Ensō Village is a senior living community; a zen-inspired life plan in Healdsburg, CA.
It focuses on mindful aging, the joys of nature, environmental stewardship, and healthy life choices for adults 60+.
From our desk research, we found that
Themed environmental cues, like artworks, can enhance spatial memory by 40%
Distinctive landmarks within living spaces can improve the ability to navigate by 50% for people with cognitive impairments
Engaging with familiar and aesthetically pleasing visuals can lower stress and anxiety levels in seniors by up to 60%
Timeline
Ensō's infrastructure:
Ensō has 1 large main building with several adjacent residential and functional buildings, 221 independent living residences, 30 assisted living residences, and 24 memory care residences.
Next steps:
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Synthesize & validate findings from diary study
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Weekly prototype testing with residents
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Send final design deliverables to Enso Village
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Lay down next steps for upcoming Enso Design team
Themes and insights from interviews and diary studies:
Focused problem statement:
How might we
create community and immersive storytelling through art in a senior living center, focusing on mindful aging, while also prioritizing way-finding and accessibility?
A summary of our solution ecosystem:
A resident enters a hallway in Ensō. They see paintings up on the wall with brochures containing information about the art and artist/curator.
ENTICE
They notice a friendship toolkit on other residents' doors and puts up notes or messages for them.
They get to know the personal likes/dislikes of this person from the toolkit.
ENTER
They interact with the digital displays in the "moments" spaces in the nooks of the corridors and engage in conversations with other people.
ENGAGE
They taake a feeling of autonomy, improved health, community, evoking a feeling of home.
If they feel lost, they can look up the themed corridor they reside in on their app and follow using AR wayfinding.
EXIT & EXTEND
Challenges/Constraints that we worked with:
Less availability of proper archival of stored artworks
Personalization for people with varied interests or preferences
Dexterity issues among seniors
We started out by doing some desk research of how art affects seniors' cognitive functioning
Problem:
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The building has long corridors with empty walls and carpeting that can be confusing for residents with dementia or other similar conditions.
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Residents have moved in from their homes to a strange place at the final phase of their life; but it doesn't feel like home.
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They want to explore their creativity and find purpose within the walls of Enso Village.
The building has long corridors with empty walls and carpeting that can be confusing for residents with dementia or other similar conditions.
Residents have moved in from their homes to a strange place at the final phase of their life; but it doesn't feel like home.
Diving deeper into the problem:
They want to explore their creativity and find purpose within the walls of Enso Village.
"...hope to offer intuitive painting workshops or groups"
Barbara
“Hoping to create shared experiences involving different generations/age groups…”
Julian
“I also want to work in the Inspirement Studios and be helped or helpful. I have true knowledge about…”
Kurt
“I want to create more opportunities for residents to share information with one another.”
Lily
Most of the residents expressed a very keen interest in helping out their community
Solution ecosystem: Our interventions
Assist residents with wayfinding; helping them navigate a large campus of interconnected buildings
Create opportunity for independent and group engagement and reflection
Design a plan and system for inviting contributions, curating the walls & spaces, adding art to and evolving campus-wide gallery.
Currently in progress:
What we hope to learn from this diary study:
Understand resident's daily life at Enso Village
How art & navigation can impact their creativity
Impact of group/community discussions on their creativity
Anything they would want Enso to change/incorporate to make it more homely
We are currently handing off our final designs for implementation.
Please stay tuned for a detailed description of our detailed solutions encompassing five touchpoints.
B-HAG (Big hairy audacious goals): Ideating without limiting ourselves to constraints
New friendships being formed at Ensō Village
Specific contributions made by residents to the Ensō Village community
Types of art or cultural experiences that residents would like to enjoy
Existing hobbies and activities that the residents enjoy at Ensō Village
Art for wayfinding and community toolkit
ENTICE
Notice friendship toolkit; want to be friends; make note apt. no.
Artwork on walls/brochures
ENTER
“Moments” spaces that allows engagement with digital standees; creates conversation point & community
ENGAGE
Take a feeling of autonomy, improved health, community, evoking a feeling of home.
Brochure for info on art/artist
EXIT & EXTEND
Ensō Village: improving way-finding and encouraging connections in a senior living community
Context:
Ensō Village is a senior living community located in Healdsburg, CA. Residents in this community have been artists or curators for decades and they have a lot of artworks in storage.
Because of the blank empty hallways in the building, residents with cognitive dysfunction find it difficult to navigate their way around Ensō.
And so we were tasked with designing a unique experience that uses these artworks as a wayfinding and storytelling tool for the residents
Role:
Experience Designer, Visual Designer
Skills:
Experience Design, Ethnographic Research, UI Design, Design Straetgy
Timeline:
January to August 2024
Team:
Collaborators: Vidhi, Muskan
Mentors: Kristian Simsarian, Marc O'Brien
Point of contact: Erin Partridge
Industry:
Healthcare, Senior Living
Diary Studies
To conduct the diary study, we recruited partcipants in Ensō by circulating a QR code.
The QR code led the participants to prompts and instructions for their daily diary entry.
We had a total of 15 participants, making diary entries for a period of 30 days approximately.
Friendship Toolkit
Features bold colors and large text to ensure readability and accessibility
Residents can share hobbies, pet information and other personal notes, fostering interaction and community bonding among neighbors
Future State Experience Map: A resident's journey with our interventions in place
Art Information Leaflets
ADA-compliant brochures on high-quality, easy to read papers
Text sizes are 18pt for body text and 24pt for headings, with a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
© 2024 by Rhea Pathak Nawaz
Digital displays
Showcase resident's artworks and contributions
Foster a sense of community by encouraging engagement and participation