Minor Project
21/09/2025 - 31/12/2025(Week 1 - Week 14 )
WANGJIHENG/0378904
Minor Project / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
LIST
1. Instructions
2. Feedback
3. Reflections
WEEKLY TASK PROGRESS
Week 2: Initiation & Deconstructing the Brief
Our project began with a briefing from Dr. Izian Idris of the Active Aging Impact Lab.
The challenge was to design a solution to improve the quality of life for the elderly.
Our journey also started with the formation of Group 5, consisting of seven members from diverse design backgrounds, promising a multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving. We utilized FigJam to brainstorm potential directions through mind-mapping exercises. After evaluating various problem statements, we identified Social Isolation as a critical issue, given Malaysia's rapid shift towards an aging society.
Decision: We voted to create a Social AI Robot that functions not just as a tool, but as a companion to bridge the emotional gap for seniors living alone.
Fig 1-2 Project Title and Topic Choice: Social AI Robot
Week 3 - 4: Contextual Research & Competitor Analysis
Before designing, I collaborated closely with Li Fangning and Cai Zihan to lead the Competitor Research phase, while other members (such as Xiao Qing and Isabel) focused on the Problem Statement.
Selection Process: The research process began with a collective effort where every group member contributed data on various robots available in the market. From this broad pool, our sub-team (Fangning, Zihan, and myself) filtered and selected the five most prominent social robots for a deep-dive analysis: Zenbo, Charmie, Kebbi, Haru, and Jibo
My Contribution: Together, we identified the "fatal flaws" in these products to ensure our design wouldn't repeat them. We analyzed user reviews and technical specifications. I took the lead in synthesizing this vast amount of data into the final presentation slides, ensuring that the technical comparisons (such as Zenbo's voice issues or Charmie's mobility limits) were visually clear and impactful for our pitch.
Key Findings:
Asus Zenbo: Users reported poor voice recognition in noisy environments, which is a major barrier for seniors with hearing impairments. For hard-of-hearing seniors, this would be a dealbreaker 1.
Charmie: While it claims to help with chores, its wheel base is unsuitable for Malaysian terrace houses with stairs. My research into its mechanics also revealed it lacks a stable center of gravity for lifting heavy objects 2.
Jibo: It failed commercially due to privacy concerns regarding cloud data storage. Additionally, it lacked practical utility and relied heavily on cloud servers, raising data privacy issues 3.
Kebbi & Haru: [Included as per original maintaining consistency with the five robots analyzed]
This research set our design pillars:Privacy, Accessibility, and Physical Stability.
I presented these findings to the team, arguing that our solution must prioritize these three core elements.
Week 5 - 7: The Empathy Phase (Crucial Breakthrough) & "Interview Rescue" Mission
This phase was the turning point of our project and the most challenging yet rewarding part. To build accurate Empathy Maps and Personas, we needed primary data from real users.
The Challenge / Crisis:
We initially attempted to contact local nursing homes in the Klang Valley. The team leader tasked us with finding interview subjects, but I spent several days reaching out to local nursing homes and care centers—every request was rejected due to strict privacy policies, bureaucratic red tape, or lack of response. We were at risk of having no user data for our assignment.
My Solution (Resourcefulness):
Refusing to give up, I took the initiative to leverage my personal network. I contacted a relative who operates a private nursing home in my hometown in China. After explaining our academic purpose, I successfully secured exclusive permission for our team to interview the staff and residents there. This turned a potential failure into a unique strength for our group.
Execution Strategy:
We split into two squads to maximize our reach and efficiency:
1.Field Team (Wang Jiheng, Li Fangning, Cai Zihan): We conducted in-depth, face-to-face interviews at the nursing home facilities. We observed the daily routines of the elderly, spoke to caregivers about their workload, and discussed daily loneliness with elderly residents.
2.Online Team (Ong Xiao Qing, Isabel Tang): They conducted remote interviews with their own grandparents to capture the "home-care" perspective 4.
Technical Contribution (Post-Production):
Since the field interviews were in Chinese, I took full responsibility for the data processing to make the data accessible to our non-Chinese speaking members (like Muthiah):
Video Editing & Data Synthesis: I compiled the raw footage into a cohesive research reel and reviewed hours of footage to select the most impactful quotes.
Translation & Subtitling: I meticulously translated the dialogue into English and hard-coded subtitles into the video clips so that all team members could analyze the emotional cues.
•Insight Generation & Persona Building: Based on this data, we created our key personas: Nur Hidayah (the 76-year-old lonely retiree) and Li Lan (the 33-year-old burnt-out nurse). We also confirmed that seniors are not "anti-tech," but "fear-tech"—they are afraid of breaking expensive robots, which directly influenced our final design.
