Main research signals
The strongest signals were routine inconsistency, lack of personalised cognitive training, and accessibility needs linked to visual and hearing difficulties.
From many senior needs to one cognitive focus
Research with 5 older adults highlighted several daily autonomy needs, from hydration and medication to planning, movement, pet care and cognition. These insights shaped Lifeasier as a broader product concept, but rather than designing an all-in-one senior-care app from the start, I focused the first phase on cognitive support. The remaining areas were positioned as future developments within the product roadmap.
Many needs, one strategic starting point
Daily autonomy appeared as a connected system, not a set of isolated needs. Because cognition affects how people remember, plan and follow routines, it became a strategic starting point for the first phase. Participants already did activities like reading, puzzles or digital games, yet none had access to personalised cognitive training adapted to their needs.
Three paths into cognitive training
The cognitive area was designed around three training paths: Chosen for You, Quick Training, and Choose the Skill. Together, they help older adults start, personalise and return to cognitive activities without making the experience feel complex.
This creates a focused foundation that can later expand into the remaining autonomy areas.
How I translated it
I translated the findings into a cognitive-first flow, supported by simple navigation, accessible interaction patterns and a roadmap for the remaining autonomy areas.
What it improves
The concept aims to make cognitive practice easier to start, follow and repeat, while creating a flexible foundation for future autonomy areas such as hydration, health, planning and movement.
From broad research to focused design decisions
The process helped turn a broad set of autonomy needs into a clearer first release, moving from research and synthesis to information architecture, wireframes and a senior-friendly prototype.
Discover
Desk research, competitive analysis, and user questionnaires.
Define
User persona, empathy map, and key insights.
Ideate
Information architecture and wireframes.
Design
Style guide, mockups, and prototype.
Understanding the bigger picture
Findings from desk research, competitive analysis and user research confirmed that daily autonomy depends on several connected routines, not one isolated need. These insights shaped Lifeasier as a broader product concept, while guiding the first phase towards simple flows, accessibility and personalised cognitive support.
Animal Care
55% of elderly people have pets, which enhance their quality of life. 88% say pets increase enjoyment, 79% report reduced stress, and 73% feel they provide purpose.
For those living alone or with health issues, 72% say pets help manage physical and emotional symptoms, reducing loneliness and encouraging a more active life.
(Malani et al., 2019)Global Aging
By 2030, 1.4 billion people will be aged 60 or over, and by 2050, one-fifth of the world's population will be elderly.
Of these, 80% will live in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).
(Mathews, 2024)Cognitive Stimulation
Up to 41% of adults over the age of 50 have mild cognitive impairment, a precursor to dementia.
Interventions such as cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) can prevent or reverse this decline and are recommended by NICE.
(Elmawla et al., 2024)Autonomy & Quality of Life
Factors like health, social relationships, active participation, and access to services are crucial for the autonomy and quality of life of the elderly.
(Ghenta et al., 2022)Despite physical limitations, most seniors prefer to “age in place,” staying in their own homes.
(Ryu et al., 2021)Structured routines provide security, stability, and purpose, improving the well-being of older adults. Traits such as self-control and intolerance to uncertainty favor adherence to routine, essential for promoting autonomy and quality of life.
(Welenc & Hopper, 2023)Health Care & Polypharmacy
Physical inactivity causes 3.2 million deaths annually.
(Cindy Rigor, 2021)To support healthy aging, 150 minutes of moderate exercise weekly, along with monitoring vital signs and hydration, reduce hospitalization and fall risks by 30%.
(Raimundo et al., 2019)Polypharmacy, the use of five or more medications, is common in the elderly, raising risks of adverse reactions, errors, and reduced quality of life. Tools like Individualized Medication Preparation (PIM) organize medication according to prescription, improve adherence, reduce errors, and optimize health outcomes.
(Sanches, 2020)Animal Care
55% of older adults have pets. 72% say pets help manage emotional symptoms, reducing loneliness and encouraging a more active life. (Malani et al., 2019)
Global Aging
By 2030, 1.4B people will be 60+. By 2050, one-fifth of the world’s population will be elderly; 80% will live in LMICs. (Mathews, 2024)
Cognitive Stimulation
Up to 41% of people 50+ have MCI. Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) can prevent or reverse decline and is recommended by NICE. (Elmawla et al., 2024)
Autonomy & Quality of Life
Health, social ties, participation and access to services are key for autonomy and quality of life. (Ghenta et al., 2022)
Structured routines provide security, stability and purpose, improving the well-being of older adults. (Welenc & Hopper, 2023)
Health Care & Polypharmacy
150 min/week of moderate exercise + hydration + vital signs monitoring reduces hospitalizations and fall risk by ~30%. (Raimundo et al., 2019)
Using 5+ medications is common and raises risks; medication management tools improve adherence and outcomes. (Sanches, 2020)
Looking at what existing solutions miss
A competitive analysis of senior-oriented apps helped clarify where existing solutions were strong, and where support remained fragmented across planning, pet care, physical activity, hydration, health, and cognitive training. Most products addressed isolated needs, but few connected them into one accessible and reassuring experience.
