00
INTRODUCTION
PROJECT BRIEF Design a service to improve the experience of Family living apart The purpose of the project is to create a service for family when they live apart. When young adult children leave home, parents start to face the transition in life. Both of them need to face it properly. "Empty nest syndrome" is a feeling of grief and loneliness parents may feel when their children leave home and there are various research about it and therapist helping with it. Family is the foundamental unit of the society and we need care and love from family. Life is a journey full of transitions and everyone experiences the stages inevitably. Parents whose last adolescent is moving out to live independently are in a typical period of transition. They accomplish the responsibility of raising offspring and regain their personal life after almost twenty years. There are changes in their house, their life routine as well as the way of communication with their university students.
METHODOLOGY
desk research project scope
insights issues analysis
Discover
Define focus direction
interview engagement tool
synthesis
data analysis
research questions
existing service analysis initial concept
opportunity
interview engagement tool ideation
concept model user journey
user journey touchpoint
personas
develop
deliver prototype
participatory research
blueprint
feedback refinement
design proposition
storyboard
01
DISCOVER
DESK RESEARCH The Journey of Transition Becoming an empty nester is an inevitable stage of life, and there are changes throughout the journey. From the desk research, I looked at information about psychology, academic research about life transition and empty nester, online community for empty nesters and some typical empty nesters.
FOCUS DIRECTION CONTACT BETWEEN PARENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS AFTER SEPARATION After young adults leaving home, between parents and young adults it is a change of ways to communicate with each other as they need to talk as adults and in a remote distance. And nowadays, with the developing technology, it's much easier than before for us to contact with family. Then I focused on investigating the family contact after the separation.
Before
Physical Separation
Preparation - conversation - time
Change of ways to communicate
adults - adults distance
After
After
Relationship
House - change big one into small one - rent out
- expectation
- share life experience - freedom - independency - comprehension
Mutually Influenced
Communication - frequency
SUPPORT
- content - methods
Mental health - proper reaction - miss parental role - make up for the lost time
Emotional
Material
Informational
Multi-roles - hobby - job - community
"
It doesn’t really matter how you stay in touch with your family,
only that you do.
"
-- Betsy Talbot, 2011
"
Older adults with a chronic illness who had medium levels of social support had 41% less chance of death than those with low levels of social support, and high levels of social support resulted in a 55% lower chance of death.
"
-- Zhang, Norris, Gregg, & Beckles, 2007
The Importance of Stay in Touch Parental Role Worry More Time
Parent
Love&Care Support
For empty nest parents They have more time than before and they need to seek new things to do replacing the time spending with children. They worry about children's life without them. They eager to know the life of children. Staying in touch with children comforts them acting as a parental role.
For young adults It is also a milestone in life for young adults as they have to face challenge in life independently. They seek advice of life experience from parents and when they meet difficulties in study or work, the support and comfort from parents have the biggest power.
Young Adult
Pressure Life Experience Homesick
" For me, the pain of my son leaving home to be 'his own boss' hurt so badly. I have always been and over protective mom. " -- Tonya, Circle of Moms
" My family has not been a crutch that carries me when times get rough; rather, they are a motivating force that pushes me to be myself and enjoy the new adventures that await me in the coming years.. " -- Alexander Spradlin
REFLECTION After desk research, I realized that I made a mistake in the very beginning which was I only see the issue from the perspective of the parents. I was thinking about how to help empty nesters discover the oppor tunity in the transition but I missed the important point that the transition happens both to parents and young adults. It is more about the relationship between them. It's not practical that only thinking about how should parents do after they become empty nester, because parents and children are mutually affected and supported. The initial aim is to help parents cope with the "empty" feeling, however, it is the children who affect the parents actually. And this is why I focus on the communication between parents and young adults after they are physically separated and also have engaged with young adults.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS Research questions are developed to investigate how do parents and young adults contact each other using the exsiting devices and what are their perspectives on contact in distance. The aim is to find a more focus direction to look at.
What do parents and adult children need when they become separated from each other? How do they keep in contact with each other? What are the difficulties when they are separated ?
