Ask Wally is responsive website for mobile and desktop focused on strengthening intergenerational bonds centered around sharing knowledge, wisdom and lived experiences.
This project was a result of collaboration with Wallingford Senior Center and hence the name 'Ask Wally'.
I was involved in the end to end process right from conception to delivery -focusing mainly on product prototypes, architecture, interactions, usability testing and research.
Ideation
Physical and digital high and low-fidelity prototypes.
System maps
Micro interactions,
Design Systems
Creative Marketing
Secondary Research.
Contextual inquiry
Many older adults struggle with feelings of isolation, loneliness, and being forgotten or invisible within society. Social connections and maintaining a sense of dignity are crucial aspects of aging well, yet these needs are often unmet. Older adults face various challenges in fostering meaningful social interactions and feeling valued members of their communities.
"People are undermined and denied their aspirations for full social participation and inclusion as they become older."
Source: Menezes, Deborah ”’You Really Do Become Invisible’: Examining Older Adults’ Right to the City in the United Kingdom.”
"Older adults often focus on a desired possible self where they can continue to be useful and help others, and fear a possible self where they are forced to live in a nursing home."
Source: Richeson JA, Shelton JN. A Social Psychological Perspective on the Stigmatization of Older Adults.
"The health risks associated with prolonged social isolation are equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day."
Source: Kroll, Michele M. “Prolonged Social Isolation and Loneliness Are Equivalent to Smoking 15 Cigarettes A Day.” University of New Hampshire, 2 May 2022.
“How might we build an intergenerational community founded on recognition and trust for older humans to share knowledge, fostering connections and enabling prolonged social engagement?”
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I created the creative marketing campaign assets for Ask Wally making a simple, yet intriguing design.
The creative marketing campaign acts as a catalyst for evoking interest in Ask Wally. The campaign also exists as a vessel for collecting questions from the community and to raise awareness of the project.
The following terms will be used throughout the case study :
Freedom
Refers to the external circumstances that affect your ability to exercise your agency
Refers to the feeling of control over your own actions and consequences
Refers to preexisting stereotypes, biases, and discrimination on the basis of age across multiple generations
For the purpose of this project, we worked with the Wallingford Senior Center and to honor this collaboration we decided to call our project Ask Wally.
How can we reduce intergenerational ageism?
What does agency and freedom mean for older humans?
How do older humans feel about devices and tools made for them?
..from the SME consultation
Older humans can struggle with engaging in social interaction and feeling connected to the world.
Older humans may feel restricted from engaging with the world due to others’ safety concerns.
Many of the devices and tools that are currently offered and marketed to older humans can bring them a sense of shame and embarrassment.
..from the Contextual Inquiry involving Older Humans and Social Workers at the senior community center
“Social interaction is just as important as the food, if not more important.”
- Participant #1, when describing the positive benefits of attending community lunches
"My wife and I have felt that when we go some place, we’re invisible...I feel like sometimes I don’t exist."
- Participant #3, when describing their experience with youth at a grocery store
“They are seen as children, they are seen as not being able to make decisions.”
- Participant #4 (social worker), when describing older humans
We used the affinity mapping process to identify themes and eventually gather insights from our Contextual Inquiry.
Older humans feel Invisible and Forgotten.
Social connection is crucial for the well-being and quality of life of older adults.
Maintaining dignity is a primary concern for older adults as they age.
Before setting out on solution ideation, we listed down the desired outcomes which would serve as a guiding principles throughtout the design process.
Older humans have expanded opportunity for meaningful social connection within their communities and with younger generations.
Break down preconceived, ageist notions between generations and foster a sense of mutual respect and understanding.
Older humans feel valued and seen through sharing their wealth of knowledge and experiences.
Before setting out on solution ideation, I listed down the desired outcomes which would serve as a guiding principles throughout the design process.
Our intervention will be focused on creating connections both within the community and between generations.
Our intervention will focus on breaking down preconceived notions based on age and foster a sense of mutual respect.
