Chaiwoo Lee and Sheng-Hung Lee present at IXDC 2021
by Adam Felts
AgeLab researchers Chaiwoo Lee and Sheng-Hung Lee gave presentations on their research at the International Conference of Experience Design 2021 (IXDC), China’s largest UX design conference.
Sheng-Hung Lee presented on his Master’s thesis project, which involved designing and prototyping a pair of “smart” slippers with older adults as the primary market. He described his use of surveys, user and expert interviews, and market research to understand the pain points and desires that older adults have for their indoor footwear. His presentation also demonstrated the design thinking process and system architecture method from inspiration, ideation, to implementation to illustrate the product design and development process. Finally, Mr. Lee presented and discussed the future footwear that he himself designed out of his research.
Chaiwoo Lee gave a high-level presentation on the AgeLab’s work in the design and UX fields. Her presentation covered three key points:
1. What does population aging have to do with design? Why does design matter, and why should designers care about older adults? In many cases, designers who conceive of products for older users are working from inaccurate stereotypes of older adults, or don’t understand the particular wants and needs that older adults have that are distinct from users of other ages.
2. How can designers address new needs and challenges that arise with aging? What are these needs and how can designers approach them? A few areas that Dr. Lee suggested that designers might work in are telemedicine, smart housing, transportation alternatives, and lifelong learning and education.
3. What is some of the work that the MIT AgeLab is doing to support future design and development? Dr. Lee highlighted the use of AGNES, the Age Gain Now Empathy System, to instruct designers and professionals, the research of the C3 Home Logistics Consortium, and the AgeLab’s human factors vehicle research using the Miss Daisy driving simulator.
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