ENGAGEMENT TOOL The engagement tool is to ask young people and parents to think about what they need when they live apart and how do they feel about it. The questions about family can be sensitive and private, so the tool is a good way to provoke a conversation. But it is still important to pay attention to the way to ask for deep information.
REFLECTION For young people, using a visual "questions" list like this really helps the conversation with people. When I ask them to fill in the questions, they appeared with great interest. and were happy to write answers. Since the topic and questions are more or less sensitive and private, it is a good way to make people feel relax to talk about the issues with me. And they wrote true issues between they and their parents. For parents, however, it is difficult to ask them to write down the answers. They would more like to talk to me about it directly. This is why I have very few written results from parents. What's more, it's also difficult to let the parents tell the friction with their children. So the main learning through the method is that for different age group the effect of the methods will be different. It is important to think about based on the topic which way is better to provoke the conversation with the target age group.
INTERVIEWS Hui Jiang 48 yrs a 24 old son, started live apart for 5 yrs
" Normally I ask him about his life and he answers, just want to make sure he is safe. "
B o Wa n g h a s a s o n l i v i n g i n Edinburgh but she and her husband live in China. She has busy work and make use of the opportunity to see her son when she has work to do in UK.
Chris 68 yrs
No photo
Hui Jiang meets her son 2 months in a year for vocation after he went to university. She actively meets friends and go to travel when son is away, but will spend all time with son when he comes back.
Bo Wang 51 yrs a 22 old son, started live apart for 9 yrs
" I miss my som especially on some special dates. Really hope we could be together at that time. "
Chris's wife is in hospital and he meets his offsprings once a month. 2 daughter and 1 son, started live apart for 15 yrs They keep in touch on telephone and he goes out to a square near home everyday to talk to friends or " I will be there whenever they need just sits and looks at passers-by. me. They are always my children no
matter what the age. "
Lethic 23 yrs study in Canada, started live apart for 5 yrs
" We have arguments about my future plan. I don't compromise to them but will find a way to ease the relationship. " Bobo has a harmonious family relationship and she and her parents update every activity they do in an chat app. Her mom always share some news or article to her through the app, but actually she never looks at them.
Jessica 24 yrs study in USA, started live apart for 8 yrs
" It's important to show our love and care to parents, especially when we can't stay with them. "
Gary often talks about future plan with his parents since he went to university. He founds it is good to learn experience from parents as they can give advice about work.
Lethic is an independent boy and has his own strong opinion of life. His parents don't support his future plan about starting his own company. They have a long time on disagreement. And the time difference makes it hard to have time talking to parents instantly.
Bobo 23 yrs started live apart for 7 yrs
" Some years later, I am trying to not tell them my troubles to make them worried about me. "
Jessica keeps in touch with parents every day as her mom always wants to know her activity. She doesn't really want to do like this sometimes, but she can understand her mom and will send message to mom everyday.
Gary 24 yrs study in UK, started live apart for 5 yrs
" They are interested about the English culture I have experienced, and I always tell them my activities. "
REFLECTION The information I got from interviews can be divided into two types. One is their perspectives on relationship with each other, another is their true stories or memories. There is rich information behind the stories and I found it is a good way to ask for stories other than ask the question directly. Although the answer to the question I want to ask will be not apparent through stories compared to direct question, it helps me to learn how to discover the underlying information through stories.
ANALYSIS & LEARNINGS Then I analyzed all the information I have got from desk research, engagement tool and interviews. I combined the related information and grouped patterns for learnings.
Contact in distance With the information of engagement tool and interviews, I found that different ways of contact have different level of intimacy. And using these ways to contact gives intangible comfort with each other. The response also will be influenced by time and condition.
emergency
daily chat instant
Text message
occasional planned
special occasions
Phone call
Video call
Intimacy
"
It's really like an event to prepare for the video call.
