ReMinders
An Interactive Engagement Method for People Experiencing Dementia
At Banfield Pavilion, people experiencing dementia live in long-term care. As a way of helping those living here be able to share their culture. Our goal was to create a medium which encourages personal interaction and allows their stories to be told. After an initial meeting where we learned about our co-creators, workshops were developed to explore where their deepest interests and most cherished memories were held. These workshops were thought of as games to play and learn a bit about each other along the way.
Through the workshops we had great discussions with our co-creating residents and my group discovered that both had a deep history of boating along the west coast of British Columbia. We explored this further by developing the workshop even further to locate where these stories took place and how these instances impacted their lives.
During our discussions we discovered a love of topographical maps and we decided to make a story map as such. To begin visualizing the approximate layout and size of the map, I created a 1:1 mockup of Vancouver island and the west coast using paper cutouts. To make a drawing ready for laser cutting, a darkened map of the coast was created to begin working with Illustrator.
3D printed sailboats were made to represent each of our residents. The layers were attached with epoxy and painted with a magnetic paint to allow our boats to stick while mounted upright. It was then sprayed with a clear coating to protect from accidental spills or damage. Icons representing each story were later added to allow for more interaction.
The final outcome for our residents had the icons developed in the workshop representing each of their stories placed on the map where it took place with a corresponding pamphlet customized for each person, allowing them to share their stories, wisdom, humor, and begin new conversations with visitors and staff at Banfield pavilion.