Week 8 - 9: Ideation & Sketching (Crazy 8 Method)
Using the "Crazy 8" method, we brainstormed solutions in 8 minutes based on our validated personas' pain points.
My Design Contribution:
Drawing from my earlier research on Charmie's mobility failure and the safety concerns raised in our interviews, I sketched two key concepts:
3.Smart Vital Watch: A wearable that syncs with the AI to monitor heart rate and blood pressure continuously, alerting the nurse (Li Lan) if anomalies are detected.
4.Lifting Support Mechanism: A robotic arm concept to help elderly users pick up fallen items, directly addressing the mobility issues I found lacking in the Charmie robot during my earlier research.
Week 10 - 12: Prototyping The 'HARA' Concept & Strategic Pivot
After voting on the best ideas using an Impact/Effort Matrix, we converged on the final concept: HARA.
The Strategic Pivot:
Data from our interviews showed that seniors are intimidated by humanoid robots (the "Uncanny Valley" effect—finding them "creepy" or intimidating). Based on my competitor research and the interview insights, I advocated against building a humanoid robot. Instead, we decided to integrate the AI into a Smart TV Interface.
Rationale: The TV is a familiar, non-threatening object in every senior's home. By turning the TV into the robot's "face," we remove the learning curve for the elderly—it requires no new physical adaptation.
My Role: I worked on defining the feature set for HARA, ensuring it covered:
Health Dashboard: Real-time sync with the smart watch.
Social Connect: One-click video calls to family.
Cognitive Engagement: Built-in meditation and audiobook apps.
Week 13 - 14: Final UI & Visual Design, High-Fidelity Prototyping & Final Presentation
In the final sprint, we moved to Figma for high-fidelity prototyping. My focus was on the Visual Hierarchy of the interface and the Visual Interface Design for the Health Monitoring System.
Color Psychology / Design Psychology: I chose a calming green palette to reduce medical anxiety and anxiety associated with medical data.
Typography / Accessibility: I ensured all text was large and high-contrast to accommodate users with presbyopia (aging eyes).
Final Polish: I also refined the presentation slides, specifically the Competitor Research section, to ensure our market analysis was clear for the final assessment. I revisited my Competitor Research slides, refining the graphics to clearly communicate the market gap to our lecturers during the final presentation.
Project Management & Collaboration (The Big Picture)
Managing a project of this scale with seven members required a centralized digital workspace. From Day 1, we utilized Figma and FigJam as our "digital war room."
The Process from Start to Finish:
Phase 1 (Chaos to Structure): We started on FigJam, using sticky notes to dump our raw research data, meeting notes from Dr. Izian, and initial brainstorming sessions. This allowed us to visually organize the messy early-stage thoughts.
Phase 2 (Synthesis): As we moved into Weeks 5-9, we migrated to Figma to build our Empathy Maps, User Personas, and Customer Journey Maps. This board became the "single source of truth" for the team, ensuring that everyone (from the research team to the design team) was looking at the same data.
Phase 3 (Final Polish): In the final weeks, the board evolved into a high-fidelity workspace. We constructed our final HARA User Interface and the Final Presentation Slides directly in this shared canvas.
Visualizing the Journey:
The screenshot below captures our entire semester's work in one view—from the first sticky note to the final pixel. It demonstrates the sheer volume of research, iteration, and design work our group accomplished over the 14 weeks.
REFLECTION
Problem Solving & Resilience / Navigating Challenges
The biggest lesson I learned was adaptability. This project was a masterclass in crisis management. When our local interview plans failed in Week 5, I didn't wait for instructions; I proactively found a solution overseas, turning a potential derailment of our research into a group strength. Furthermore, balancing a team of seven diverse personalities—often requiring meetings at 9:30 PM 5—and pushing through my own severe health issues (stomach flu) during submission week has significantly strengthened my resilience and proactive communication skills. Managing conflicting schedules and personal health challenges taught me the vital importance of resilience and proactive communication.
Team Synergy / Team Dynamics & Collaboration
I am proud of how Group 5 functioned. We established a clear division of labor: while I handled the technical execution of video editing, translation, and subtitling for the interviews, others focused on the narrative arcs of the user journey and mapping the emotional journey of our personas. This allowed us to function like a professional design studio. Tools like FigJam and Figma were essential in keeping our large team aligned, enabling us to stay on track even when working remotely.
Design Philosophy / Professional Growth
This module shifted my perspective from "creating cool tech" to "creating empathy". My journey—from analyzing failed robots like Jibo to interviewing real seniors—proved that the best technology is invisible. This module significantly matured my design philosophy: I learned that "Empathy is the foundation of innovation." Our Smart TV solution isn't the most futuristic concept, but it is the most human-centric one, tailored specifically for the comfort of the elderly. The insight that the most advanced technology is useless if it intimidates the user will guide my future career as a designer.
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