Older humans are undervalues in society. We want to empower older humans to be seen and heard in their community.
We do not wish to force participation or impose on existing spaces where people feel safe.
The ideation phase began with an extensive brainstorming session, during which each team member generated 30 ideas, culminating in a total of 120 brilliant ideas!
Using the Design Principles as our down-selection criteria, we narrowed down to two ideas we felt most suitably satisfied our desired outcomes.
“Ask Wally” is a digital advice column where Seattle residents can submit questions for advice and members of the Wallingford Community Senior Center can answer them. The readers and responders will be kept anonymous, and questions will be answered by community members.
Meaningful Social Connection ✅
Break Down Ageism ✅
Value Older Humans ✅
Ensuring Agency ✅
The interactive art installation is a way for the community to come together to learn about and understand each other. It is a way for people to leave their mark in making something beautiful, whether they are just passing by or visiting the site everyday.
Meaningful Social Connection ✅
Break Down Ageism ☑️
Value Older Humans ✅
Ensuring Agency ✅
To better visualize and refine the two ideas generated during the brainstorming session, we created storyboards for each concept to guide our prototype development process.
We decided to integrate the two ideas by making the Interactive art installation a marketing asset for the Ask Wally website. We wanted the installation to prompt users to continue on to our website.
We tested 3 key moments with younger generations and members of the senior community center. The findings were used to inform our final designs.
I created basic interactive art installation prototypes to test its ability to initially engage people and drive them to visit our website.
a. String interaction prototype
Testers were asked to interact with a string connecting topics they wanted to seek advice about.
b. Question submission prototype
Testers could then write a question and submit it in a drop box.
c. Dot interaction prototype
Testers could add a dot representing their feelings towards the Seattle rain.
◼︎ Users needed additional support to understand how to interact with the string art installation.
◼︎ Seeing other community answers is a motivation for participation and further exploration.
◼︎ The interest level of engaging with the art installations and following up with going to the website varies among participants.
The low fidelity prototype tests the architectural design, functionality and concept of the Ask Wally website.
◼︎ Knowing what it is about and who is behind it is important to participants.
◼︎ There is a mismatch between terminology and representation used between generations
◼︎ The relationship between the digital platform and the physical art installations was unclear
The testers are provided with four different question options to pick from, and asked to choose one to provide advice on. Each of them have different lengths, depths, themes and amounts of context. After picking a question, the testers are asked to pick a method of answering. Through the process we asked testers to explain their reasonings for each decision they made.
◼︎ Ensuring that members have agency over which questions they’re comfortable answering is important.
◼︎ The preferred method for authoring responses is varied.
I created detailed system maps that illustrate the various steps a user would go through for key actions.
I created the color palette of Ask Wally which follows a warm and comforting theme with Grass Green and Cream as our primary brand colours. Accent colours add character, quirk and drama to the website evoking playfulnes and joy.
The words are stacked on top of each other and contained in a speech bubble in our signature Grass Green color. The overall intent of the logo is to indicate the conversational nature of our project.
The second Ask Wally logo is comprised of the font BrownStd in Bold, with font size 34. This logo maintains the stacked style of our first logo, and is used across our desktop websites in the main navigation header.
The third Ask Wally logo is comprised of the font BrownStd in Bold, with font size 25. This logo is used across our mobile website in the main navigation header.
The font 'Brown Std' used in Ask Wally is a sans-serif typeface boasting clarity and weight, enhancing accessibility for various user groups visiting our website.
The characters of Ask Wally are designed with the intention of aligning with our voice attributes of approachability, friendliness, and thoughtfulness.
As the project is focused on intergenerational community, there is diversity in age and gender in the characters.
I created all the animations for the characters.
An additional round of usability testing after finalising the designs would have been beneficial.
The Wallingford Senior Center served as a constant touchpoint for validating our design process. If I had enough resources I would have liked testing the live product within the senior center.
Personally, I believe effective design interventions can be non-digital. Given more time, I would have explored non-digital design solutions tailored specifically for the older adult populations.
