Better Care Homes
I partnered with Bupa to develop a digital resource to help care providers improve residential environments for older people with cognitive, sensory, and motor impairments. The project delivered as part of my role as Senior Researcher at the Helen Hamlyn Center for Design.
User Research & Insight
Product Definition & Vision
Content Creation
Architectural Design
UI & UX Design
Enabling Ability by Understanding Disability
Care homes serve residents with a wide range of cognitive, sensory, and physical impairments, but operators often struggle to meet these needs within tight resource and cost constraints. The Ability section of the website mapped common age-related disabilities and linked them to actionable design guidance. The experience helped care providers focus on residents’ strengths to enable more supportive and independent daily interactions.
Content for the ability section was created by working with two junior researchers to complete a systematic literature review, interview individuals with cognitive, sensory, and motor disabilities, draft user profiles and environmental requirements, visit five exemplar care homes, and critically appraise the guidelines with a panel of expert reviewers.
Design Features to Promote Ability
The Design section provided guidance on everything from overall site layout to the details of room furnishings. It was created to be both accessible to new designers and useful for consolidating expert knowledge. The experience supported better design decisions by linking environmental features to resident abilities and care priorities.
Architectural designs and the website were developed by translating research findings into co-design workshops, which generated ideas for a 3D model of a four-house care facility incorporating all key features. This model was then decomposed and combined with the guidance to form the website content, the website was then designed and built in collaboration with a graphic designer and developer.
