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Helping Hand-Case study
_
Written by Bridget Waters Design by Steven Hassall Red Ninja Ltd www.redninja.co.uk 0151 707 6707
ind
eX-The Challenge
...............................4-5Listening ....................................6-7Co-Creation .................................8-9Key Lessons ...............................10-11Thinking ..................................12-13Tablet Screenshots ..........................14-15Doing ....................................16-17W
hat did we learn? .............................18
Credits ......................................19
Helping H
and Case Study H
ELPING
H
AN
DCreated by and for older people, our age-friendly Helping Hand apps and easy-to-use, custom
ised tablet interface are helping older people to love online shopping and feel better connected.
THe C
Ha
lleng
e
Our society is getting older and lonelier. Research by
Age UK
1 reveals that over one million older people
in the UK feel lonely and socially isolated. M
obile technology can m
ake things better, research by the N
ominet Trust 2 show
s that older people who regularly
use the Internet feel less isolated and more in control
of their lives.
Digital exclusion is now a social care issue, com
pounded by reduced spending and increased pressure to help people live independently for longer. Red Ninja Studios had taken part in the UK’s first Adult Social Care Hack Day, w
here loneliness w
as identified as a big problem for older people
living in our comm
unities.
Through the Friendly Economy innovation program
me,
Liverpool City Council’s Adult Social Care comm
issioners and Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership set us a challenge. How
could we get older people in the
North Liverpool neighbourhoods of Anfield, Walton and
Kirkdale better connected to digital services, including online shopping?
Our approach is alw
ays to begin where our users are, so w
e started by listening.
1. Age UK Research; http://bit.ly/1-million-lonely
2. International Longevity Centre research; http://bit.ly/older-people-technology
i’Ve Been
a liTTle BiT
FRigH
Tened
OF TH
e C
OM
pUTeRS - O
F Ma
King
a
FOO
l OF M
YSelF, TaKin
g
TOO
MU
CH
TiMe. BU
T THiS
THin
g’S SiM
ple. iT’S eaSY
TO d
O”
— M
ary, Helping Hand co-creator
“LISTEN
ING
We created our age-friendly H
elping Hand m
obile apps and easy-to-use, custom
ised tablet interface by listening to w
hat older people want and need, w
hat they find frustrating and w
hat would m
otivate them to
get online.
We gathered ideas from
over 350 older people to co-create Helping Hand, running co-creation w
orkshops with our
partners at Plus Dane Group. As a local housing provider,
Plus Dane Group had strong relationships w
ith many of
the older people taking part, which really helped us to get
things going and build trust.
Our co-creators told us that they w
ere interested in shopping online. They told us that because of health and m
obility issues they sometim
es found it difficult to get out and about, and to carry heavy shopping hom
e. Home
delivery would be great w
hen the weather w
as bad and staying at hom
e was m
ore appealing than a trip to the superm
arket.
But, we also learned that m
ost of this group had never shopped online. They w
ere concerned about privacy and security, and about their ow
n ability to use the technology. They w
ere afraid of signing up to something that w
ould then cost m
oney, and many didn’t have a com
puter or an Internet connection. There w
as a general fear about know
ing what to do. They asked us to keep things
simple and be patient, and as the project developed their
confidence grew.
Helping H
and Case Study
CO
-C
REATIO
N-
Helping H
and Case Study TRUSTpa
TienC
eg
OO
d d
eSign
Ma
TTeRS
iT JUST WO
RKSKeY leSSO
nS
SO, TO
Be aBle TO
geT
diFFeRen
T SeCTiO
nS O
F YO
UR SH
Oppin
g in
THe
aC
TUal SH
Op BY JU
ST TO
UC
Hin
g TH
e SCReen
...i W
aS SU
RpRiSed BY H
OW
q
UiC
K an
d ea
SY iT Wa
S. a
nd
i Mea
n, TH
aT’S
BeCa
USe TH
eY aSKed
YOU
W
aSn
’T iT? THeY a
SKed
YOU. TH
eY aSKed
YOU
- W
Ha
T dO
YOU
Wa
nT a
nd
H
OW
WO
Uld
YOU
dO
TH
iS?”—
Irene, Helping Hand co-creator
“TH
INKIN
GThrough our design thinking approach, w
e bring our co-creators on the full design journey. W
e needed to find a w
ay to engage older people with online services
that already existed, but which they found tricky to
navigate. We needed to build services they w
ould trust and use, so that w
e could make things better for
their lives.
We used everything w
e’d learned by listening to refine our design challenge. W
e were going to build a shopping
application that connected directly to a major superm
arket through a user-friendly interface. O
ur co-creators told us that they loved a bargain, so our app w
ould include all the features of the retailer’s online service, including the ability to search for deals. W
e were also going to build a social
calendar app, which w
ould help people to find out about events in their com
munity, to get involved and m
ake new
social connections.
We held w
orkshops about colour theory, typography, language and user experience. W
e shared examples
of other websites, discussing w
hat the group liked and didn’t. O
ur co-creators loved this process and really got into the technology. They m
ade design choices for a large font, big buttons, highly visible colour contrasts and clear instructions.
Helping H
and Case Study
i Ca
n’T Spea
K FOR
eVeRYBO
dY elSe, BU
T W
Hen
THiS C
aM
e alO
ng
i STa
RTed Feelin
g a
S TH
OU
gH
i BelOn
ged
TO
THe C
OM
MU
niTY...TH
aT i
aM
a H
UM
an
Being
”—
Ed, Helping Hand co-creator
“D
OIN
GW
e experimented, building rapid prototypes and
sharing them for feedback. W
ith our co-creators, we
worked through the look, feel and user experience
and developed working prototypes, w
hich we then
sent out into the comm
unity for testing.
Our pilot program
me ran for 12 w
eeks from Septem
ber 2014 and w
as evaluated by Dr Paul Hepburn from The
Heseltine Institute, University of Liverpool. Pilot testers each received a tablet pre-loaded w
ith an easy-to-use, custom
ised interface and both apps. We also provided free
Internet access for the trial period. Training and support w
as delivered by our in-house team w
orking with Plus Dane
Group and Barclays Digital Eagles.
Throughout the pilot, users told us about their experiences and feelings, how
easy or challenging they found things, and about any problem
s they experienced with
the technology.
By using a design thinking approach, we sparked innovation
and created social impact. O
ur co-creators reported increased feelings of trust, com
munity, and independence
from taking part in the project. W
e loved that some of our
co-creators made new
friends through the process - people w
ho lived in the same building, but w
ho had never met
before the workshops.
Our co-creators have already told us they’d like to see
social networking, online dating and chat features included
in future roll-outs.
Helping H
and Case Study
WH
aT d
id W
e leaRn
?
• Build trust through existing relationships and by listening
• Be patient and keep things simple
• Design thinking sparks innovation and creates social im
pact
• No matter how
old you are, good design m
atters
Makers
Lee Om
arSteven HassallAshley CulvinJackie Connolly (Plus Dane G
roup)and our am
azing co-creators!
Further ReadingThe G
uardian Article: How over-65s are helping to create a new
shopping app - http://bit.ly/guardian-helping-hand
Video: Using technology to bridge the digital divide - co-creating Helping Hand - http://bit.ly/cocreation-video
PartnersPlus Dane G
roupLiverpool City CouncilInnovation Netw
orkLiverpool City Region Local Enterprise PartnershipBarclays Digital EaglesRiverside G
roupDr Paul Hepburn at The Heseltine InstituteUniversity of Liverpool
Copyright 2015 Red Ninja LTDwww.redninja.co.uk