Final Ideas Results: Automatic Secateurs

After receiving the results of the voting , the Automatic Secateurs wins the battle. The results of the voting were the following:

Automatic Secateurs:3
Simple Oven: 2
E-Book: 2
Instruction Book:1

Therefore the team has decide to proceed with the idea of the Automatic Secateurs

Selecting Final Ideas: Gavin

My vote goes to the e-book reader, and interactive instruction book. The simple oven has been a popular choice however I do not feel that the operation of most conventional ovens is a significant enough challenge to warrant a redesign. Gardening on the other hand can be a very enjoyable experience that has been taken away from many of the elderly by their deteriorated health. Any tool that could facilitate their enjoyment and productivity in the garden would be highly beneficial! However I do not feel the group can confidently undertake such a design challenge. I believe that the interactive instruction book would be very useful if correctly implemented as it would allow the elderly take control of devices around their home which would otherwise be too challenging. Both the e-book reader and instruction book will allow us to effectively demonstrate the learning outcomes of the module using existing knowledge and new skills that we learn along the way.

Selecting Final Ideas: Eliana

I find it more interesting in applying one of the ideas proposed for the group of elderly. In particular, my preference goes to the following:

• Automatic Secateurs: This product seems to be a very useful tool for those elderly people who want to get involve with gardening but find that some tasks are just to difficult for them. It gives them the ability to get involved with something they enjoy and not get too frustrated about it.

• E-Book Previewer: Another idea that sounds promising when it comes to satisfying the needs of the elderly. Many of them enjoy reading but find it too tiring to read through a book with small letters, or even turn the pages. This product can help them make reading more enjoyable.

Selecting Final ideas: Polydoros

I personally vote for products that are concentrated for the group of the elderly. Out of the first ideas extracted from the brainstorming session i vote for the following ideas.

• Simple Oven: A simple easy to use oven is good for a final idea for the group of the elderly. An oven with simple features for helping the elderly who already know how to cook but also help those who want to learn how to cook. With the advantages that technology has to offer we have to think of products for helping the elderly in the every day lives.

• Automatic Secateurs: The second idea that I'm voting for, is the automatic secateurs. Since the elderly is a group that has the time and enjoy spending much of their time taking care of their garden, automatic secateurs will ease their life and make garden care more easy and fun.
  

Selecting Final Ideas: Demetris

I vote in favor of the following two ideas:

• Simple Oven: I think that a low-cost, basic oven with some kind of easy-to-use features will be an excellent product for the group of elderly. As technology advances some things just get too much complicated and we should help people take advantage of the technology.

• Automatic Secateurs: This is another excellent idea according to my opinion of course. The reasons for supporting this is the fact that a large percentage of people above 60 years old is spending a lot of time doing gardening. It is something that helps them relax and enjoy life. Why not make it even more relaxing and easier for them?

Selecting Final Ideas

After careful consideration of the ideas that we have managed to come up with, after our brainstorming session, it is time for us to vote. Each one of us will have to select two out of the eight initial ideas that he/she things are the most suitable and worthwhile. The idea that will obtain the highest amount of votes will be our final idea. In case of a draw a second voting will have to take place.

Personas: Mrs May Fernandez

Name: Mrs May Fernandez
Age: 81 years old
Occupation: Housewife
Marital Status: Widowed
Children: Two Sons, Two Daughters

Mrs Fernandes is a British Indian born in Kenya. She and her family moved to England in 1968 shortly following Kenya’s independence. She now resides with her 50 year old son, a professional accountant in London who himself suffers from muscular dystrophy. May can read and write English but does not have a strong grasp of the language. Her formal education ended at age 15 when she married her late husband and started a family. For the past eight years, she has suffered from particularly poor health, with much of her time spent in and out of hospital. Because of her ill health she is unable to care for herself however she refuses to move to a care home. Due to a number of factors she is highly suspicious of strangers almost to the point of paranoia. She does not enjoy socialising very much although loneliness is not a concern. Her deportation from kenya and medication may contribute significantly to this mentality. As such she spends a great deal of time on her own t

Hobbies: Mrs Fernandez watches a great deal of TV, however this serves mainly to pass time. She greatly enjoys spending time with her eight grandchildren however they are usually busy with other activities. Until a few years ago, Daphne took great pleasure I cooking and gardening but her poor health and mobility make this task very difficult. She also used to

Behaviour: Mrs Fernandez is a ‘difficult’ and confrontational lady who consistently craves attention from her family. We can speculate that this can be attributed to an absence of productive or enjoyable activities to occupy her time. Her typical week day is spent watching TV on her own while her son is working. In the evenings she may spend some time with her grandchildren if they are available or simply watch more TV. She has little or no interest in reading or socialising during this time. At the weekends she will spend time with family and attend church.

