This 10-week user-centered design process has been a challenging, yet insightful journey for us.  We initially chose this user group due to our team’s connection to empty nest parents and, after many hours of work and a lot of research, we feel as if we have a better understanding of the trials and tribulations empty nesters experience.  We may not fully understand the hardships they go through as they transition into a new stage of their life, but we have built a strong empathy of what it means to be an empty nester.

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Challenges and Learning Outcomes:

Perhaps the greatest challenge we faced as a group, was understanding the central problem our user group had: overcoming the transitional phase as they redefine their identity as a parent.  Throughout the design process, we constantly had to refer back to the primary concerns our user’s experiences: going back and forth between small concerns (such as shopping for a smaller household and scheduling plans with friends) and larger issues (such as coping with emotional distress and finding new hobbies to fill their time).  In the end, we learned to refocus our attention back to the central needs of our users whenever we found ourselves getting off track. Rather than solving all their problems, we had to focus on the overarching dilemma. In this case, providing empty nesters with resources to help them transition was their greatest need.

 

Another issue we faced was ideating a solution for a complex area—helping parents redefine their identity is no easy task.  In the end, we boiled our design requirements down to three key methods to help parents process the lifestyle changes: reflecting on their past, connecting with others in the present, and finding things to do in the future.  Although each of these areas can be very broad, we found that no one factor was more important than the other. As such, we decided to feature all of these factors in our final design.

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Future Developments:

Ultimately, the purpose of our app is to provide empty nesters with the choice of three tools based on the needs that we found in our research to help them transition to their new identity in the way that works best for them. Through our research and design processes, we learned that the transition is a complex process. Without mental health expertise, we didn’t feel we had the authority to create a replacement for therapy or mindfulness practices. Instead, we wanted to provide them with autonomy and offer a place to start with their transition. With more time, we would consult mental health experts and perform more user testing to ensure these tools effectively help users with processing and well being.

 

Additionally, we would like to think about how we might tackle some of the feedback we received on our project.  Some things we would like to consider if we were to continue this project include:

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• Addressing accessibility concerns in our design

• Creating a personalized tutorial to walk the user through the tools catered to their specific needs

• Refining the timeframe and strategy in which we might introduce our app to our target group

• Incorporating call-to-action features that would enable users to connect with their children from a distance