Inspiration
Our group was inspired by one of our members and her close connection with her grandparents. She wanted to find a way to connect with them more, ensure they could continue doing the things they loved, and most importantly, help them maintain mental engagement and cognitive well-being as they aged.
What it does
Garden Studio is a mobile app that supports creativity, social connection, and outdoor experiences for older adults. It promotes social and cognitive well-being by making it easy to discover accessible creative projects and participate in shared, community-based activities. It encourages regular activity through purpose-built features such as curated event hosting and supports memory and continuity through a recurring schedule and a personal activity timeline that helps users reflect on past experiences.
How we built it
Our group began with ideation, then used paper UI/UX templates before prototyping in Figma. One of our group members then developed the app using the languages and tools listed below.
Challenges we ran into
Our team encountered several challenges, many of which might be attributed to this being our first hackathon. These included time management issues; without a clear plan at the outset, we underutilized some group members early on and relied on them too heavily in later stages. Ensuring an accessible design was also difficult, as we did not have access to members of our intended user group to test with or receive feedback. Additionally, group formation presented challenges because the team was assembled on the day of the hackathon and members were meeting for the first time, it was difficult to initially assess each person’s skill set, capabilities, and comfort levels. This also led to a large number of group members having overlapping skillsets, so some members were forced to work by themselves.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud and excited to have completed our first hackathon and have enjoyed the experience.
What we learned
Through this experience, we learned several important lessons. Working in a hackathon environment emphasized the value of adaptability and maintaining momentum under time constraints. We also learned the importance of time management; establishing a clear plan and assigning roles early would have allowed us to use our time and team members more effectively. Designing for accessibility without direct access to our intended user group highlighted the need for early research and careful consideration of inclusive design principles. Finally, collaborating in a newly formed team reinforced the importance of clear communication, flexibility, and understanding each member’s strengths in order to work efficiently and achieve a shared goal.
What's next for Garden Studio
We have learned a lot from the process of making Garden studio, which, if continued, would expand social features and UX research to ensure it meets its accessibility goals and fills the intended user needs.
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