2022 Fall - Creating AgeFriendly Innovations
In Fall 2022, Creating Age-Friendly Innovations continued the community-based approach with a stronger structure around repeated, in-person engagement with older adults at SEAMAAC and other community spaces in South Philadelphia. Students participated in co-create and co-design workshops where they engaged in conversations, shared stories, and worked directly with older adults to identify needs and generate ideas. These sessions emphasized collaboration in real time, with students building and testing early prototypes alongside participants while navigating language differences through translators.
Beyond workshops, students regularly returned to the community to refine their concepts through feedback and iteration, making the process more continuous and grounded in real user input. These activities were supported by in-class discussions on aging, bias, and user needs, helping students connect lived experiences with design decisions. The course concluded with public exhibitions at both SEAMAAC and Drexel’s URBN Center, where students presented their collaboratively developed solutions to both the community and a broader audience.
Outcome
The outcomes of the Fall 2022 course reflected a wide range of design responses, spanning both digital and physical solutions developed through collaboration with older adults. Student projects included website-based platforms and language exchange programs aimed at improving communication, as well as more tangible products such as translation pocket books, seating concepts, and portable planting pots that support everyday activities and wellbeing. This range highlighted how students approached aging not as a single problem, but as a set of interconnected social, cultural, and practical challenges.
In addition to the final concepts, students produced process books, research documentation, and posters that captured their journey from initial engagement to iterative prototyping. The diversity of outcomes demonstrated how direct feedback from older adults shaped both the type and direction of each solution. The projects were ultimately presented in public exhibitions at SEAMAAC and Drexel’s URBN Center, showcasing the breadth of interdisciplinary and community-driven design work.
Quotes
“I realized that beyond her age she (one older participant) has the same experiences as people of other age groups as well. This was such a touching aspect because it allowed me to rethink my assumptions about getting older, and how getting older does not mean I will no longer enjoy life. It could be that I find new things that I enjoy once I get to a certain age, and it will be enough for me.”
“I learned about myself that I need to enjoy every stage of life because each one is a gift. This class taught me more about life and more about the world than I ever would have imagined.”
Interested in registering for the Aging & Design course series, being a faculty/community collaborator, or getting involved with the Empathic CoDesign Lab?
Contact Professor June He at jh3943@drexel.edu