Cara
Caregiver assistance
Individual
Year
2024
How might we design an intervention for care-givers of the elderly that uplifts and assists them during their care-giving journey?
Industrial Design
UI/UX Design
The Problem
Informal caregivers are individuals who selflessly provide care to family members or friends without financial compensation. These caregivers form an essential but often overlooked part of the healthcare ecosystem, and this project is a step toward acknowledging their invaluable contributions. By focusing on both digital and physical support systems, this project aims to create a meaningful impact in the lives of caregivers while prioritizing their well-being.
The Outcome
Cara came from watching my grandmother move from independent to dependent to helpless, and feeling my family's exhaustion and confusion despite medical support. Validated further with 10+ caregivers who'd lived similar experiences, Cara answers a question rarely asked, who cares for the caregiver? It's shaped around the real constraints of both caregiver and recipient, surfacing the right information at the right time to cut decision fatigue.
Impact
Care That Doesn't Leave the Caregiver Behind
Caregiving is one of the most demanding roles a person can take on and most people do it alone. Cara proposes a three-component ecosystem that supports the caregiver as much as the person being cared for — so the act of caring for someone else doesn't come at the cost of the caregiver's own wellbeing.
The Right Information Before Panic Sets In
When something goes wrong, caregivers need clarity not more noise. Cara is designed to surface critical health signals and contextual guidance the moment they matter, giving caregivers the confidence to act decisively in unexpected situations rather than scrambling for answers.
Health Data That Speaks Human
Medical information is complex by nature. Cara translates it into something both the caregiver and the person in their care can actually understand visually clear, emotionally considered, and communicated across physical and digital touchpoints without requiring clinical literacy to make sense of it.
Decisions
& Process
Cara pairs a physical companion device with a wearable, each with its own logic, the buddy leans approachable and inventive, the wearable prioritizes comfort above all. The UX stays supportive, not transactional, breaking data into simple steps or encouragement rather than raw numbers. A central system coordinates both stakeholders as two sides of one experience.