Market competitors
All Well Senior Care
Elementique Senior
VitalCare
Accessibility & UX
Common
Easy navigation, visual accessibility, and support for hearing-related needs appeared across most products.
Gap
Accessible support was present, but not consistently paired with a broader, calmer routine-management experience.
Health Support
Common
Medication assistance, caregiver connection, and some health-related features were already present in the market.
Gap
Vital signs tracking, health integration, hydration support, and appointment management remained uneven or limited.
Daily Routines
Common
Some solutions addressed planning, organisation, or day-to-day assistance in isolated ways.
Gap
No product brought planning, hydration, health-related routines, and everyday task support together in one clear system.
Autonomy & Social Support
Common
Most competitors encouraged autonomy and enabled some interaction with caregivers or other people.
Gap
That support often felt fragmented, with limited coordination between physical, cognitive, and routine-based needs.
Cognitive Support
Common
Cognitive activities existed in the wider landscape, but usually as generic or isolated exercises.
Gap
No solution offered personalised cognitive training as part of a broader senior-friendly routine support experience.
Overall, the competitive analysis showed that support remained fragmented across the reviewed products. This reinforced Lifeasier’s direction: the product could respond to a broader autonomy ecosystem, but the first release needed to stay focused on personalised cognitive training rather than trying to solve every need at once.
Listening to real routines
After mapping the market, I used a questionnaire with 5 older adults to understand how daily autonomy showed up in everyday routines. The insights below break down the six need areas that shaped Lifeasier’s direction and helped define cognitive support as the first phase.
Key Insights
Planner
100% don’t plan your days
Problems Identified
- Lack of structured planning for the day
- Use of manual methods (notebook, notepad, physical calendars) → forgetfulness
- Relying on memory to record appointments → missed events
Design Response
- Planning was mapped as a future roadmap area centred on a simple Task Centre, calendar-based reminders, location-based alerts, and voice input. Together, these features would help users organise routines, appointments and place-related tasks with less reliance on memory, handwriting or manual typing.
Pet Care
60% have a pet
Problems Identified
- Regular exercise
- Cleaning and maintaining animal hygiene
- Managing vet appointments (vaccines, consultations, deworming, check-ups)
Design Response
- Pet care was positioned as a future support area focused on recurring care routines, including exercise, hygiene and vet appointments.
- The response would include pet activity tips, care reminders, vet appointment reminders and a digital pet card to centralise health, hygiene and activity information.
Physical Exercise
60% don’t exercise 30 minutes daily
Problems Identified
- 20% do not exercise at all
- 40% do < 30 min moderate activity daily, 5×/week
Design Response
- Physical activity was kept as a future wellbeing layer focused on personalised activity plans, gentle reminders and simple guided exercises adapted to different mobility levels.
- The response would include progress tracking, optional wearable integration and light gamification to encourage consistency and support users in building a more regular activity routine.
Hydration
80% forget to drink water daily
Problems Identified
- Only 20% drink water during the day
- 100% do not track their water intake
- Barriers: forgetting & lack of flavor
Design Response
- Hydration was mapped as a future habit-support area focused on custom drink reminders, a simple daily intake tracker and visual progress feedback to help users notice and maintain their water intake.
- The response would also include flavoured water tips and light motivational feedback, addressing the two barriers identified in the questionnaire: forgetting and lack of flavour.
Health
Polypharmacy & low monitoring
Problems Identified
- 80% do not measure their vital signs daily
- 100% do not record their vital signs
- Limited devices (BP 50%, thermometer 50%)
- 60% are polymedicated, taking 5–7 chronic pills/day
- 100% do not set up a weekly pillbox → higher risk of dosing errors
- 80% lack a therapeutic guide
- 60% have ≥7 medical consultations/year (34.3% specialized)
- 80% have visual difficulties (100% wear glasses)
- 60% have hearing difficulties
Design Response
- Health support was positioned as a future roadmap area focused on vital signs tracking, with reminders, manual input and optional wearable integration to support more consistent monitoring.
- The response would also include medication organisation, a therapeutic guide and appointment reminders to help users manage recurring health tasks more clearly.
- Given the visual and hearing difficulties identified, accessibility would be central through larger text, clear contrast, voice support, vibration alerts and Bluetooth-enabled hearing support.
Cognitive Training
No daily personalized stimulation
Problems Identified
- 20% do not exercise their mind daily
-
80% perform single-area cognitive activities, such as:
- Reading (24%) — memory, attention, language, delayed recall
- Crosswords/word search/sudoku (32%) — attention, memory, executive functions, abstraction, orientation
- Cognitive worksheets (8%) — executive functions, attention, naming, abstraction
- Digital cognitive games (16%) — memory, attention, visuospatial, executive functions, naming, delayed recall
- No solution provides personalized, full-spectrum cognitive training
Design Response
- The cognitive area was designed around an initial cognitive assessment, with reassessments every six months to help identify the user’s cognitive profile and the skills that may need more attention.
- The training experience then adapts activities across multiple cognitive domains, including memory, attention, language, executive functions, visuospatial skills, naming and delayed recall, instead of focusing on isolated exercises.
