Information/Instructional Design: UMI
Design Brief
This project required designing for disability and to aim for a more universal sense of design. The aim of this project is to design a mobile/cellphone application that assists someone living with a disability in some way. Insights must be reached about the daily lives and activities of the person the app is being designed for. Our group was tasked to help improve the lives of a child with leukaemia as well as his mother.
Design Strategy
The requirement for this project was to design a mobile application that through a dialectical method either addresses the pain points or improves the lives in some way of an individual living with a disability or of a caregiver. Dialectic mimics the process of a dialogue to work through the questions of constraints and curtailments. Through dialectic, insights are gained through the combination of one’s automated conceptualisation and alternative understanding.
Our user was a mother of a child with Lymphoblastic leukaemia, she herself was diagnosed with Myeloid leukaemia but insisted on an app that addressed her child’s needs. The insights we gained from the interview was her difficulty in explaining to her child the diagnosis, process and aftermath of leukaemia to her child. She faced this challenge even though she is a psychiatric occupational therapist with information and knowledge of the process of treating leukaemia, she mentioned how she wondered about the struggle of other children and mothers who did not have the same knowledge on the matter. She had difficulty explaining to her child that it was not his fault and therefore wanted her child to understand he was not being punished, she wanted an app to assist herself and other caregivers dealing with children suffering with cancer in hopes that the app would help her child cope and understand the process and treatment especially the side effects that evoked emotions such as anger, discomfort and confusion.
Further research supported this challenge and suggested that children from the ages three to seven look for a cause or reason for the cancer or treatments and often think it's because of something they did .Children of this age group need constant assurance to help them understand that they did not cause the cancer and it is not a form of punishment, they need reassurance that they will not be abandoned and that tests and treatments will hurt but only as a process in helping them to become well again .
The app in some way needed to inform and distract a child through the diagnosis, process and aftermath of leukaemia without being just a information filled space, the app needed to be interactive and a platform the child or user can engage with. We came to this notion from another insight, which was that the child distracted himself through games, we learned that children have little capacity to be social in fighting leukaemia and seek something to help pass the time during treatments and bouts of feeling unwell. Research also Revealed that children of the ages of three to six prefer interactions within an app with elements. The application addresses these pain points by providing a platform where users care for an avatar that is going through treatments as well as side effects and symptoms such as losing their hair. Losing their hair or tasks such as wearing a mask for their immune system aim to be normalised. The avatars will have default capabilities but once they have undergone a treatment they will be rewarded with new capabilities. This is done via a medical professional providing access to a new ability so children will view them in a positive light, and view treatment as something to help them progress and gain new abilities. The user may interact with their avatar and perform these various abilities as they progress through treatment. The app is personalised via the avatar being customizable, the child can relate to the avatar and through caring for the avatar understand the process of treatment and getting better, and concurrently relating to medical professionals treating them, this making them not as scary/intimidating as before and also helps children to understand why treatment is beneficial for them.
For the name of the app, we simplified the word ‘’leukaemia’’ coming up with Leumia. Leumia was further simplified to Umi enabling it to be easily pronounced by children and more arbitrary for children to relate too. The colour scheme is colourful yet soft to not be overwhelming for children with leukaemia and provides more of a calming and welcoming platform other than
one of over stimulation. The style and imagery used were carefully selected for the child to recognise and easily change their avatar as it suits them . Prominent and easily noticed features were chosen such as eye and hair colour as well as emotions that may vary throughout the day. The application has a Companion called Umi who’s prompts cater specifically per individual and his/her needs. MI works as a guide to help children to not feel abandoned but instead supports the children through their journey and narrates tasks. Umi is a catalyst to provide self-affirmation through prompts for the user as well as asking the user how their avatar feels about certain treatments, or current moods. This aims to help the child process and express emotions and feelings about their situation. Umi also supports the child through the day/week of treatment by preparing them in advance ,
familiarizing them with the process beforehand e.g. Umi tells the child beforehand that their avatar will be undergoing
treatment or a procedure soon ,the child will also be reassured that everything will be okay and it's for their benefit as the procedure or treatment will be explained in simple terms. Umi will also constantly tell them how brave and strong they
are for that extra confidence boost.
one of over stimulation. The style and imagery used were carefully selected for the child to recognise and easily change their avatar as it suits them . Prominent and easily noticed features were chosen such as eye and hair colour as well as emotions that may vary throughout the day. The application has a Companion called Umi who’s prompts cater specifically per individual and his/her needs. MI works as a guide to help children to not feel abandoned but instead supports the children through their journey and narrates tasks. Umi is a catalyst to provide self-affirmation through prompts for the user as well as asking the user how their avatar feels about certain treatments, or current moods. This aims to help the child process and express emotions and feelings about their situation. Umi also supports the child through the day/week of treatment by preparing them in advance ,
familiarizing them with the process beforehand e.g. Umi tells the child beforehand that their avatar will be undergoing
treatment or a procedure soon ,the child will also be reassured that everything will be okay and it's for their benefit as the procedure or treatment will be explained in simple terms. Umi will also constantly tell them how brave and strong they
are for that extra confidence boost.
The app is able to do this through the parent mode where parents can schedule an appointment and thus the app recognizes when to support children during the day or week of their treatments.
Final App/Prototype
