Reconsidering loss

Abstract

This report describes the process and results of the graduation project ‘Reconsidering loss: an application design for the future of bereavement’ that is executed in collaboration with Monuta. The project aims to improve Monuta’s service by making it more meaningful for their customers in the future. By doing so, it responds to the desire for innovation in the funeral context as it is felt in the Netherlands. More concretely, the assignment is defined as follows: Develop a human-centered strategy for Monuta’s services based on a vision of the needs of people around the death and funeral of a beloved in 2025. Illustrate this strategy by developing a new concept for gedenken.nl. The projects approach is based on the design method Vision in Product whereby the project structure largely corresponds to the steps as prescribed in this method. The project starts of with context research, firstly brief on funerals as we know them today, then more extensive on the future context: ‘a farewell in 2025’. The research includes literature studies as well as experts interviews. All the gained insights are grouped into twelve clusters, each describing another interesting aspect of the future context. Based on these clusters, a framework is created that describes six different meanings people can ascribe to a funeral in 2025: • A funeral as ‘life-event’: an event that has a considerable impact on your personal life. • A funeral as ‘inconvenient truth’: a wake up call to remember you of your own losses and your own mortality. • A funeral as ‘get-together’: an event where people get together to collectively deal with their loss. • A funeral as ‘last respects’: a moment to pay your last respects. • A funeral as ‘part of life’: an inevitable part of the circle of life in which one returns to nature (or the cosmos) after death. • A funeral as ‘rite of passage’: a human transition from a state of ‘life’ to a state of ‘death’. The frames ‘life event’, ‘get-together’, and ‘last respects’ are used as inspiration for the further development of a new concept for gedenken.nl. This is reflected in the following statement, which is the starting point for the design phase: We want to enhance the social and reflective aspects of a funeral while facilitating people’s wish to honour the deceased. In the design phase, five concepts are generated of which one is chosen and further developed into a final product proposal: GedenkApp. GedenkApp is a mobile memorial platform that allows people to share their love for and grief over a deceased mutual friend or relative. It stimulates the bereaved to make explicit how the deceased still has a place in their heart and thoughts, by honouring him or her with tributes. For people around the bereaved (the so called supporters), GedenkApp provides a channel to show their sympathy, also when life goes on again. The platform has three main features: a post wall, a funeral page and a personal space. The post wall can be used to share memories about the deceased (like pictures or anecdotes), tributes to honour the deceased (e.g. a written poem dedicated to the deceased or a photo of bringing flowers to the grave) and supportive messages for the bereaved (like condolences and comforting words). The funeral page allows the bereaved to communicate information about the day, like the program, location(s), time schedule and other additional information. The personal space includes a page where one can see an overview of his or her personal contributions to the postwall: a representation of one’s own memorial tribute to the deceased. In addition, every user will have a personal account. Via this account one can participate in multiple memorials: a digital cemetery for all your deceased beloved ones. In the last stage of the project, GedenkApp is evaluated according to two studies. Firstly, a user test evaluates the usability of the app. From this study can be concluded that the overall interface design and structure of GedenkApp are clear. Recommendations are made for small adaptions. The second study concerns expert interviews in which GedenkApp is assessed on its possible effect on people’s wellbeing and its potential pain points. The general conclusion that can be drawn from the second study is that GedenkApp has the potential to become a truly valuable product for bereaved. Nevertheless, the concept leaves space to be used by people in ways that may be undesirable for other users or for themselves. To some extent, this can be limited by making a few adaptions to the design as proposed in the recommendations. The following things are recommended to Monuta: • Collaboration between Monuta and a design graduate student is believed to be valuable for both parties and is therefor recommendable to be repeated by Monuta in the future. • The academic knowledge from the various fields of research that have been consulted to construct the framework, are believed to be a valuable addition to Monuta’s expertise and a solid base for strategic decisions. It is therefore recommended to Monuta to try and use the framework as a tool to manage their product and service portfolio, aiming to address all the six frames with the entirety of their product offer. • Based on the insights gained during this project, it is believed that the proposed features of GedenkApp would be a valuable addition to gedenken.nl. From a user perspective, implementation of these features is therefor recommendable. To conclude, it can be stated that the results of this project largely meet the initial aims and goals that were defined along the way.