Unfold the complexity of ageing in Portugal to provide new inclusive age-empowered solutions.
Clients: ** confidential
Company/Agency: With Company, Portugal
Team: Alive Oliva, Ana Oliveira, Céline Le Grand, Mafalda Cintra, Sofia Carvalhot
My role: Strategist Designer
Expertises:
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
STRATEGY
SYSTEMIC DESIGN
BUSINESS DESIGN
CHALLENGE
Gain a deep understanding on what it means to age in Portugal by defining hypotheses that lead us to a beyond insurance strategic vision with new approaches to the topic.
CONTEXT
Due to an ageist society and an oppressive cultural background, ageing in Portugal is still perceived as a linear journey, affected by structural problems that underlie a complex and bleak scenario. The solutions and options offered today still limit choices and segregate people as they age. As we delved into this topic, it became clear that change was needed. Not only to provide better solutions that offer guidance and support but also to completely challenge the established perception of what it means to age and to celebrate individuals and their diversity.
ROLES
01 Understand barriers and challenges people face while ageing in Portugal.
02 Bring unheard voices through an intersectional approach, understanding how ageing brings more complex challenges to vulnerable groups.
03 Pursue Validated Hypothesis, leading the way into opportunities for a better ageing context.
04 Bring a systemic lens that allows us to comprehend opportunities as part of a moving system.
05 Design and deliver solutions under a strategic vision.
01
Deep Dive
delving into the problem, AND understanding what is going on below the surface, at A systemic level.
Delve deep into what it means to age, supported by in-depth interviews, focus groups, immersions and conversations with specialists and professionals in the field of ageing, such as a psychologist, an architect and social workers, to truly understand the complexity of ageing. Understand the different forces shaping our society today on this issue by analysing all aspects, both visible and invisible.
02
Leverage points
Identify leverage points through a systemic and intersectional approach, that have the power to shift the status quo.
To identify these levers, we looked for deeper needs and power structures that influence ageing today.
To iterate on the first hypothesis and identify patterns of behaviour, we conducted exploratory research cycles. It opened up the scope for an understanding of ageing as a life process rather than a specific moment in someone's life.
FINDINGS
01. Ageing actively and healthy is actually about overall well-being that goes across diverse aspects of our lives.
From the research, we realized the broad dimension of ageing and all the diverse themes ageing crosses and intersects: Identity, death, finance, relationships, care, health, ageism, self-care, history and culture, mobility, etc.
We analyzed this complex system and understood that ageing well, as a universal concept, goes beyond being active and healthy but dwells in that concept of well-being: encompassing the broader holistic dimensions of a well-lived life.
03. A distinct attitude towards ageing can ease the journey
While the ageing process is a universal phenomenon, people perceive and experience ageing quite differently. There are triggering moments in a lifetime that make people think and act on ageing. Ageing is a result of a series of events that individuals can or cannot control and the decisions they take during life as major things in life shift, the way ageing is perceived also changes.
We identified different factors that change the perception of ageing and make people think and eventually react: the decline of physical or mental capacities, cultural expectations, retirement time, irreversible long-term decisions, mirror-effect, roles and responsibilities, and more. The way people reason about ageing is a very personal process, and our attitude toward it influences the actions we could take on ageing.
To envisage ageing as a moment for redefinition, a moment of confidence, self-knowledge, and empowerment can turn ageing into an opportunity for blossoming and shift the perception of what it means to age.
02. There are societal power structures that contribute to a dark and complex scenario
The deep dive research revealed many insights and concepts that are kept in the shadows. We realized that ageing today is defined and influenced by systemic power structures such as ageism, ableism, segregation, social taboos, financial uncertainty, and a saturated care system, which constitute a dark and complex scenario. We looked at that complexity and unfolded it to understand how those power structures affect and impact people and, even more, the most vulnerable.
We explored ways through the research to break these structures and designed a strategy to lighten the scene through the creation of new opportunities and new scenarios to disrupt that context.
04. Life is about navigating Roles
We understood that the roles and profiles each individual could have and take while ageing is complex and mutable.
The research and focus groups helped us to identify this complexity of roles taken: someone had been a caregiver at some point. Someone had needed care. Some were able to prepare for a while and then retreat due to an unpredictable moment.
Life is about moving in this duality of roles that demonstrate a variety of specific needs and answers that could resonate and be beneficial at different moments of a lifespan depending on the circumstances and individual capacities and attitudes.
So, how might we design a new approach to ageing to play a significant role in shaping the future of ageing in Portugal?
03
Behavioral archetypes
“ Ageing is a result of a series of events that individuals can or cannot control and the decisions they take during life. As major things in life shift, the way ageing is perceived also changes.”
Aging conditioning encompasses various factors that alter our perspective on aging, subsequently prompting diverse responses and behaviors.
04
Strategic vision
Identifying opportunities through a systemic and intersectional approach. To enter a complex system SUCH AS ageing, WE LOOKED AT MORE integrated responses AT THREE LEVELS: INDIVIDUAL, INTERPERSONAL, STRUCTURAL
05
Opportunities
POSITIONING OUR CLIENT AS THE PIONEER ORGANISATION IN PORTUGAL TO COMMIT ITSELF TO WORK TOWARDS THE CREATION OF AGEING-EMPOWERING SOCIETIES.
As part of this systemic approach, we offered new, inclusive, age-friendly solutions and initiatives under six major windows of opportunity that could lead to ways of breaking these structures.
