Helping Hand-Case study

_

Written by Bridget Waters Design by Steven Hassall Red Ninja Ltd www.redninja.co.uk 0151 707 6707

ind

eX-The Challenge

...............................4-5Listening ....................................6-7Co-Creation .................................8-9Key Lessons ...............................10-11Thinking ..................................12-13Tablet Screenshots ..........................14-15Doing ....................................16-17W

hat did we learn? .............................18

Credits ......................................19

Helping H

and Case Study H

ELPING

H

AN

DCreated by and for older people, our age-friendly Helping Hand apps and easy-to-use, custom

ised tablet interface are helping older people to love online shopping and feel better connected.

THe C

Ha

lleng

e

Our society is getting older and lonelier. Research by

Age UK

1 reveals that over one million older people

in the UK feel lonely and socially isolated. M

obile technology can m

ake things better, research by the N

ominet Trust 2 show

s that older people who regularly

use the Internet feel less isolated and more in control

of their lives.

Digital exclusion is now a social care issue, com

pounded by reduced spending and increased pressure to help people live independently for longer. Red Ninja Studios had taken part in the UK’s first Adult Social Care Hack Day, w

here loneliness w

as identified as a big problem for older people

living in our comm

unities.

Through the Friendly Economy innovation program

me,

Liverpool City Council’s Adult Social Care comm

issioners and Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership set us a challenge. How

could we get older people in the

North Liverpool neighbourhoods of Anfield, Walton and

Kirkdale better connected to digital services, including online shopping?

Our approach is alw

ays to begin where our users are, so w

e started by listening.

1. Age UK Research; http://bit.ly/1-million-lonely

2. International Longevity Centre research; http://bit.ly/older-people-technology

i’Ve Been

a liTTle BiT

FRigH

Tened

OF TH

e C

OM

pUTeRS - O

F Ma

King

a

FOO

l OF M

YSelF, TaKin

g

TOO

MU

CH

TiMe. BU

T THiS

THin

g’S SiM

ple. iT’S eaSY

TO d

O”

— M

ary, Helping Hand co-creator

“LISTEN

ING

We created our age-friendly H

elping Hand m

obile apps and easy-to-use, custom

ised tablet interface by listening to w

hat older people want and need, w

hat they find frustrating and w

hat would m

otivate them to

get online.

We gathered ideas from

over 350 older people to co-create Helping Hand, running co-creation w

orkshops with our

partners at Plus Dane Group. As a local housing provider,

Plus Dane Group had strong relationships w

ith many of

the older people taking part, which really helped us to get

things going and build trust.

Our co-creators told us that they w

ere interested in shopping online. They told us that because of health and m

obility issues they sometim

es found it difficult to get out and about, and to carry heavy shopping hom

e. Home

delivery would be great w

hen the weather w

as bad and staying at hom

e was m

ore appealing than a trip to the superm

arket.

But, we also learned that m

ost of this group had never shopped online. They w

ere concerned about privacy and security, and about their ow

n ability to use the technology. They w

ere afraid of signing up to something that w

ould then cost m

oney, and many didn’t have a com

puter or an Internet connection. There w

as a general fear about know

ing what to do. They asked us to keep things

simple and be patient, and as the project developed their

confidence grew.

Helping H

and Case Study

CO

-C

REATIO

N-

Helping H

and Case Study TRUSTpa

TienC

eg

OO

d d

eSign

Ma

TTeRS

iT JUST WO

RKSKeY leSSO

nS

SO, TO

Be aBle TO

geT

diFFeRen

T SeCTiO

nS O

F YO

UR SH

Oppin

g in

THe

aC

TUal SH

Op BY JU

ST TO

UC

Hin

g TH

e SCReen

...i W

aS SU

RpRiSed BY H

OW

q

UiC

K an

d ea

SY iT Wa

S. a

nd

i Mea

n, TH

aT’S

BeCa

USe TH

eY aSKed

YOU

W

aSn

’T iT? THeY a

SKed

YOU. TH

eY aSKed

YOU

- W

Ha

T dO

YOU

Wa

nT a

nd

H

OW

WO

Uld

YOU

dO

TH

iS?”—

Irene, Helping Hand co-creator

“TH

INKIN

GThrough our design thinking approach, w

e bring our co-creators on the full design journey. W

e needed to find a w

ay to engage older people with online services

that already existed, but which they found tricky to

navigate. We needed to build services they w

ould trust and use, so that w

e could make things better for

their lives.

We used everything w

e’d learned by listening to refine our design challenge. W

e were going to build a shopping

application that connected directly to a major superm

arket through a user-friendly interface. O

ur co-creators told us that they loved a bargain, so our app w

ould include all the features of the retailer’s online service, including the ability to search for deals. W

e were also going to build a social

calendar app, which w

ould help people to find out about events in their com

munity, to get involved and m

ake new

social connections.

We held w

orkshops about colour theory, typography, language and user experience. W

e shared examples

of other websites, discussing w

hat the group liked and didn’t. O

ur co-creators loved this process and really got into the technology. They m

ade design choices for a large font, big buttons, highly visible colour contrasts and clear instructions.

Helping H

and Case Study

i Ca

n’T Spea

K FOR

eVeRYBO

dY elSe, BU

T W

Hen

THiS C

aM

e alO

ng

i STa

RTed Feelin

g a

S TH

OU

gH

i BelOn

ged

TO

THe C

OM

MU

niTY...TH

aT i

aM

a H

UM

an

Being

”—

Ed, Helping Hand co-creator

“D

OIN

GW

e experimented, building rapid prototypes and

sharing them for feedback. W

ith our co-creators, we

worked through the look, feel and user experience

and developed working prototypes, w

hich we then

sent out into the comm

unity for testing.

Our pilot program

me ran for 12 w

eeks from Septem

ber 2014 and w

as evaluated by Dr Paul Hepburn from The

Heseltine Institute, University of Liverpool. Pilot testers each received a tablet pre-loaded w

ith an easy-to-use, custom

ised interface and both apps. We also provided free

Internet access for the trial period. Training and support w

as delivered by our in-house team w

orking with Plus Dane

Group and Barclays Digital Eagles.

Throughout the pilot, users told us about their experiences and feelings, how

easy or challenging they found things, and about any problem

s they experienced with

the technology.

By using a design thinking approach, we sparked innovation

and created social impact. O

ur co-creators reported increased feelings of trust, com

munity, and independence

from taking part in the project. W

e loved that some of our

co-creators made new

friends through the process - people w

ho lived in the same building, but w

ho had never met

before the workshops.

Our co-creators have already told us they’d like to see

social networking, online dating and chat features included

in future roll-outs.

Helping H

and Case Study

WH

aT d

id W

e leaRn

?

• Build trust through existing relationships and by listening

• Be patient and keep things simple

• Design thinking sparks innovation and creates social im

pact

• No matter how

old you are, good design m

atters

Makers

Lee Om

arSteven HassallAshley CulvinJackie Connolly (Plus Dane G

roup)and our am

azing co-creators!

Further ReadingThe G

uardian Article: How over-65s are helping to create a new

shopping app - http://bit.ly/guardian-helping-hand

Video: Using technology to bridge the digital divide - co-creating Helping Hand - http://bit.ly/cocreation-video

PartnersPlus Dane G

roupLiverpool City CouncilInnovation Netw

orkLiverpool City Region Local Enterprise PartnershipBarclays Digital EaglesRiverside G

roupDr Paul Hepburn at The Heseltine InstituteUniversity of Liverpool

Copyright 2015 Red Ninja LTDwww.redninja.co.uk