Alzheimer’s-friendly grocery service

Project overview

As the Service Design project for my MA in User Experience and Service Design at Loughborough University (2022-23), my team and I were instructed to find an opportunity and come up with a service that benefits the residents of Charnwood, a borough in Leicestershire.

I was the senior of 2 co-leads of a team of 5 designers. I led an iterative design process from finding an area of focus based on trends and defining a primary user through to devising and testing an appropriate solution that added value across the ecosystem.

Our solution was to create Tripit, an Alzheimer’s Disease-friendly grocery service where community members from the surrounding area served as drivers and grocery shopping assistants to their passengers with early-stage Alzheimer’s Disease in a paid door-to-door service.

Tools and methods used

Approach and skills learnt

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The brief

We received a broad brief to devise a service that improves the lives of people living in Charnwood Borough in Leicestershire, UK. The resulting service had to factor in its context and existing elements of the surrounding ecosystem including infrastructure and available services to identify opportunities to add value at a local level and beyond.

THE PROCESS

Finding an area of focus

We first looked at some big global trends, important problems for humanity to solve, as a starting point. We quickly realised that residents in rural areas tend to be older and may feel more discomfort with technology.

Next, my team and I looked through the Co-op Wellbeing Index statistics for Charnwood, a statistical analysis that surfaces demographics and the availability of services and amenities by urban area.

What we learnt

Focusing with a futurestate vision

It’s 2028. 100% of people living with early-stage Alzheimer’s Disease in Hoton can grocery shop independently.

We realised that our long-term goal was to help older individuals remain independent as they experienced a reduction in cognitive and physical ability with age. We then drafted a narrower futurestate vision (above) that provided a clearer definition of the user and what we wanted to achieve in the shorter term for this project.

Filling knowledge gaps

Using a modified version of a ZIP analysis, we identified remaining knowledge gaps to fill as well as what challenges and opportunities we faced so we could more clearly define our user, their journey, and their pain points. We then delegated the key items to various team members to research. Some of our key questions included:

Defining our user persona

Armed with what we had learnt, we could more clearly define our primary user so we could create a more targeted solution for their needs. Meet Rose: 

Understanding the ecosystem

Understanding the current user journey

We then mapped the as-is process when Rose buys groceries through a modified user journey map where we listed the individual steps from when she left her house, went to the supermarket and bought her groceries and then returned home after and followed with the pain points she encountered.  

Validating journey with a Service Safari

We conducted autoethnography by visiting Hoton by bus to validate the user journey, gain empathy for our users and to assess public transport’s suitability as a potential solution. 

What we learnt

We were aware that loud noises and visual stimulation, both of which were common among the main roads of the village, could disorient people living with Alzheimer’s. Furthermore, with ageing comes reduced mobility and poorer eyesight. This helped us realise that public transport would not be an appropriate solution. 

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Ideation

Researching and developing potential solutions

We started with a competitive analysis to get a better understanding what treatments were available and the different methods we could use as building blocks for solutions. The team then came up with a variety of ideas as a group using tools like forced association and merging together 2 or more ideas from the competitive analysis to come up with novel ideas. We then assessed each idea based on how well it aligned with our futurestate vision, what value it added to the user and what other stakeholders it might have potential benefits for.

Chosen idea

Alzheimer’s Disease-friendly bus ride

The team decided to go with an idea for a specialised bus service that would take passengers to grocery stores but would enable them to play mentally stimulating games on the bus to and from the grocery. It was inspired by methods used at care homes to keep people with dementia mentally active This solution closely aligned with our futurestate vision.

This idea had the potential to provide more ecosystem value and may be useful in more extreme cases like where the user’s mobility is limited. With further research, we refined it and changed elements of the solution.

Fleshing out the solution

Defining core pillars 

We decided that there were 3 defining characteristics of our solution.

Step-by-step details: Service Blueprint (to be)

Our next step was to create the Service Blueprint which comprehensively maps out the service process from the time that our user Rose registers as a new client until she completes her first grocery trip. The exercise was instrumental in defining how different stakeholders in the service would interact with each other and various touchpoints (digital and physical) across both the front and backstage.

The Service Blueprint was iterated until the service optimally delivered value to its various stakeholders without unnecessary steps. We ended up changing or removing the following:

• Changing from a bus to a shared car ride 
• Removing ‘mentally stimulating games’
• Providing a customer service agent rather than just an app

The Solution

Tripit: An Alzheimer’s friendly grocery-service

Ecosystem value

We next had to consider what kind of effect and value the service delivered at different levels throughout the ecosystem. This helped us think more broadly about the long-term effects of our service and whether or not it can effect change in a meaningful way. This meant mapping out the value between the immediate stakeholders in the services as well as to the organisations and society at large.

Defining success metrics

Considering the long term view, I defined specific and measurable metrics and which would enable us to track if the service was working correctly and its performance over time.

Metrics included:

• Rose is having more good days (lucid and with good mood) than bad
• The number of bad days is not increasing or decreasing
• Users like Rose can age in place for longer
• Good retention of Tripit users clients

Tripit Roadmap

It was also important to consider the future of the In order to consider the longevity of the service, we also needed to consider the longer term vision for Tripit and how it would evolve over time.

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Testing the Service

In order to find out if Tripit actually delivered value and was a viable solution for our target users, we had to test our solution.

We chose to do a storyboard walkthrough of the service with 4 SMEs that represented different stakeholders. They added different perspectives to the service evaluation. For example, the competitor CEO ran a dementia-focused mobility consultancy and could give transport-oriented comments.

Testing Results

Our score indicated that the service did overwhelmingly address the needs of the user and was seen as a good solution for various user pain points. For example, the solution effectively leveraged the use of known methods to preserve quality of life including routine and familiarity to slow symptom progression.

A participant representing the carer also noted that many people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s still seek new experiences and enjoy meeting new people and that Tripit would provide this to them. Tripit therefore gave them a way to continue doing what they loved while helping them remain socially connected and integrated. 

Areas for improvement

Based on the testing feedback, several changes were suggested to make the service better.

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Conclusion

We ultimately defined a service that satisfied the criteria of enabling our user’s independence and preventing symptom progression while also adding value to society more broadly and to other stakeholders. The core offering was solid as it was based on scientifically-backed methods while maintaining a social solution that considers the importance of meaningful social interaction and human relationships. 

My team achieved a distinction for this project and was one of the winners of the Ford Mobility Challenge and were offered £5k to develop the idea.

Personal reflection

Revisit key criteria to refine

This project involved a lot of iteration based on the addition of new knowledge throughout the process which resulted sometimes in a multitude of ideas. To stop feature bloat, it was always good to revisit the facts, the futurestate vision and ultimately asking if we were helping the user. Ultimately, I realised it was more important to strive for elegance in the service by minimising the number of steps and demands on our user’s attention.

Ask relevant experts

While it is important to validate with the user, asking relevant experts who have a different perspective can be valuable. For example, testing with an expert of a competitor CEO enabled us to get more direct feedback on the efficacy of the transport method and to better understand challenges that public transport might pose.