2018.02 - 2018. 06
This is a personal project supporting my graduate thesis - Research on current public perception of Alzheimer’s disease among Chinese young generations. The research was proudly to be appreciated by Alzheimer's Association, Greater Cincinnati Chapter.
INSIDERS AND OUTSIDERS
During my journey of research, people can be generally categorized as two groups based on their experience and prior knowledge about Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's Insiders: People who have/had relatives with Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's Outsiders: People who might not have a relative with Alzheimer's YET.
There is, however, no actual boundary between two groups of people, for instance, an individual who recently find his/her family member showing symptoms of Alzheimer's or the senior loved ones who are lately diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
And, the voice from the insiders can be the reliable guidance to the outsiders to know better about the disease even what next steps to leap as long as it occurs.
SYSTEM MAP
DESIGN OVERVIEW
Storypot app
DESIGN OVERVIEW
StoryPot.org
_________________Design Process_________________
Strategy & Concept
A research which referred to an existing public perception of Alzheimer’s disease in China at the beginning of this project. Based on the research findings, information architecture, wireframes, user flow and storyboard for the whole digital experience followed.
Two digital experience — a mobile application for communication and service searching, and a website for knowledge promotion with integration of social campaigns — are proposed to boost the public awareness on Alzheimer’s disease and minimize the societal-isolation that caused by the disease.
Part 1: StoryPot App
The mobile application is designed to increase the accessibility of information about Alzheimer's disease to eliminate the social isolation.
It is a user backend to connect the people who are already/potentially affected by the Alzheimer's, like the families, professionals, volunteers, etc. With this approach, all the communities can reach the authentic stories and experience about the Alzheimer's. Meanwhile, the users can easily locate, engage and manage related campaigns and service to support themselves when necessary.
Social Engagement
1. Stories, functioning as the catalyst to open the heart of both Alzheimer's affected persons and Alzheimer's-resisted groups, can also prompt the elimination of social isolations.
2. Communication on the platform increase the efficiency of information accessibility, expand the networking and introduce more possibilities to problem-solving.
3. Bringing the resources of related campaigns, organization and services to satisfy the online-to-offline needs.
part 2: StoryPot.org
The appearance of website, was structured into a series of questions with supportive encyclopedia about Alzheimer’s which build a general understanding for an engaging experience on the users.
The end of survey will assess the participants' knowledge level and lead them to consider about the next steps.
The Digital Environment
Aside with knowledge promotion, the website aims to lead the public to pay attention to the signification of building awareness of Alzheimer's disease.
Additionally, it's a responsive website to promote the mobile application — StoryPot APP — for communities to mentally bond together.
Reflection
StoryPot is the extensive project of my graduate research thesis Prepare for Alzheimer’s: Narratives to bind us together. Check the research progress here.
At first, my goal is to design a simply communicative platform for the people who are both affected by the disease and the non-sufferers, particularly for Chinese communities, most of who know little about it, and both groups are socially separated by the disease. That the StoryPot app comes and aims to solve the severity of misunderstanding and miscommunication. However, I found the psychological rejection and lack of disease-related understanding prohibit the public to access to the relative information.
Later, as I researched further, I found that, catching the public's attention to the disease is also as crucial as a prerequisite for those people who know little about the disease. Thus, here comes the idea of StoryPot.org.
Improving the lives of people who are affected by the Alzheimer's disease is a life-long task. To prepare for the future in advance with generations and generations bonding, from my personal opinion, is the key to end it.
FOLLOW UP
In terms of time limitation and explosion of existing social networking, the StoryPot App is looking for a better way to launch. However, the great news is, the clinicians ( who I talked with during the research stage) and I built a temporary chatting group on the most popular SNS in China. Until April 2018, 78 persons (including young individuals and family members) have been in this group and share all the info about Alzheimer's from time to time. Another notable news is, the StoryPot.org is on the list of construction.
