👋 Welcome: Lauren Stewart!

The lab employed a new graphic designer: Say hello to our newest team member, Lauren Stewart! 

Lauren is a graphic designer who specialises in layout, infographic and publication design. Over the last two years she has primarily been designing for non-profits, which has led to a strong interest in empathy-driven communication design. Her two main focuses at the Lab will be visualising Patient Pathways and supporting the Wayfinding team.

Outside of work she runs a co-working space with two friends which aims to connect underground designers and artists to the wider community. You will find her there most weekends working on pottery, zines and printing on their Risograph.

We're excited to have her onboard and look forward to her contributions to the design team!

Eden Short AKA Boss Cat @ UX Homegrown

Last week, our wayfinding specialist Eden Short presented at the very first UX Homegrown conference, hosted at AUT City campus. The conference hosted a hundred-something professionals, passionate about designing and delivering great user experiences across all types of industry. Presenting in the 'Unusual Places' category, Eden shared her knowledge and experience designing for the emotional impact of navigating through healthcare, using the Starship Outpatient experience as a case study. 

“Wayfinding is rapid learning in unfamiliar environments”

Although not conclusive, it's fair to say Eden's talk was a crowd favourite, and provided industry validation to the fantastic work she and team are leading across wayfinding at Auckland City Hospital. Well done Eden!

Co-design Workshop with Senior Citizens

Here at the DHW Lab, we aim to put users at the centre of everything we do. Last week was a great example of this, with our resident anthropologist Guy Collier and UX designer Nick Hayes, running a co-design workshop with a small group of senior citizens to explore the challenges associated with changes to memory and thinking.

Through the workshop, Nick and Guy explored the lived experience of changes to memory and thinking, and the associated day-today-day challenges. Participants then engaged in activities to explore how an online resource, such as a website, might support their experiences. Numerous ideas were generated including community engagement and forums, sharing strategies, and peer-to-peer support. 

Development of these ideas and other solutions will continue to be explored through subsequent workshops involving participants throughout the process. 

A special thanks to Brain Research New Zealand and the Centre for Person Centred Research at AUT for sponsoring this important type of work.

Research Assistant (Qualitative) - DHW Lab

Research Assistant - Design for Health and Wellbeing Lab (DHW Lab)

The Design for Health and Wellbeing Lab (DHW Lab) is a new dynamic research collaboration between AUT University and the Auckland District Health Board (ADHB). The aims of the Lab include establishing and developing a community of interdisciplinary design-led research to developing products, services, systems and experiences for improved health and wellbeing of our population.

A fixed term position is available for Research Assistant to undertake design-led research to support the aims and objectives of the lab.

• Provide support on research projects
• Contribute to data collection; this will include help with recruitment and management of research participants, conducting fieldwork, interviews, data collection, processing data (field notes, transcriptions) and literature reviews.

• Contribute to data analysis. 
• Produce reports of the work conducted in both written and spoken forms, including manuscript preparation.  
• Develop understanding of how design tools and processes work to create potential for innovation
• Participate in multi-person, multi-disciplinary research and development projects involving designers, researchers, clinicians, and administration staff from AUT and ADHB.
• Other research related work as required

The successful applicants will work in partnership with others in the lab to carry out design projects, tasks and activities associated with the DHWLab. Applicants must be able to multi-task, be flexible in their working hours and have excellent interpersonal skills along with being empathetic and compassionate. A postgraduate (masters or higher) qualification in appropriate research is required:

• A background in one of the following areas: Sociology, Nursing, Health Psychology, Anthropology; Organisation Studies; Science and Technology Studies; Design.
• A Masters degree is preferred.
• Understanding of Ethnographic / Design research.
• Self-motivated but also have ability to provide meaningful contributions and work well in a multidisciplinary team.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.

Closing Date: 3 August 2016, 5.00pm

See the job link here

Farewell Kim!

As a second year exchange student coming from the UK it was great to have the opportunity to be involved in such a forward thinking studio on the other side of the world. I have had the time of my life in New Zealand, and by studying and travelling here I have not only learnt more about myself as a person, but developed a real sense of who I am as a designer.

Being a part of the DHW Lab has been such a rewarding and insightful experience. Through my studies at AUT I have learnt that I am particularly interested in design for society, environmental design and designing with positive change in mind. I believe that the DHW Lab underpins all of these interests, and has really helped to develop my knowledge and skill set. 

In the future I hope to set up my own design studio, and I am sure that I will think back to your studio in Auckland hospital, and what a great collaborative space it is. I have enjoyed working alongside people in healthcare professions, and with people of different design backgrounds. The DHW Lab really is something amazing!

The whole experience of being in New Zealand has truly outdone any expectations I had prior to coming. I have absolutely loved exploring and learning in this beautiful country. I am excited to return to Leeds for the final year of my degree with having had new experiences, insights and developing a fresh outlook on design.

A massive thank you to the team at DHW Lab for having me and being so friendly and welcoming, keep doing what you do! I will no doubt be back in New Zealand as there is still so much exploring to be done, but for now I will look forward to seeing Steve and Reid on the other side in Sheffield!

All the best! 

Catalyst Seeding Programme

The DHW Lab co-directed by Steve Reay from AUT was recently awarded funding ($80,000) under the prestigious Catalyst Seeding programme (Royal Society of New Zealand).

This programme is aimed to facilitate new small and medium pre-research strategic partnerships with a view to developing full collaborations that could be supported through Catalyst: Strategic over time.  The application centered around developing the partnership the DHW lab has with Sheffield Hallam University’s Lab4Living, and AUT Centre for Person Centered Research and will explore design opportunities for people living with dementia in hospital and the community. 

In the first of several activities planned under the research, a small team, including Steve, Ivana and Reid will head up to Sheffield in September to work with the Lab4living, and participate in workshops with people living with dementia, their families and researchers.

This is an exciting opportunity for the lab to grow our international relationships with others working in design for health; we Look forward to sharing how this collaboration develops!