This self-directed project explored how to initiate and normalize discussions about end-of-life experiences, in order to mitigate the stress and anxiety surrounding death for dying people, their loved ones and their caregivers. Over five months, I researched, designed, prototyped and user-tested to produce a design report and a game design.
For this project, I adopted a design thinking approach, allowing my research to reveal insights and opportunities for design interventions. I began with the topic of multigenerational living, drawn from my personal experiences of living with grandparents and driven by societal factors such as the global aging population and housing unaffordability. Through a charrette, semi-structured interviews, an online survey and secondary research, I found that changes in the funeral industry, an aging population and a lack of suitable land for burials are catalyzing some interesting conversations about death and dying.
However, there remains a need to recognize that people who are dying are still living and still have autonomy, priorities and human needs beyond prolonging their lives. Their end-of-life experiences are not only about dying; they include nurturing relationships, living on their own terms and clarifying their last wishes. All of that requires a series of difficult conversations about what is most important to them at the end-of-life. Through my research, I’ve found that the inability to broach the topic of death can be a barrier to delivering their preferred choice of care, to fulfilling their last wishes and to receiving all of the information needed to make important decisions. This was an opportunity for a human-centred design.
The game design was prototyped and tested with different users.
The design strategy I chose was a card game design. Games have the power to emulate experiences and the role-playing component can build empathy. It creates a low-stakes opportunity to have conversations about death and exposes users to some of the questions and decisions with which dying people contend. Through creative storytelling, users play as characters, alleviating the pressure of judgment when talking about the taboo topic of death. In the game, the goal is not to delay death, but to help their characters make meaningful choices and to prepare them for death.
The design is aimed towards young adults who are curious or willing to talk about death and dying. It is not a therapeutic tool. The game allows young adults to familiarise themselves with talking about death and dying, before it naturally and prevalently becomes more relevant in their lives. With an early intervention, young people have time to confront their mortality, to reframe what matters to them and to live a meaningful life.
