Harri Halonen

Concept work

A service-design archive case study about supporting caregivers, families, and people living with memory disease through trust-sensitive reminiscence sessions.

Shown here for service-design thinking and care-context constraints; missing metrics are not inferred, and the page stays at concept level without claiming clinical or commercial outcomes.

My role: Service design
UX research
Interaction design
User testing
Team: 4 designers
Timeline: March 2016 to May 2016
Context: University of Tampere and Futurice's Let’s Re-Design Health Services course, working with Espericare on a memory-care service concept.
Problem: How can a service support connection, dignity, and easier conversation in everyday care?
Users: People living with memory disease
Caregivers and nurses
Family members
Volunteers and new staff who need a quick way to learn the person's story
Business context: The client brief asked for an entertainment and stimulation service for memory care.
Constraints: Care time was limited
The concept had to work in short, interrupted sessions
The tone needed to stay calm, respectful, and easy to hand over
The page does not show a production launch
Discovery: Contextual inquiry at Espericare
Existing-solution review
Structured interviews
Paper prototype testing
Key insights: Caregivers needed a low-friction way to start a session.
The service had to help people living with memory disease remain the focus of their own story.
Shared stories could help staff, families, and residents build trust faster.
Concept model: Pictures, sound, and text around the same story so a facilitator can adapt the session to the person and the moment.
Key decisions: Keep the caregiver, family member, or volunteer in the facilitator role.
Design for bedside use and shared-screen use.
Keep the flow short and calm enough for vulnerable users.
Avoid treating personal history as generic entertainment content.
Design details: Lean Service Creation canvases
Service blueprint
Paper mockups
Digital mockup
Outcome: The concept was voted second-best in the course and received positive feedback, but it did not reach market.
Reflection: A useful archive example of service design under care constraints, not proof of clinical or commercial impact.

Care context

Aikakone began in the University of Tampere and Futurice's Let’s Re-Design Health Services course. Espericare's brief asked for an entertainment and stimulation service for memory care.

The goal was not to promise a cure or a medical result. It was to create a calmer way to support conversation, familiarity, and meaningful connection around personal memories.

The care context made the brief a service-design problem as much as a content or interface one. Time was fragmented, attention was limited, and the service had to fit into ordinary care routines without creating more work.

Users and stakeholders

The service had to work for several people at once, each with a different reason to use it.

People living with memory disease needed gentle prompts, not a test. Caregivers needed a quick way to start a session. Family members could add photos and stories. New staff and volunteers needed a simple way to learn what mattered to the person.

The resident stayed at the center of the conversation.
The caregiver acted as a facilitator, not as a gatekeeper.
Family members could add context and personal history.
New staff and volunteers could learn faster without relying on informal handover alone.

Emotional constraints

Working in memory care meant keeping the tone calm, adult, and respectful. The interface had to avoid pressure, avoid clutter, and leave room for silence or pauses.

We treated reminiscence as a supported conversation, not as a test or a claim about treatment. The design had to feel safe enough to bring into a care routine without adding friction or embarrassment.

Human agency mattered throughout: the facilitator had to follow the person's pace, pause when needed, and let the conversation move where the memory led instead of forcing a scripted flow.

That constraint shaped what the product should not do. It should not diagnose, score, correct, or push someone through content just because the interface has a next screen.

Accessibility and simplicity

The concept leaned on a low cognitive load: short paths, clear labels, large visuals, and only a few moving parts at a time. That mattered because the session could happen in a room, at a bedside, or on a shared screen with limited attention.

The service needed to be easy to hand over. A family member, nurse, or volunteer should be able to pick it up quickly, understand the next step, and still adapt the pace to the person in front of them.

The aim was to reduce cognitive load, not add another tool to learn.

Research

We started with a contextual inquiry at an Espericare facility, accompanied by a Futurice employee. We observed the environment, photographed the premises, drew a floor plan of the area residents used, and asked staff and residents questions.

We also reviewed existing solutions, entertainment concepts, and ways to support time spent with people living with memory disease. One reference point was reminiscence therapy, which we treated carefully as a source of ideas about shared memory and caregiver familiarity rather than as proof of outcome.

We returned later for structured interviews and a paper-prototype test. The research pointed to the same basic need from several directions: short sessions, low setup friction, and a way for staff to learn personal history without relying on informal coffee-break handovers.

Caregivers did not have much time for long setup or explanation.
Residents needed support that could start quickly and remain gentle.
Families wanted to contribute in a way that felt useful, not symbolic.
Shared memories could help staff understand the person behind the diagnosis.

Service blueprinting

The blueprint connected what the resident experiences, what the facilitator does, and what has to happen before a session can start. That made the service easier to reason about in a care environment where the handoff matters as much as the interface.

Lean Service Creation canvases helped us keep the concept honest about the real service around it: who prepares content, who opens the session, who adapts the pace, and who closes the loop for the next time.

Before the session: family or staff help gather memory material.
During the session: the facilitator chooses media and reads the person's response.
After the session: staff can leave with a little more context for future care moments.

Discovery

Lean Service Creation canvases
Contextual inquiry
Existing-solution review
Semi-structured interviews

Blueprinting

Use cases
Service blueprint
Paper mockups
Digital mockup

Prototype

Usability testing

Concept decisions

Aikakone combined pictures, sound, and text around the same story so a facilitator could pick the right entry point for the person in front of them. The shared-history view supported common memories, while Elämänkaari and Profiili focused on personal history and what staff should know about the person.

The most important decision was to keep the experience guided rather than self-serve. The tool was there to support the relationship, not replace the caregiver, family member, or volunteer who brought the memory to life.

We also kept the concept flexible across shared and individual settings. Images, music, and video material could work bedside, in a common room, or in a quick one-on-one moment between other tasks.

Aikakone: shared history prompts for common memories.
Elämänkaari: a personal life-story view for individual history.
Profiili: practical context about the person for staff and facilitators.
Media categories: images, music, and video as alternate ways into the same conversation.

Prototype

The first digital draft was built in PowerPoint because the course was focused on service design and fast learning, not polished production UI. We made it behave enough like an app for staff to move through a guided Aikakone session.

We also tested the idea with simple printed images from different decades. Sitting close and speaking at an easy pace helped keep the interaction calm and gave residents room to respond in their own way.

Near the end of the course we visited Villa Niemi and asked nurses to try the PowerPoint prototype. We then interviewed them about feasibility, important features, fit for stimulation sessions, and when they could imagine using the concept with a resident.

The prototype was deliberately rough. Its job was to test whether the service moment made sense to staff, not to prove a finished interface or a measured care outcome.

The menu, session, profile, and Elämänkaari screens show how the concept could be organized around shared memories, personal history, and a facilitator-led session.

Reflection

The strongest lesson from Aikakone was that trust is part of the product. A care service only works when it respects the person's pace, gives staff a simple way to act, and leaves space for family and volunteers to contribute without taking over.

It also showed the limits of an older course concept. The project earned positive feedback and a second-place course result, but it stayed at archive level and did not become a launched service.

The later attempt to push the idea further taught a less comfortable lesson: belief in a concept is not enough if the team, ownership model, and execution discipline are not strong enough to carry it into practice.

That makes it useful as evidence for trust-sensitive design: the work is strongest where human agency, emotional tone, and service handoff are treated as first-class constraints rather than afterthoughts.

Lean Service Creation

Aikakone

Care context

Users and stakeholders

Emotional constraints

Accessibility and simplicity

Research

Service blueprinting

Discovery

Blueprinting

Prototype

Concept decisions

Prototype

Reflection

Next Project

Interaction Design Principles for Industrial XR