"
-- GSA student
The Support In desk research, I have learned that there are emotional, material, informational support between parents and children living apart. So from the data of engagement tool and key information of interview, I find out what are the specific things in the three types of support.
sense of belonging
motivation
being needed
Emotional
share happiness
comfort
gift
Material
feel at ease
financial support
family issues news
personal environment updates daily life
Informational health
life skills career
food
Then I go back to each research question with all the data and from the data I have patterns for each questions.
understanding
positivity
companion
Emotion Support
reassurance
patient
sense of belonging
important dates share experience
share happiness
What they need
daily life
stay updated
grow together
Connection communication
talk regularly show love&care
future plan
won't tell troubles
Content wish on special dates
everything is fine even if it's not true
Independency let me be independent
take on responsibility
won't interfere too much
can't share food
no common topics
keep them updated
time difference important dates
Miss moments make up time for not being together
argument
Awkward moments
easier to express love
enjoy own space
more active
Independent
free
less argument
short & long onversation
free to make choices
motivated by support
Improved relationship
nervous
Feeling expect a good future
Confusion unknow about future
food afraid of being annoying
Missing lonely
during illness homesick
meaningful contact
Deep communication
strained relationship
private
Difficulty
true understanding of emotion
02
DEFINE
INSIGHTS
From the analysis, I connect related different patterns and generate insights from the grouped patterns. And I also pick up related quotes from interviews which can support the corresponding insight.
1 Appropriate Connection It’s important to pay attention to maintain an appropriate connection which can’t be too dependent nor too detached
Emotion Support
Independent
Improved Relationship
Sometimes I want to call my parents instantly but afraid that they are busy that time. - a 22yrs boy
I just need to make sure he is safe and healthy. I won’t interfere too much about his own life. - a mom (son is 24)
2 Authentic Inner Feeling Other than concerning about daily life, family members seek close and deep conversation
Emotion Support Improved Relationship
We need to grow together. - a 24yrs boy
Content
Deep Communication
I texted my mom every day when I was in a boarding school. But now I call her less regularly but talk longer. - a German girl
3 Indirect Expression Due to personality and relationship, the expression to family can be difficult to be direct for some people. Living apart makes it less communication between them.
Confusion
Content
Awkward Moments
It makes me feel awkward to say 'I love you' to my mom directly. - a 22yrs girl
I have a strained relationship with my dad. I pass on information from mom to him. - GSA student
4
Important Moments People want to share important moments with family members and those moments also become a trigger for communication
Emotion Support Improved Relationship
Connection
Miss Moments
When birthday comes, we will have a phone call for a long time.
- a 22yrs boy
I don’t contact my dad very often as I ought to, but I will send him message on special dates
REFLECTION The process of generating insights is different from previous projects and this is the first time I independently tried to have a clear connections between raw data and insights. So the each insight is not only from one single data or information but from several key patterns. Each pattern belongs to the research questions and comes from those raw data. Therefore, it is convenient for me to find the track of the insights.
- an 23yrs girl
Then I find links between insights and grouped them into patterns. It reveals that people living apart with family, having a tangible item as a carrier to create memory or recall memory on occasions, will enhance the relationship in distance. From that, I decided to look at Gift-giving for youth to parents. And the following project started to has a focus point.
appropriate connected
authentic inner feeling
indirect expression
important moments
Occasions
Tangible
Carrier
Memory
Gift-Giving
CASE STUDY Then I looked at services focusing on gift-giving to learn the features of these services and the thinking behind the front stage. Giftster is a website helping family members to manage gift wish list; Care Package Programme is a service in University of Mary Washington for parents choose a gift box from university shop with message card to give their children in university to deliver care and love; Getting Personal is an online gifter retailer specially designed for personalized gift and was sold to Card Factory in 2011.
Value
Budget
Meaning Selfmade
Time
Unique Personalized
Tangible
Satisfiction
"
Giving gifts is a surprisingly complex and important part of human interaction, helping to define relationships and strengthen bonds with family and friends.
"
-- Tara Parker-Pope, 2007
"
The measure of the time and thought put into a homemade gift cannot be bought at any store. ... Time is money these days, and spending time on someone is a great way to show you really care.