Health Condition: Mrs Fernandes is generally in poor health which keeps her housebound. She finds it very difficult to even climb the stairs in her house or even walk.

A Day in her Life: May’s routine has become highly repetitive since the deterioration of her health. She wakes at 9am, dresses and bathes upstairs then goes downstairs with much difficulty. She will eat her breakfast, usually consisting of porridge then plan her day based on her TV guide. Occasionally she has an afternoon nap after her favourite TV shows. At some point she will eat her lunch which will normally consist of leftovers or a very simple sandwich that she can make herself. If she has the energy, may will attempt to do some work around the house such as cooking or cleaning but this is not always possible. In the evenings she will eat dinner that her son usually prepares after work and her other family may visit for an hour or two. May retires to bed around 9pm.

Personas: Mrs. Kathrin Tomson

Name: Mrs Kathrin Tomson
Age: 75 years old
Occupation: Retired School Nurse
Marital Status: Married
Husband: Mr. James Tomson, aged 83 years old
Children: One, Frank 47 years old
Grandchildren: 2

Mrs. Kathrin Tomson lives in an apartment at Birmingham. She was born in Birmingham, and although she traveled a lot, and lived in France for 15 years, she is permanently staying in Birmingham for the past 21 years. She is happily married to James for 49 years now. She has a 47 year old son, named Frank, who he now lives in France, with his wife and his two daughters. She had been working as a school nurse for 40 years, and through her work she learned to appreciate the value of healthy living. Golf was her main accomplishment and she enjoyed tournaments.

Hobbies: Mrs. Kathrin is very fond of pets and especially her dog Ktoris. She likes to take her beloved dog out for a walk in the park in the mornings and spends there relaxing moments. She is lucky enough for the building she is living to have a small hidden garden, which she alone takes care, since no other resident is interested in doing so.

Patterns of Behavior: Mrs. Kathrin is a very kind and peaceful person due to the many years she had to work as a school nurse. Her work gave her patience to overcome the difficulties of life. Also, being a golf player, she learned to have persistence and to keep herself in a program. She was always proud of managing to be good at her work, keeping the household in perfect condition and still have time for herself. She was always a friendly person and she enjoys having friends over. As said, she values healthy living and so she tries to have healthy habits. She would like to start Latin dance lessons, but unfortunately her body is too weak for such excitement. However, she finds pleasure in simple things, such as taking care of her flowers and walking her dog. She does not like new and innovating products, because they tend to be too complicated. She prefers simple products, that are easy to be used and efficient.

Health Condition: She had a hip replacement in 1997 and arthritis followed. Although she was forced to stay home for quite some time, she has manage to overcome the situation and still remains active, as far as she is able to.

A day in her life: Mrs. Kathrin always wakes up when the first light of day breaks through the window. She sets off to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for her husband and herself. She finds it very important to keep a balanced diet, so she avoids high in fat nutrition. She usually drinks milk with added calcium or fresh juice if she feels like using the juicer. She always says to her husband "coffee for a man at your age is no good", and they both nod their heads.

Mrs. Kathrin will then start cleaning the house, but not as fast as she used to when she was young. She will then take her dog for a long walk at the park nearby, where she will find some relaxing moments for herself. When she returns home she will prepare lunch, and sit down with Mr. James to eat. Afterwards, she will go down to the garden. She takes care of her roses and waters the apple trees. Usually, by this time her neighbor, Mary, will call her to sit in the kitchen for some friendly chating. She will then go to join her husband who is already watching television. They will discuss their news of the day and wonder what their son and his family are doing. After a couple of hours they will both turn off the television and go to sleep to wake up for a new day.