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An observation of older people in shopping centres

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An observation of older people in shopping centres

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I observed the older adult in a store selling sunglasses in David Jones on Saturday at around 15:30 p.m. From my observation, I have found that the old woman got bored and tired.  It was clear that she was bored because of her boring face. She also cupped her chin in her hand. Furthermore, she looked very tired somehow, but she was sitting on an uncomfortable chair and resting. She might not have been able to rest enough with the uncomfortable chair. Even more, the place where she was resting was a sunglass store which is an inappropriate place to rest and which dose not provide comfortable environment. She looked very uncomfortable sitting on the chair. What I was pretty sure about her is she was not there to buy sunglasses. she might just wanted to sit and rest but there was not enough seating to rest in the shopping centre. That was why she was there with the tired face. Therefore, the design opportunity could involve providing enough comfortable and convenient environment or places to make older people relaxed.  It could also encourage older people to build human relationships as well.

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I observed this older man at central station on Wednesday at 4:00 pm. He looks more than 70 years old. Although the appearance looks very old but the mental states looks very good. First, I saw him out of the train came, he put the baggage from the train on the platform is very careful, because the train and the platform in the middle of the gap is very big but no one to help him, so I think he’s alone came here by the train, after that he took his hand luggage and a walking a little bit faster, so, I thought maybe there was a family member was waiting for him outside the station, but then he went to the information desk. Which means he came to the city alone and wasn’t very familiar with it. So, he might want to know how to get to his destination through the information desk. The issue here is about what problems do they have when they travel alone. Because some of the old people’s families and friends are not around for work reasons. So, they have to be alone when they want to go out, but because they are older, they have some problems when they travel. This observation made me to think when the elderly travel alone, they encounter a lot of problems, so they need people to accompany them. So, the design opportunity could involve an accompanying project, the main content of this project is that when the older people needs to go out alone, someone will go out with him and help the older people solve the problems that they encounter when they go out.

older man travel alone

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I observed this older woman at a cafe which located in Rosebery on Wednesday at 1:30 pm. She was sitting on a four-people table with a dog. Firstly, I thought she was sitting on the table and having the lunch with her dog. However, while her food was coming with two-person meals. I thought she was having the lunch over there, and the other meal will enjoy it later. Suddenly, a gammy old man was walking to her table. He is obviously her husband, and having the lunch with her. The issue here is about the older people doing the stuff by themselves because their family members might be moved away to another places. This observation made me to think about the elderly might want to do the daily routine with their close family members or their children. Therefore, the design opportunity could produce a exchanging programme which share or exchange their own experience and skills to young people although not their children. And the young people might interchange their advanced techniques to the older people and teach them some technological skills. Also, they might share the interesting experiences with the older people.

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I observed an older woman at Central Station on Tuesday at 10.30 am. She was an interesting looking woman sitting by herself on a bench in front of Platform 3, where intercity trains pull in. Initially, I thought she was going to be travelling somewhere alone, and was just waiting for her train. But then suddenly her face lit up and she waved. The object of her wave was another older woman, walking towards her pulling a small suitcase. It was obviously a close friend or family member coming to visit her for a few days from out of town. The issue here is about how older people can find themselves lonely at times because old friends and/or family members for one reason or another have moved away. This observation made me think of how older people may no longer have close friends to do simple things with, such as going to the movies, theatre or having a coffee etc. So a design opportunity could involve a buddy system so that older people living on their own can go out together to share their experiences with.