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MemoTree is an application designed to assist caregivers and individuals dealing with dementia. Caregivers can use MemoTree to input personal details and record daily activities of the elderly, helping them in remembering and preserving memories. Acting as a digital journal, MemoTree securely stores important personal and family information, ensuring easy access for the elderly whenever needed

This project offers a solution to address issues of individuals coping with dementia.

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In completing this assignment to devise a wholly original digital solution, I conducted research guided by the following goals:

Research Goals

1. Understand what is dementia
   
2. Identify the problem.
   
3. Identify the target user group.
   

Dementia refers to a condition with an impaired ability to remember, reason, or make decisions, significantly hampering one's ability to carry out routine tasks. As a result, individuals with dementia may struggle with tasks like personal hygiene, managing finances, or even recognizing familiar faces. This condition can have profound effects on both the affected individual and their loved ones, necessitating supportive care and management strategies to maintain quality of life.

As dementia becomes more common in families, it can bring a lot of challenges like frustration and confusion. Caregivers might find it hard to keep track of everything, from managing care to helping with memory loss and staying connected with their loved ones. That's where MemoTree comes in. It's like a helpful tool that gives caregivers a central place to manage all the important details and daily activities of those with dementia. Acting as a digital journal, MemoTree helps keep memories safe and makes it easy for caregivers and those with dementia to find important information. This makes things more organized, improves communication, and ultimately makes life better for everyone involved.

After conducting research, I identified my target user group and created personas to better comprehend potential users of Memotree.

Elderly with Dementia

Caretakers

Wants:

• A user-friendly application that consolidates all necessary information and functions in one place such as memory support, communication, and daily routine management.
  

Pains:

• Struggling with using multiple applications to manage different aspects of daily life and memory support.
  

Wants:

• An application to help them stay organized and keep track of important information related to the elderly person's care, including medical records, appointments, and daily routines.
  

Pains:

• Challenging to help the elderly person with dementia remember important events, appointments, and personal details without a dedicated app in place to aid in memory support.
  

What are they feeling?

• Feeling frustrated due to memory lapses.
  
• Annoyed because he keeps forgetting important information.

After analyzing the needs and challenges of our target users, I delved into the market to explore existing applications. This helped me gather valuable insights on specific features that I intend to integrate into my own application.

There are four features that i would like to incooperate into my design, these are

About Me

Under the "About Me" tab, individuals with dementia will have access to their caregiver's contact information and their own home address. Additionally, they can jot down personal notes for their own reference within the same tab.

Family Tree

Within the "Family Tree" tab, individuals with dementia can access information about their family members, including their relationships and a few key details.

Reminders

In this tab, individuals with dementia or caregivers can help schedule reminders for tasks throughout the day.

Photos

In the "Photos" tab, caregivers can help upload photos with captions for individuals with dementia to view. Users can also see a gallery of photos featuring only a specific individual, with locations of where the photo was taken shown on a map.

I proceed to outline user tasks and user journeys to understand how users will interact with features within the application, such as accessing the family tree.

After understanding how users interact, I began sketching and creating Mid-fidelity using Figma. Due to time limits, I focused on designing the app from the perspective of individuals with dementia.

After finishing the prototype, I conducted usability testing with three participants to observe how users interacted with my design and identify areas for improvement.

Method: In-Person

Participants: 3

Age: 60-70 years old

Test Objectives:

• Evaluate if users can easily complete tasks.
  
• Observe the various paths users take to accomplish tasks.
  
• Identify areas for improvement to enhance the design's usability.
  

Tasks:

1. Access and understand family tree page
   
2. View photos
3. Set reminders
   

Through usability testing, I collected feedback from participants through observations and post-test feedback. This helped us identify what worked well, what didn't, and improvements to incorporate into our next prototype.

What Worked:

• Family tree is easy to understand.
  
• Users can easily view photos and read captions.
  
• Able to set reminders without difficulty.
  

What Didnt:

• Not having a naviagtion bar in the application.
  
• Adding a branch in the family tree chart is confusing
• Having the “Home” page is redundent and can be removed since there is a navigation bar at the bottom.

Changes to be made/Recommendations:

• Improve adding a branch in family tree chart
• Adding a navigation bar
• Caretakers might find it challenging to create a video specific to the individual with dementia, which could result in this feature being underutilized or not used at all.
  

Based on the feedbacks from the usability testing, I began implementing the changes in my high-fidelity prototype.