- Chosen for You, Quick Training, and Choose the Skill give users different ways to train: guided personalisation, fast access, or direct control over the skill they want to practise.
- Progress tracking, light gamification and feedback were included to encourage consistency, while a designated family contact could be notified if the assessment suggested a possible cognitive decline.
Turning research into a clearer user profile
To turn research into design direction, I synthesised the findings into a persona and an empathy map. Rather than treating the six need areas as isolated problems, this helped clarify how memory, planning and repeated routines shaped daily autonomy, making cognitive support a strategic starting point for the first phase.
Interests
- Animals
- Family and wellbeing
- Mental challenges
- Outdoor activities
- Reading
- Technology and apps
Needs
- Clearer support for organising daily routines
- Reminders for hydration, medication and appointments
- Simple tools for health, pet care and activity routines
- Personalised cognitive training adapted to his profile
John Smith
Biography
John values autonomy and enjoys family, reading, outdoor activities, technology and caring for his pet. Although he wants to stay active and independent, managing several daily routines consistently has become more demanding.
Goals
- Maintain autonomy and quality of life while ageing
- Stay healthy, active and cognitively engaged
- Manage routines with less reliance on memory
- Feel more in control of daily responsibilities
Pain Points
- Forgets or postpones small daily routines
- Health, medication and hydration tracking lack structure
- Pet care, planning and activity routines can be hard to sustain
- Existing cognitive activities are not personalised
- Visual and hearing difficulties make some apps harder to use
Says
- “I need to stay hydrated more consistently”
- “Organising tasks and appointments can be difficult”
- “I like reading, mental challenges and outdoor activities”
- “I need help managing medication routines correctly”
- “I should monitor my health more regularly”
- “I want cognitive activities that are adapted to me”
- “I want to stay active, healthy and independent”
- “I want to take better care of my pet”
Thinks
- “Am I taking my medication correctly?”
- “Are my health routines enough?”
- “How can I manage pet care better?”
- “I am not exercising as regularly as I should”
- “It is hard to keep up with everything”
- “I forgot to drink water again”
- “I need to keep my mind active”
Does
- Completes simple, non-personalised cognitive activities
- Manages pet care, but not always with clear structure
- Exercises irregularly
- Manually organises medication routines
- Monitors vital signs inconsistently
- Uses apps, but can face accessibility and usability barriers
Feels
- Concerned about physical and cognitive wellbeing
- Worried about managing health routines correctly
- Interested in technology, but challenged by visual and hearing difficulties
- Responsible for his pet’s care
- Frustrated by forgetfulness and lack of organisation
- Motivated by family, pets, reading and outdoor activities
- Overwhelmed when too many routines need attention at once
Turning research into product structure
Based on the persona and empathy map, I mapped a scalable information architecture that could support the six autonomy areas over time. For this phase, I detailed the cognitive training flow first, keeping the remaining areas visible as part of the broader product structure.
Access & Onboarding
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Exploring the first screens
Once the structure was defined, I translated the main flows into low-fidelity wireframes to explore hierarchy, navigation and task clarity before moving into visual design.
Low-fidelity exploration
A visual system designed for clarity
Because the research highlighted visual and hearing difficulties, the visual system was designed to make Lifeasier feel calm, readable and easy to follow. I focused on accessible contrast, clear typography, familiar interface patterns and consistent feedback to support confidence across the experience.
Colour
Teal tones were chosen to communicate calm, trust, and vitality, while soft neutrals keep the interface light and reduce visual overload. Stronger accents help highlight actions and guide attention without making the experience feel harsh or clinical.
Typography
Work Sans was chosen for its clean, highly legible forms. A simple hierarchy, generous spacing, and clear contrast between headings, labels, and body text help users scan content more easily and understand what matters first.
Accessibility
Accessibility was treated as a core part of the experience, not an add-on. High contrast, large fonts, inclusive colours, clear touch targets, and voice assistant support were used to better support users with visual difficulties and make interaction easier and more reassuring.
Consistency
Repeated layouts, familiar navigation patterns, and a simple icon set were used to create a clear, consistent experience across screens. This consistency reduces confusion, supports recognition, and helps users feel more in control as they move through the app.
Bringing the cognitive flow to life
With the visual system in place, I translated the cognitive support experience into high-fidelity screens. The final flows bring together the initial assessment, personalised training paths, progress feedback and accessible navigation into one focused first release.
A clearer direction for senior-centred support
Lifeasier evolved from a broad autonomy concept into a focused first release centred on cognitive support. The outcome of this phase was not a fully validated product, but a clearer product direction, a senior-friendly interface system, and a high-fidelity prototype ready to be tested with older adults.
Next, I would validate whether older adults can complete the key cognitive flows with confidence: starting the assessment, choosing a training path, completing an activity, understanding progress, and knowing what to do next. I would also measure comprehension, task completion, friction points, motivation, and perceived effort.
The main learning was that senior-centred support needs focus before scale: a product can address many autonomy needs over time, but the first experience must feel clear, reassuring, and easy to repeat.