Designing with people living with dementia

This project was undertaken as part of the author’s larger Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded Design Research Fellowship that aimed to explore how design can contribute to the design and development of a range of enhanced products, services, and systems for people living with dementia. The fellowship, undertaken in collaboration with Alzheimer Scotland, adopted a range of disruptive design interventions for breaking the cycle of well-formed opinions, strategies, mindsets, and ways-of-doing, that tend to remain unchallenged in the health and social care of people living with dementia. Disruptive design is an approach that the author has developed over several years in conjunction with other members of the Design Disruption Group. The main aims of this project are to develop a series of disruptive design interventions that will help change the perception of dementia by showing that people living with dementia can offer much to UK society after diagnosis. It is hoped the designed interventions will help reconnect people recently diagnosed with dementia to build their self-esteem, identity and dignity and help keep the person living with dementia connected to their community, thus delaying the need for formal support and avoid the need for crisis responses. During the creation of the Disrupting Dementia project tartan, the author worked collaboratively with 130 people diagnosed with dementia across Scotland in the co-design and co-production of this new tartan.