"
-- The Collegian, 2011
TALK TO PEOPLE Then I created engagement tool and online questionnaires for young adults' perspectives on sending gift to parents when they live apart and what kind of gift they would like to give.
" I knew my sister miss her guitar but she was unable to take it with her, so I sent her a Ukelele as her birthday gift. "
" Creating a gift made by myself is better than a simple text message or buy gifts with money especially for parents. "
" It was so nice to see her open the gift on Skype. "
" Sending a homemade gift is good but I guess my mom would like something having a good quality. "
LEARNINGS
A s p a re nt s a n d yo u n g a d u l t s a re n o t staying together, there is a lack of common memories with each other. Contacting with each other by phone and computer can only share the information. Gift-giving in a far-away place delivers a tangible item and a memory of interaction and emotion expression.
Making Memory
Selfmade Gift Share Experience
A selfmade gift is more than an outcome but the process of creating it is also embeded in it. It is an experience of creating the selfmade gift and when family members are apart, it's good to share experience with each other.
Creating unique
A unique gift made by young adults themselves for parents is specially precious and when it takes time to do it, it expresses the emotion of real care and love.
IDEATION From the learnings above, I had two main concept directions which are focusing on creating gift with own skill to share experience and craft skill learning process. The concepts were created as a simple but entire service process from the start.
Concept 1
Own Skill
Knowledge of Experience
Dad, I participated a competition l ast week. Y ou w on’t know how m uch people like my robot! Great! But I still think you s hould find a company r ather t han start up a new one...
Give a G ift Created by Yourself ! Use your Talent ! Share your Talented Gift !
The young adults are encouraged to utilize their own professional skill to create a gift for parents. The service allows the youth to share the selfmade gift with the others to generate interaction about the gift. It is a way for parents to have a knowledge about the children's life with the tangible gift. It is also the experience that being passed on through the gift.
Concept 2
Skill Delivery
Interaction
Relationships
The young adults are able to use the service to get connection with a skilled local empty nester to learn the craft skill and spend the time with her/him. The process of creating the gift gives the companion and interaction with other empty nester, and the outcome of the gift is delivered to also an empty nester(own parent).
TESTING
It's better to identify the specific selfmade gift to give limits to the service.
Specific Selfmade Gift In the process of making the selfmade gift, the interaction is important to be considered.
Interaction
A selfmade gift recalling the past memory with family when they live apart will be a better direction.
Related Memory
I did some basic paper prototypes to test the designed service experience of each concept to ask feedback from target users. The prototype includes interfaces and visualized step of action to make the target users more engaging with the scenarios. It was much more effective to explain the service with the paper prototype and they understanded it quickly. From this method, I learned that even the verbal explanation are the same, the visualized service process help target user easily get a knowledge of a new service. And the test results revealled that the concept of craft skill learning is better to be further developed as the reasons above.
03
DEVELOP
FIELD WORK
Manager hobbycraft
Glasgow Fort Shopping Park, 160 Provan Walk, Glasgow
Hobbycraft is an arts and crafts superstore retail chain in the United Kingdom. It provides various materials of craft ranging from papercraft, wood craft, sewing, jewellery, etc. It has a online blog sharing craft-making ideas, holding craft competition, letting users to meet some professional makers , etc. The aim is to encourage people doing craft and create unique and meaning items. I went to the store in Glasgow and had a talk with the manager. He told me that apart from barely selling the materials they used to organizing workshop to let senior citizens to teach children doing craft. But because of funding, the activity was stopped.
" We help people make crafts easier, so they are able to generate wonderful creativity. "
Sian Patterson Fireworks studio
35a Dalhousie street,, Glasgow
" Sometimes craft-making is also about sharing and interacting. "
" Most of people don't have the skill so they come to us to learn it and create a unique gift for important relationship. "
Fireworks studio is a privately ran working studio specializing in ceramics. I talked to the co-founder Sian there and she told me that the studio is popular and lots of people come to learn how to do the pottery, and some people come here specially for creating a special gift for friends or family. They also used to have workshops collaborated with school to teach students.
