Week 6

I started out the week by applying my current design direction to a web style stakeholder map. The mapping focuses on rehab patients, their relationships with caretakers, and their experiences in the waiting area.

In creating the stakeholder map, some questions arose regarding the design typology of a clinic versus a dental office. This sparked more questions about the element of play and how it might contribute to a more relaxed atmosphere.

To supplement this, I also began creating a circular style stakeholder map which better portrays relationships between the various stakeholders. I started out by focusing on my neighbour’s daughter as the central stakeholder but the map quickly became more generalized as I moved further away from the center. I am still unsure about how personal or general I want this map to be so I put it on hold for the time being.

I then attempted to break down my opportunity statement to better define the goals of this potential product and the problem space as a whole. Some of the opportunities that revealed themselves during this exercise are noted on the right. As of now, I am still trying to decide how broad my opportunity space should be.

Based on these opportunities, I began developing my ideal state of VOAs. I noticed that some of the details listed on the right are still difficult to pinpoint at this stage. But it was helpful to begin setting goals using the bars on the left.

In talking to my peers, Elena and I realized that we had a lot of overlap in our problem spaces. We decided to collaborate and met to discuss our research findings up until this point. After extracting the key points of each, we cam up with the following opportunity statement: “using community as a tool to reduce anxiety for rehab patients”.

Elena and I had both been focusing on the waiting areas as the setting, but in sharing our research we realized that anxiety seems to build over the course of the patient journey and culminates in the exam room. This is an area we are considering shifting our focus to.

We are also considering looking more deeply into solutions at paediatric institutions, and my neighbour’s daughter as a potential persona in an effort to bring the aspect of play into building community and reducing anxiety.