Holly Thomson (she/her)
I’m a multidisciplinary designer, interested in service and user interface design. I am passionate about creating meaningful and user-driven solutions, and believe that design should be used as a problem-solving and/or preventative tool for speculative/future focused issues. My projects are a reflection of this, both recognising future issues and working towards solving them through an iterative, user-centred approach.
Third Phase
By 2036, 1/4 of the worlds population will be over 65. In the UK, the way in which we currently view this ageing population and ageing in general, is negative and based on outdated stereotypes. The ‘issue’ of ageing and retirement is largely planned for financially (both within government and within society), when really there is so much more to this phase of your life.
‘Third Phase’ is a project exploring the possibilities of your later years of life, and re-defining what traditional retirement looks like. It is a proposed government funded service for people approaching traditional retirement age, which aims to help people navigate their future and discover what options are available to them.
I have designed this service to show people what opportunities lie ahead in their ‘third phase of life’, and try and change the way that we look at getting older.
What is Your Third Phase?
Personal Wellbeing in Cancer Care: 2030
Future Experiences part 1: Group work
Future Experiences is a project which explores the impact of collective intelligence on the future of cancer treatment in 2030. For the first part of the project, we focused on personal wellbeing, for those living with cancer in 2030. We created a future world, based on speculative research surrounding the future of healthcare, which we carried out as a group.
After the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic the world will be changed forever. The UK will aim to never let something of this severity happen again and to take more precautions in the future.
By 2030 the UK will become a health focused society, and in order to track health risks, the Ministry of Health started calculating health risk factors for every citizen, with the H.R.F (Health Risk Factor). News broadcasts regularly have alerts issued by the ministry of health. This is all so people with high HRF can take necessary precautions whenever they might be exposed to danger to their health, for example rising cases of flu in their area or pollution cloud.
Collective Communication Toolkit
Future Experiences part 2: Individual work
I focused my project on a future world scenario, where healthcare is largely completed at home, aiming to create better communication of both physical and mental health.
I designed the Collective Communication Toolkit to create a collective intelligence between my user and both their family, and medical staff, to combat the isolation and anxiety faced by them from having a lack of control over their healthcare, and lack of communication.
The toolkit allows for both medical and emotional data to be silently communicated through a series of objects, which exist in and around the home. They cover 4 main vital signs, both medical and emotional: temperature, respiration, heart rate and anxiety levels. These devices allow for daily communication of the tacit knowledge of emotional health between a patient and a loved one, through the use of a paired object in a loved ones home, which communicates how the patient is feeling through light. They also communicate the patient’s daily treatment progress, by providing data on their vital signs, which can be viewed through a digital service available on the patient’s phone.
Summary
Context
A short film showing the context of my future world scenario. In 2030, healthcare is largely completed at home, and people have more autonomy over their care. The user I designed for is Tom, a cancer patient undergoing their treatment at home, in a small flat, where he lives by himself.
