Designers usually get to know their users in order to design for them. This can be done for example by interviews, observations and context mapping. In all of these design methods, designers are trying to understand the user in their context and by their means. However, with data-driven design, the data that all users create together will become the basis for the designer.

Data-Driven Health Care. Image retrieved from MIT.

The amount of information in the world is growing with a rate of 60% each year (Donhorst, & Anfara (2010). But that does not mean that this information is directly available for the decision makers. An example of these are the translators of the IKNL (2018). This organisation is analysing most of the cancer patients in the Netherlands that are visiting a doctor in a hospital and provide data to hospitals and communicate via their website. Via these websites, patients are able to see for example what the quality of life is after a specific kind of treatment. When this data is made available for the patients, it leads to better share decision making, because they are better informed (Raghupathi, Raghupathi, 2014).

Although probabilities derived from large batches of data are often more reliable than human reasoning, patients will always tend to trust the human more. Therefore, in data-driven design in the Healthcare application, the balance should be found between data and a doctor as a middleman. Moreover, an average doctor has a short amount of time with their patient and they also need to use this time to process data. In order to collect more data, the most important design challenge is to find a way to collect more without interfering with the doctor-patient time. Additionally, Grossglauser & Saner state that the use of data will also contribute to detect health issues quicker and will automate processes where medical staff is needed less. (Grossglauser & Saner, 2014).

The aging population is growing in numbers and proportion in every country in the world. As of 2017, the amount of people over the age of 60 was 13% (25% in Europe), and the amount of people over the age of 80 was 1.85% (Ageing, UN).

Woman holding a Philips phone. Retrieved from Pixabay.

Both groups are increasing rapidly, the population over 60 will duplicate by 2050, while the population over 80 will triplicate. It means huge challenges on the horizon for key pillars of our society, such as markets, labour, services, housing, etc., in which design can play a big role in order to overcome them.

Designing for autonomous ageing is defined as “The freedom to determine one’s own actions”. Translated to the care context, the senior person is considered autonomous, and in charge (Tischa, J. M. et. al). Design choices are very important to achieve a safe and independent lifestyle for senior citizens. The Aging with Dignity New York City report highlights many opportunities, such as building additional bus shelters and benches to better serve the older population. But, what are the key points in order to create better products for the aging population?

Firstly, it is important to understand that ageing is a multidimensional process of change that conditions the physical, mental and social aspects of a person. It is a functional decline that affects mobility, sight and hearing, with the increase of multimorbidity, the co-occurrence of 2 or more chronic medical conditions in one person (Tischa, J. M. et. al). All that is further complicated by the  higher interpersonal variability.

Secondly, it is necessary to identify common causes that affect elderly in their daily interaction with products, such as burns or falls at home. In addition, it also helps to group them by their level of autonomy. Is the person dependent on someone else or is he or she completely independent? Does he or she live alone or with the partner?

Finally, once the target limitations and group are defined, human-centered design methods must be implemented, always including the stakeholders, which in this case usually are: doctors, nurses, caregivers, family members, etc. This design methodologies, together with inclusive design, help to navigate a difficult, multifaceted and ill-defined problem.

At the faculty of Industrial Design of TU Delft, research and multiple projects with the aim of improving the autonomy and quality of life of the older population are being elaborated. More information in the Design Innovation for Ageing.