Further leanings Craft is a type of selfmade gift which requires skill to make. People who don't have the skill have to find resources to learn. It takes much time for people who don't have the skill to create the craft. However, it is the time spending on the craft indicates the important relationship with the other. Therefore, it reveals the value of the craft gift. Moreover, when skilled people teach the beginners, it is not only the skill delivery but also interaction between two sides.
Time Spending
Selfmade Gift Important Relationship
Interaction
Craft
Skill Delivery
Value
EXPERIENCE I went to a knitting meetup in Glasgow to do observation, talk to the members there, and also experience the process of learning and interaction with those members. They were very happy when knitting together and I was very welcomed to join them. Each of them were working on a project and will exchange the knitting skills. I learned from them that 1) some of them started to learn knitting after retirement because they would like to find a hobby to do in their time. 2) it is important to meet new people throughout time especially when children were grown up to keep dynamic. 3) sharing the selfmade work with others can give people a high level of sense of achievement. 4) they love to share photos of the process and the outcome to leave a memory which they really enjoy in.
Sense of Achievement
Companion
" It is wonderful to be able to sit and knit or crochet in good company. "
" I like the idea of combining knitting with food and chat. "
" I am so proud that you picked it up quickly after I teaching you. "
PROTOTYPE Then I prototyped the experience with an empty nester and two girls about the initial concept to find points to add.
Consider Awareness
The point of their day of life which might give them chance to notice the service. " I buy yarns whenever I meet them in store! "
Preparation
The youth don't have a clear knowledge of the craft materials. Before the meeting, a help hand is also needed. " I don't know what kind of needles should I use... "
After meeting
The users obtain tangible and intangible things after interaction. They want to find a way to deal with them. " The experience would be great to share. "
REFLECTION About Prototype In this phase, I had two types of prototyping methods to get feedback. The common thing is that I used tangible tool to explain the concept, and the differences are the format of the tool and the details of concept. The first prototyping was conduct when I had the concept about selfmade gift. And the tool was paper interface and outline. It saves time and can be easily move around when prototyping with people, which can better inspire their idea. So it is good to use when we have a concept which is not very detailed. The second prototype was conduct when I already had a specific direction and I drew some interface on computer to show them. Moreover, the experience was also prototyped. They were able to give me some feedback about the feeling of experiencing it. I learned that it helps a lot when providing a real designed experience for asking feedback. Of course it is difficult to conduct it with a complete experience of the whole service. It still makes sense if we could carry out even one part of the journey.
04
DELIVER
Craft
Love
Connect
Craft love is a service aimed to help young adults who don't have the craft skills but want to make a craft gift for family living apart and local empty nesters who have the craft skill to find each other and have interaction with each other. It makes it easier for young adults to learn the basic skills and realize the wish to create a unique gift to express love to parents and with a tangible item making the sense of connection closer. Apart from learning the skill, young adults give companion to local empty nesters who can also obtain the sense of achievement during the interaction process. In this way, two connections are there and both empty nesters have different acquisition.
The Relationship The relationship between a young adult and a empty nester "teacher" is established because of CraftLove. It provides an option for the empty nesters to use their hobby or skill to enrich life.
Time Achievement
Skill
Companion
Sharing
Interaction
Connection
Experience
Memory Time
Tangible Love
A young adult takes time to make a craft gift which is tangible love for empty nest parent living apart. The parents are able to feel the experience of young adult doing it. And it becomes a memory for the days they are not staying together.
Network
Young adults and local empty nesters use CraftLove website to find each other, and CraftLove has collaboration with craft store and material store like paperchase, poundland, etc. Young adults are able to get materials for craft and gift package directly using CraftLove website.
Stakeholders Map
Social Media Media
Material Store Craft Studio
Parcel Delivery
Event Holders
Empty Nesters & Youth Empty nesters and youth use CraftLove as a mean which is about craft to have the interaction. Then they might also have interaction with stores selling craft material, craft studio and parcel delivery if they want to use CraftLove to help to send gifts. Social media and traditional media will be supports to public promotion and users' motivation of sharing. Some event holders who would like to have an event about craft/family can also be involved in.
