Designing for wellbeing
Designing for wellbeing
Designing for wellbeing
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AVAdate highlights the need <strong>for</strong> services that prevent loneliness. The<br />
group’s studies encouraged the use of a web plat<strong>for</strong>m against the belief that<br />
over-65s don’t use computers. When the students talked with the elderly<br />
they found out that most had basic computer and internet skills; some<br />
had even used dating websites be<strong>for</strong>e. The AVAdate concept suggests that<br />
solutions <strong>for</strong> ageing people do not have to be serious. It presents service<br />
users as avatars with characteristics that the user has chosen to represent<br />
themselves. For instance, if the user is an introvert rather than an extrovert,<br />
energetic rather than calm, etc., the computer program creates a unique<br />
avatar <strong>for</strong> every user (page 64). The avatar then represents the user in the<br />
virtual dating service. Another way the users can represent themselves<br />
in the service is through their “home”, with personalised objects such as<br />
a photo book, music player, TV, bookshelf and furniture.<br />
Like AVAdate, the Honestly! campaign stresses that there is something<br />
extraordinary in every ordinary person – there is a whole life of experiences.<br />
All seniors were once teenagers, with first crushes and sexual experiences.<br />
They were in love, and some of them still are. What is the secret<br />
behind a long-lasting marriage? The campaign message is that you do not<br />
need a researcher or a book to tell you the answers, since there are people<br />
all around who have lived through it. By going to the Honestly! website<br />
everyone can ask questions, listen to stories and even contact the person<br />
behind the story.<br />
Concept design <strong>for</strong> discussion<br />
The project aimed to be user centric but only a limited amount of users<br />
were reached and many of the experts and frontline workers were not fully<br />
involved in the process. The new service concepts were based on diverse<br />
sources of in<strong>for</strong>mation and interpreted with an artistic twist. They aimed<br />
to provoke discussion about public services and their role and focus within<br />
the city in order to guide decision making in the near future. Unconventional<br />
ideas, such as the dating service AVAdate, provoke fresh points of<br />
66 · Co-design with the public sector
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