I’m working on a wearable product for people with dementia and I’m a bit stuck on a core design problem, so I wanted some honest input.
The idea is something people can wear that stores key information like who they are and who to contact, but it needs to feel normal enough that they’ll actually keep it on. A lot of what’s out there now feels quite medical or obvious, and from what I’ve seen those often get taken off or just aren’t worn consistently.
The tricky part is the wearer isn’t really the one choosing to use it in a moment. It’s usually a stranger or someone nearby who ends up interacting with it, often when the person is confused or distressed. So it has to make sense very quickly to someone else, without instructions, and without relying on the person wearing it to explain anything.
What I keep getting stuck on is how to make something that looks like jewellery or something familiar and comforting, but also signals to a stranger that it’s important and they should look at it. If it’s too subtle, no one notices it. If it’s too obvious, it starts to feel clinical or undignified.
I’m not sure if this is something you can solve through design alone, like colour or symbols, or if recognition of something like this only really works when people have learned what it means over time, like certain safety signs or medical IDs.
There’s also the issue that people don’t think “I should scan this” in real life. So if it relies on QR or NFC, that feels fragile. But if you add visible text, it risks pushing it back into that medical category again.
I guess what I’m asking is whether this is actually solvable in a clean way, or if it’s always going to be a compromise between dignity and visibility. And if anyone has seen examples where something manages to look normal but still gets recognised as something to check in a moment like that.
Also very open to being told this is fundamentally flawed if that’s the case.