I'm a designer driven to tackle complex social and cultural challenges, aiming to improve health, well-being, and inclusivity. Utilising my communication design background, I believe in design’s power to evoke emotions, raise awareness, transform interactions, and create a better world.
For this project, I recognise that our society is facing an ageing population. We live longer and have more long-term diseases. This results in a growing demand for end-of-life care. Unfortunately, many people dying in the UK still lacks adequate support. The palliative care process is complex and often introduced too late, leaving patients and families feeling anxious as the illness progresses.
Death is an inevitable experience, and everyone deserves to die with dignity. The ongoing challenges surrounding this sensitive and crucial issue inspired me to explore it further from a designer’s perspective.
The key insights behind this project included the taboo surrounding death that delays conversations, lack of understanding about palliative care services, and opportunities to engage the community and volunteer throughout the end-of-life journey.
Primary research, including discussions and testing with real people, is a crucial step in understanding challenges, exploring opportunities, and informing iterations. Although there were limitations in recruiting participants, I managed to engage with various stakeholders and experts in palliative care, including hospice managers, lecturers, and voluntary sector representatives. This engagement provided valuable findings that helped identify pain points essential for creating empathy with real users.
As an organised person, I used an assumptions and questions matrix throughout the process to prioritise goals for research, prototyping, and iteration. I found this approach useful in keeping me on track and optimising my limited time. In the end, it ensured that the development of Stardust is evidence-based, creating a practical and meaningful impact.
I took advantage of this project as an opportunity to explore new research methods, stepping out of my comfort zone of only using basic ones. Throughout the project, I employed different creative techniques based on the research question and context, such as card sorting, co-ideation, storyboarding, service advertisements, and LEGO service walkthroughs. These interactive methods, especially LEGO, not only fulfilled my learning but also helped participants feel more comfortable discussing such taboo topics in a fun and engaging way, leading to more findings gained.
As the palliative care area is complex, I frequently needed to organise my thoughts and make sense of the data. I found mapping ideas on a canvas and identifying connections enjoyable and useful. This process made the challenges easier to understand and helped to identify new design opportunities. Significantly, it increased my awareness of stakeholders, emphasising the system as a whole which informed what should be considered when designing interventions.
With my communication design background, I understand the significance of visual elements and language in raising brand awareness. For the copywriting, I prototyped the design to find a balance between minimising the scary nature of death and being informative and practical. As a result, posters and leaflets effectively communicate what Stardust offers without overwhelming users. They show various ways to contact while reflecting the brand’s personality through calming visuals.
To address the cultural issues around death, it’s important to integrate death conversations into everyday life by fostering a sense of community and ensuring easy access. Life Café provides a safe and welcoming space for death discussions, with accessible locations. However, discussing death, especially with family, can still be difficult. Stardust’s care planning sessions are facilitated by trained volunteers who use tools to ensure the process is informative, supportive, and effective for meaningful reflection and planning.
Bookings can be made through the website and application. Inclusivity is a priority regarding diverse cultural backgrounds and digital skills. Therefore, the booking and onboarding experiences offer ways to inform personal preferences for Stardust to provide personalised service both online and physically. Additionally, the use of contrast and colour ensures accessibility.
Best Before
With a particular interest in the ‘good death’ subject, I previously developed a project called Best Before. While young people are more willing to discuss death, finding a safe space in our death-taboo society can be challenging. Best Before offered a death awareness space for young people to gather as a community and discuss death through activities designed to make death discussion lively and enjoyable.
Although I gained valuable insights about death discussions from this project, Stardust has provided me with the opportunity to challenge myself by designing for older people and navigating the complexities of the stakeholder ecosystem.
