Hello Jenny is a seniorproof smart speaker which makes it possible for senior citizens of the city of Ghent to ask for social contact with volunteers. The speaker pushes a contextualized (time based, question driven,...) contact request. By doing this, the speaker aims to resolve the barriers which elderly people experience in asking for social contact when feeling lonely. This smart speaker was built commissioned by the City of Ghent by applying a urban development project called “City of People”. Here, the city of Ghent collaborated with the university of Ghent and a local tech development company. Within this project, there was a systematic collaboration with local civilians (elderly people and social caretakers). Therefore the smart-speaker was developed fully in co creation with local stakeholders. However, the design of the box is still to be decided. The project conducted an exploratory study which tested a first prototype of the box. Here a first temporary design was being used (attachment 1). In this contest, we aim to find a few possible designs for the smart speaker. These designs will presented to senior citizens of Ghent, which they will assess. At the end, the design of the speaker with the best score wins.
A SKETCH OF THE DESIGN OF THE SPEAKER IS SUFFICIENT
The box has a few design requirements:
- The outer design of the box needs a few components:
o 3 buttons in order for the senior citizens to use the box in an easy way. (One button with a QUESTION MARK on it, one button with YES of it, and one button with NO on it, e.g. attachment 1)
o A small hole for the power supply (standard smartphone adapter )
o An open audio proof area in order to install a speaker.
- Within the box, some space for the hardware is needed. The minimal space needed for the hardware is 19,5cm x 9cm x 9cm (LxWxH).
- The appearance of the speaker has to match with the interior of that of the senior citizens (e.g attachment 2 & 3).
- Integration in existing kinds of furniture is allowed (E.g. a photoframe, an old-school radio design,…)
A SKETCH OF THE DESIGN OF THE SPEAKER IS SUFFICIENT
Sava
Designer