Personas Christina " I want to find things to do with my time. " 57 Housewife Knitting
Christina has two daughters and they meet twice a year. She wants to find things to do in her time which is much more than before.
" My mom's knitting scarf for me was a great memory. " Anna has been away from home for 4 years. She wants to make up for the time not accompanying with her mom.
Gordon 65 Craftsman Pottery
Anna
24 Student Physics
" I would like to teach young people my craft skill. " Gordon used to be a craftsman making potter y and after retirement he still misses the process of crafting.
" My mom loves collecting different ceramic cups. " Bruce doesn't contact parents on a daily basis. He wants to give surprise to his mom for her birthday this year.
Bruce 23 Student Computing
User Journey
Different users come with different motivation and stories of memory can get benefits in different service features. The important thing is that they interact with each other and both of them receive tangible outcome and intangible inner feelings.
Aware
Christina
online
Join
Find
" I saved the website by scanning it directly on the poster "
" It's great that I can help youth make pottery for their gifts "
pottery store QR code
Anna
jewerllery making find a "teacher"
word of mouth wood craft
website
Gordon
newspaper
tv promotion
Bruce
" It's so nice to spend time with youth teaching about my hobby "
knitting
Prepare
Exit
Interact " I'm so proud of teaching Anna to knit and I would like to share the photos "
" I can collect directly at store for the box Christina chose for me "
share photos
write memory
craft store
home
craft studio
craft studio
" The pottery studio I worked at before collaborates with CraftLove, so I can tell Bruce about my past wonderful life "
public space
package craft work
" It is convenient to use CraftLove to get a complete package to send my handmade cup "
Find CraftLove
Christina goes to Mandors to buy some yarns. She sees the CraftLove poster and is motivated by "Craft". She scans the QR code on the poster and saves the website link.
Different users come with different motivation and stories of memory and can get benefits I love knitting ! It seems that I can be involved in it. Let me save it.
Register
She goes back home and finds CraftLove is for people who have craft skill to teach those who want to learn. As her daughters had left home and she always wants to find things to do in her leisure time. She registers as a member and chooses "Knitting" as a craft to teach.
Maybe it's good to join it and I can use my skill to teach others and meet new people
Find CraftLove
The birthday of Anna's mom is approaching. She sees the poster and it reminds her of her mom's knitting scarf for her in her childhood. And she comes up with the idea of knitting a scarf for mom.
It must be great to learn how to knit and give my mom a scarf created by me!
Register
She goes to the website and registers as a member.
Let me join it to see if I can find a mother to teach me the basic knitting skill.
Find a Craft Teacher
After registered, Anna starts to find a craft teacher and she chooses Chritina and then waits for her reply.
1) Choose the category.
2) All the registered members who provide this skill can be viewed.
3) View the photos of the past meetings of teacher.
4) Send a request to have a meeting.
Approve & Send a Box
Christina gets the notification that Anna would like to learn knitting with her so she can give her mom a selfmade gift. She happily approves it and selects some materials for Anna to use.
1) Goes to Send a box in the Upcoming meetings.
Choose the materials needed in the collaborated stores.
Purchase Material Box
Anna receives the box and chooses to collect them at Poundland. But she changes the colour of the yarn.
Collect at Store
Before meeting, Anna goes to Poundland to get the bag of material so she doesn't have to spend a long time to shop.
So convenient! I guess I will buy unsuitable needles if I buy them myself. Can't wait to meet her!
Meet & Interact
They decide to meet at a Cafe near Christina's home and they really spend a happy afternoon together.
- Now let me show you....have a try! - Wow it's amazing...oh I got a wrong stitch.. - Don't worry, don't panic, I will help you .......
Share Photos
Christina goes back home after meeting and uploads the photos she took with Anna to share on her album recording the memory.
I am so proud to teach a girl to knit! Let me post the photos. It is really a great memory.
