ElderShare, the family app

THE PROBLEM


Many senior citizens live far away from their family. For most of us, keeping in touch with somebody is not that big a problem, thanks to the numerous SNS apps available to us. However, there is no Social Medium made expressly for our grandparents. These elders rarely use existing apps or programs because they are too complicated and the letters and buttons are too small for them—they don’t like texting. In addition, for the younger generation, keeping in touch with their grandparents is not that easy, either. It is challenging to call their granny regularly. The youth generation is used to high technology and seeks more comfortable ways to communicate.

This idea came to me because of my grandmother. She lives in Seoul, Korea. And Seoul is 16 hours ahead of San Francisco. Because she hates texting, I am only able to call her, but it is not easy to negotiate the time difference. I thought it would be great to design an app for my grandmother so that we can communicate more easily.

THE SOLUTION


Create a mobile app that has calendar, message and photo album pages so that users are not only able to have a conversation with their family but also share their life. It will have a simple layout and big buttons and letters, making it easy for elders to use.



ADDITIONAL FEATURES



- The design will be simple and the buttons will be larger than other apps. But it will also have a beautiful UI design so that youth won’t disdain it, and will connect with their family.

- Showing the local time for family members who live in different time zones.

RESEARCH

SURVEY

The target audience for this commercial is youth.
They will find out about this app and promote it to the elders in their family. They might feel guilty about not communicating with their family or elders and this would give them an opportunity to share their LOVE.

“ElderShare?”


Have you thought about what term should we use in talking about people age 65 and older?
Elder? Elderly? Senior? Retiree? Older adult? Something else?

The term elder has connotations of venerable age and wisdom.

Through the name, “ElderShare”, I want to express that the elder was highly considered when I designed this app. It also means this app will be a place for sharing their wisdom with their family.

I considered how my grandmother could use this without any inconvenience.

According to my research, elders usually don’t like texting because the text is generally too small to read.
Although I enlarged the type size, I still thought it might hard for them to use screen keyboards. So I added other functions: I believe they prefer to listen to their family members’ voices and see their faces rather than just read their texts.
I put buttons at the bottom of the chat page so that the users don’t need to push other buttons to reveal hidden functions.


A photo album only for your family.

You don’t need to feel guilty about not accepting your parents’ (or grandparents’) friend request. You can share only the parts of your life that you want to share with your family.


Remember important dates and anniversaries of your family.

Easy to make family events and notify all your family members.