In researching the landscape of product design targeted towards older people, we determined that this space is overwhelmingly centered on health and safety over experiences related to joy or passion.
With this inspiration, we did further secondary research on art and creativity in older age. With what we learned, we then went on to interview 10 older artists, as well as 2 leaders at art funding organizations, to learn about the goals and needs of this demographic.
Hello, I'm Nat.
I'm a multidisciplinary product designer who's fond of visual craft, non-obvious routes, critical optimism, and cats.
Art & Aging
Design Research & Ideation
Team
4 Researchers & Designers
My Roles
Research
Design ideation
Graphic design
Design ideation
Graphic design
Context
University of Washington
School of Design
Sept – Dec 2022
School of Design
Sept – Dec 2022
A three-month generative research exploration on the needs of older visual artists, culminating in a collection of high-level design concepts. The output is a workbook to share our findings, intended to inspire fellow designers interested in working in this space.
Background
Aging can be socially isolating and disempowering for many people; we wanted to research the ways older people feel supported or unsupported in pursuing their passions, eventually narrowing in on the arts.
Research
As a team, we interviewed a broad range of older artists, and learned about the ways older people can be underserved or struggle to feel visible within various arts communities.
The artists we interviewed worked with a variety mediums, along a spectrum between hobbyist and professional (though almost none would label themselves as such, even if they sold their works).
Themes across multiple participants included struggles with adequate resources, as well as with self-confidence, but also a passion and desire to keep growing as artists and find opportunities to facilitate that, including classes and collaboration with artists of all generations.
Themes across multiple participants included struggles with adequate resources, as well as with self-confidence, but also a passion and desire to keep growing as artists and find opportunities to facilitate that, including classes and collaboration with artists of all generations.
Design Sketches
As a team, we developed a series of high-level design concept sketches, ranging from realistic to more speculative, and addressing the broad and varied needs of this demographic.
The intention of these ideas are to spark inspiration and start a conversation among designers interested in this space. The sketches as a whole address a range of issues derived from our research, from need for workspace and resources, to more accessible collaborative creative spaces, to intergenerational arts education programs, to ways for older artists to make their perspectives and work more public.
Design Workbook
Our workbook summarizes our research process and findings, and features our proposed solution sketches, in order to start a design conversation on this topic space and open the door to further consideration by other designers.
Takeaways
In addition to creating designs to be shipped, I participated in exploratory design work as part of initiatives to explore the future of Kiva’s visual identity and features.
This was a demographic I went in knowing next to nothing about, and through both the research and design processes my team and I really came away with new perspectives on aging and art practice, especially as creatives ourselves. The methods and lessons I went through in this process are ones I believe can apply to any user-centered research and design work I move forward with in the future.