When I applied service design to my brother (P2)
Desk research part 2 - Already solved problems?
Yup, my strange journey continues. Following Part 1 and introduction of why I’m doing this, here comes the next step. Maybe not as interesting, full of frustrations, but did lead me to the most interesting part of this research.
I wanted to see what problems have others identified and solved, maybe I missed something all along. I knew I want something for late teens to adults, for help gaining independence, education about the ‘real world’, empowering, socialising, job options etc combined with learning difficulties if not DS specifically.
And? I haven’t found what I was looking for, otherwise I guess I wouldn’t be writing here or trying to do crazy things on my own. On a quick search on google, majority of apps are targeting young children with very garish colours and graphics to recognise shapes, learn letters, numbers, simple maths etc. My brother uses Facebook, spends all his data on youtube and had whatsapp on his phone earlier than my mum had. I wanted — I needed — something more.
I did find a few interesting apps, even though they didn’t really hit the spot, had some interesting concepts:
- Completing daily routines & helping with schedules — I found quite a few on the subject, either using preexisting images (makes me think back to DS people not finding it easy to recognise emotions on emojis) or the user can take their own — to build schedules and tick actions throughout the day. Which sounds like a good idea, considering previously I found out that they need a schedule and a routine to feel more comfortable. Is a digital app the best way to do this? Hmm…
- Promoting language development and growing communication skills — this one really interests me, but I find it a bit frustrating. Again majority of them are using drawings — does this work? Also, it’s a shame they are all in English — maybe it’s worth testing a few of the concepts translated with my brother to see if it works?
- Learning how to sign— This idea sparked my interest from my previous post as I never thought about it before. But after a chat with my mum, she actually said she knew about it, but preferred not to use it because she was afraid it might promote non-verbal communication even more. I definitely need to read more into this and see pros and cons and experiences from other people. Babysignandlearn | Mychoicepad | Makaton
- Learning to build correct sentences — interesting way to learn proper topic of the sentence, but not sure about the UI. Again, in English, would it work for other languages? I am curious though if it will help to form more complicated sentences in verbal communication.
- Parent reward tracker — I have to admit I find this a bit uncomfortable. I know young kids love getting brownie points or gold stars, but does it work with older DS teens? Or is it a bit patronising?
- Create your own stories — I like this idea, it’s kind of like a diary, but without the pressure of writing about reality, can definitely see it stimulating imagination.
- See.Touch.Learn — another one about promoting language development, but I liked this one as it was with good images and cleaner UI. Reminds me of Duolingo. I’m very curious how difficult can the exercises get as I think the way Duolingo gamified learning a new language was brilliant and could definitely be onto something here.
- Story Builder — Again, stimulating imagination and hopefully speech. I’m really curious to test this one out (again, will have to translate & adapt). Gamification again feels like it’s important here to motivate a user to continue playing.
- Music creation apps — found loads for this, and I think my brother would be interested in them, he loves anything music related. Could this be used for something more? Could the fun in creating music be used in other more educational apps to bring the fun in it? Bloom is just one example.
I’ve also found this article on Nosycrow about the apps 7 year old Ines likes to use. Toca Band sounds & looks quite cool!
Overall, majority of apps are very childish designed and I’m just not sure how a teenager would feel about that. From my past experiences user testing with 11year olds I learned to keep telling myself not to patronise or talk down to young people. But I want to explore each app’s idea, see what is trying to solve & how, adapt it and test it with my brother. That will be another story on medium. Stay tuned!
Another thing I was curious and interested about, was how is DS or any disability portrayed into children’s books. I wanted to find some written from the point of view of the person with a disability and how he accepts himself, change attitude and maybe change others? But I haven’t. I guess there’s no quick 1–2–3 solution out there? Loads to do to answer these. Oh well, that’s why I’m here. I got these:
Whereas the first 3 were very predictable, The Cloud was by far my favourite — it was exactly how I think things like these should be portrayed & solved. A dark cloud can be anything, depression, issues, or just being sad — and how in the end the cloud still persists, but turned slightly into something positive. It shows a bit of a reality of living with these clouds… they don’t just go away. Anyway, went on a bit of a tangent here.
To wrap it up…
Summary:
Quite a frustrating stage. I found that there are people trying to solve various problems, but I’m not sure they are what I’m looking for (yet). I feel there’s so much missing that could be dealt with for the benefit of so many. But I did realise something though. I kinda have an idea what I want to solve, but not at the detailed level of the problem I need to actually solve it. So I need to deep dive into my brothers life to find out specifics.
Now… where’s that work cap?
Next time:
Personas: Useful or a waste of time?
Andreea, just a sister