Choose a Package
After 2 weeks, Anna finished a small scarf and she goes to the website to select a package box and a card at Paperchase. Also she chooses the parcel delivery to get the package at the store.
Finally, I am going to give a big surprise to my dear mom.
Get a Gift Package
She brings the scarf to Paperchase and gets the box and card. She writes the wish on the card and put in the box together with scarf. The box will be left in Paperchase and wait for parcel delivery staff.
I am taking my scarf here. Now the surprise is about to depart !
User Action
Empty nester
Youth
Aware
Join
see a poster
register
see a poster
register
Find
send material box
send request
Touchpoint Line of Interaction
ads
On Stage Interaction
website
online product management
registration proecess
Line of Visibility
Back Stage Interaction
put ads
contact media
database management
manage products information
website maintanance
connect to store website
Line of Internal Interaction distribute ads
Support Process
promotion plan
collaborate with different stores
Prepare
Exit
Interact
upload photos
buy the box online
order system
collect at store
get packaged
store staff
store staff
give the box
package the gift
keep the package package items into box wait for deliver
order management
website
05
ENDING
FEEDBACK
Susan, Chen and Ting who helped me prototype the final outcome said that they like the idea of creating craft gift for family and connecting with different age group. They are willing to join if this is put into practice. Susan also suggested a point that it would be better if she could choose the level of skill when in registration as she thought that different people have different level of proficiency and the young people's requirements are different.
" This is very nice as it's not only about teaching, but about companying, connecting and caring. "
" It really takes a long time to make craft, but it's all about love I guess. "
" Definitely, I would love to join . "
REFLECTION The last project but the first individual project was
stories. Sometimes the atmosphere of conversation
about to come to the end. Through the three-month
can be a bit sad, so I have to control the content of
project, I really learned a lot.
the conversation, which will help me understand their perspectives on the family/living apart/transition, but
About boundary – actually it was not very correct to
at the same time to make sure they were in a mood to
have such a big topic in the beginning. My initial aim
talk about it. In later phases, I actively engaged with
is to look at the opportunities lie in the life of empty
people with my designs, which I didn’t have many
nesters. But it was wide and has lots of directions to
chances to do in the previous projects. It helped a lot
go. This is why my project looks like that has several
when I gave tangible things to show them. It’s much
big jumps in the process. Actually I like my design
better than only talking about the idea.
outcome but if I had the direction of gift-giving from the beginning, I may have much deeper learning,
About analysis and discussion – compared to what
because gift-giving actually has long been a subject
you did for research, what is much more crucial is that
for studies on human behavior.
what would do with that. When communicating with people, the conversation can be endless if we keep
About the method and process – after desk research, I
talking about what you looked at, what you learned,
talked to lots of people throughout the process. From
etc. In a design process, it is very important to discuss
the initial research questions, and whenever it comes
what to do with all the findings – what’s next. But
to a focus direction, I went to talk to people to ask
again, we have to provide reasonable support for “why
their opinions. Though in the middle phases, I didn’t
it is”. It will be much more efficient when prepared
have many details in the several directions, I can still
with a decision rather than a finding in a discussion.
get support by talking to them, which contributes
In a nutshell, this is a really precious experience of
to my decision-making step by step. As the topic is
utilizing different research methods to engage with
sensitive which will relates to family issues, I had
real people. But I think the result of each method can
some engagement tool to start conversations. I think
be different due to the research topic. In the future, I
that even my real role is a designer or a researcher,
still have to learn that what method is suitable to use
I should perform like a real friend and listen to their
about a specific topic.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The project can't be finished without all the people who helped me in the process. I obtained various supports from research and design process. Thanks for people in the research taking time to talk to me about the project and actively giving feedback. And I acquired rich information and learning from my tutor and tutorial group.
Special Thanks Stuart Bailey Emma Murphy Irene Bell Elio Caccavale Iain Reid Brian Dixon Janet Kelly Kirsty Ross Gordon Hush Ian Grout
Susan Lengchen Wang Ting Ruan Audrey Robb
All the people I have talked to
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