
40% of women volunteered in 2017/18 compared to 35% of men.
https://teamkinetic.co.uk/blog/2019/07/10/women-volunteer-more-than-men/
16 to 24 year old and 65 to 74 year old age groups have the highest share of volunteers.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/420100/volunteers-uk-england-by-age/
Pain points
Three main pain points arose from the user research.
Security
Participants had concerns about their security. They worried about being catfished or going over to someone’s house that hadn’t been verified.
Accessibility
Accessibility for the elderly was a big concern. Various requirements were mentioned like the need for larger fonts, screen readers, and voice recognition.
Organisation
Users might forget appointments/plans.
Primary User - Person seeking company
Name: Fred
Age: 79
Education: BA (Hons) Degree
Hometown: London
Family: Widowed. One grown up daughter that lives in Australia
Occupation: Retired (former teacher)
Goals
-To have a chat with someone nice
-To be able to use technology to meet new people
-To feel safe
Frustrations
-"I'm just not good with technology, it needs to be really simple”
-“When I forget stuff, my memory isn't as good as it used to be”
-“When I forget my glasses, my eye sight isn't as good as it used to be either!”
Fred is a retired teacher who lives in London. He is widowed and has one grown up daughter that lives in Australia. He misses her and often feels lonely. He is slowly learning to embrace technology, but still finds it very confusing. However, he has managed to learn to use Zoom to call his daughter and her family. Though the technology has to be simple.
His friendship group has grown much smaller and he can go several weeks without having an in person conversation. He'd like to meet nice people to chat to, but he does worry about his security, and is cautious about the idea of letting strangers into his home.
Getting to know the users (person seeking company)
User journey (Person seeking company)
Getting to know the users (person seeking to befriend)
Secondary User - Person seeking to share their time
Name: Lenesha
Age: 23
Education: BA (hons) degree
Hometown: London
Family: Single
Occupation: Recently graduated with a business degree
Goals
-To befriend an elderly member of the community
-To find someone that I think I might connect with. Shared values/interests
-To feel good about helping others
Frustrations
-"When you don't connect with the person”
-“That we might struggle to communicate as they may not be good with technology”
-“The fear that you might be catfished”
Lenesha is single and lives in London. She recently completed a business degree. She likes the idea of giving back. She was really close to her grandparents before they both passed and thinks she would like to befriend someone.
She is keen to meet someone with similar interests or values to strengthen the connection, as she would like it to be on-going. Though she does have some security concerns, and recognises the risk of meeting up with a stranger. She is also worried about how competent the elderly person might be with technology and if they will struggle communicating with them.
User journey (Person seeking to befriend)
Competitor Analysis
There is very little competition, with no one offering an app specifically for befriending the elderly. There are no direct competitors but several indirect. There are a couple of charities such as Age UK and Independent Age that offer professional companionship, funded by donations. Age UK also offers a pairing service for telephone conversations, while Independent Age offers in person opportunities for volunteers. Both charities have modern, on brand websites.
The are two other smaller players; Befriending Network and The Silver Line. Both websites feel a little more dated. The Befriending Network targets a wider group and not just elderly, with a mix of ways to befriend someone. The Silver Line is another telephone focused befriending service.
The nearest competitor is a befriending app called Befriend App. However, this again targets all groups and not just the elderly.
Site Map
Wireframes
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Digital Wireframes
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Iteration
After creating the low fidelity wireframes, a group of four participants completed a usability test. Using a prototype while running through a range of scenarios to find the next stage of iterations.
Change 1
Functionality to increase font size
Users felt the body text might be too small for some elderly, but perfectly fine for younger users.
As a result functionality was added to allow users to increase the font size of the text.
Change 2
Simplified call to action
The call to actions were simplified as a result of user feedback. Users felt the buttons should appear at the bottom of the screen, similar to other apps.
They also felt that each page should only highlight the relevant call to action buttons to make the navigation as simple as possible, especially for those that have less IT knowledge.
Change 3
Too much like a dating app
Users disliked that once registered the app navigated straight to users seeking company, and felt that the homepage should be different. They also didn't like that users had to swipe though the profiles. They also didn't like the idea of 'liking' a profile. Combined it felt too much like a dating app.
As a result a new homepage was created to greet users. Each profile now needs to be selected to view.
The homepage also highlights a small numbers of users by making them larger than the rest. These users have had little/ no communication interactions or meet-ups. The aim of highlighting them is to draw more attention to their profile and increase their interaction.
The thumbs up ‘like’ functionality has also been removed.
Change 4
Buttons need text
Users felt the buttons needed text as well as icons as they may not be easily interpreted by elderly.
As a result, icons are now accompanied with text or removed and replaced with titles to ensure they are easy for those with little app or website knowledge to understand.
Final Design
Pain Point 1 - Security
Three step verification process
Participants had concerns about their security. They worried about being catfished or meeting a stranger that hadn't been verified.
A three step verification process has been used to ensure people are who they say they are and reassure users. A process that includes passport and facial recognition.
Pain Point 2 - Accessibility
Simple, clear and intuitive
Page layouts have been kept clean and uncluttered to ensure the focus is on key information with clear calls to action, with adjustable font size to make text accessible for all.
Pain Point 3 - Organisation
Meet-ups
A 'meet-up' calendar was integrated into the app, sync-able with your mobile calendar to plan, arrange and organise meet-ups.
Takeaway
Timeshare is one small step in reducing the number of lonely elderly. Users found the product useful and felt encouraged to give something back. Those giving up their time felt they would equally have benefited as those wanting company.
One key strength I'll take away from this project is the thought process and steps taken to design an app/website for two very different user groups. They had the shared goal to befriend or be befriended but were two very different groups of people. One primarily elderly and one young. I learnt some key accessibility lessons, ensuring such apps or websites are accessible to the elderly, whilst remaining engaging for younger users. An experience I'm sure will benefit me in the future.