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COMPASSion is a communication device that takes the metaphor of the compass, a familiar archetype that elders can comfortably incorporate in their daily routine.
Patty Goldstein, a 65 Years-old artist living in Oakland, CA would like to spend more time out of the house. However, she suffers at times from momentary disorientation and gets lost. Because of this, her family does not feel comfortable with her living alone and are contemplating moving her to a senior’s residential facility. She does not want to give up the independence she’s used to.
Patty uses COMPASSion to achieve. It is a 2-way communication device for seniors who suffer from short term memory loss. When outdoors and disoriented, Patty looks at the device’s compass feature for a quick spatial reference of where her house is located. The compass on the screen uses the icon of ‘home’. When she is in need of further assistance, she scrolls the wheel inside to scan through her various contacts and presses the central button to make a call to one of her contacts.
Through my research I came to realize that elders are quite picky about new items in their lives. It was imperative that the product should hold a familiarity so that it can be easily introduced in their routine. I explored various archetypes that they were familiar with during the form development phase to achieve this.