ChallengeAt Harrison Hotel, staff want to strengthen the relationships between the residents, create a sense of belonging, and get diverse artists in, to organize diverse workshops and activities. On the other hand, the residents want the staff to ask about them and show them that they really care, and they hope to be able to go out and see the world instead of having people come in.
ConceptTeam Reach designed an interactive pin board that empowers residents by providing them a way of self-expression, and a two-way communication between them and the staff. The board is divided into 4 different sections, where residents can report their moods and feelings for the week and express their desire for any activity they want to do, and staff can celebrate the community of Harrison Hotel by posting pictures from past events and update the residents on upcoming events.
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My RoleInterview Facilitator, Design Strategy, Workshop Facilitator, Photography.
If you’d like to read my personal thoughts on this project, feel free to check my Medium article here. |
In order to better understand the challenge and the bigger system, we researched LifeLong Medical Care, which Harrison Hotel and other residences come under. We also attended a couple managerial meetings at LifeLong and Harrison Hotel. In addition to that we observed the interactions within the hotel, studied the floor plan, and created a clay system map of the interactions within the bigger organization, which helped us visualize the different communication power-dynamics.
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In order to better understand the user's perspective, we started by interviewing several staff members from different managerial positions, because they were the ones who hired us and seemed to know exactly what they want us to do. Later on, we also interviewed residents who have been staying at the hotel for different periods of time (20+ years, 10+ years, and recently moved in), in order to understand both perspectives of the challenge.
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Based on the research findings, we designed a physical pin-board that would replace their old wooden board placed in front of the elevator. The board consists of 4 main sections (2 to be filled by residents, and 2 by staff). It also has a drop off section where residents can express their wishes privately.
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First section is an emoji feeling check-in for the residents to fill weekly. Second section lets them write down activities they want to do. Third section celebrates the community by posting pictures from previous events, which will also encourage more people to join. Fourth section is for event announcements.
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In order to test the first two sections, we hosted a "Lunch and Learn" workshop in the community hall. We invited residents to join us, have lunch, and decorate Christmas cookies together. We also gave them a disposable camera so they can document the moments and post the pictures on the third section of the board, once we mail them back the pictures.
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After user-testing, we realized that residents are much more comfortable expressing themselves with visuals or simple words, so the "wishlist drop-off" section was removed. Residents also found the emoji stickers to be small and confusing, and preferred to tick off an option from an existing list instead of having a huge array of options to pick from.
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