Today

Inspiration

We were inspired by listening to Mike talk about his challenges using complicated note-taking and to-do apps, such as Evernote. Evernote is incredibly powerful, but it is not suitable for somebody with difficulty using the wide range of options and features available. We decided to design an app that would allow somebody suffering from short-term memory loss to record their appointments and tasks simply, and receive clear notifications when they need a reminder.

My mother has severe short term memory loss...She lives each day with a substantial amount of anxiety over not knowing where she “is supposed to be” at every time of the day.

This quote is taken from an article describing the struggles presented by living with short-term memory loss due to Alzheimer's. Our goal was to help alleviate this anxiety.

How it works

We have written a prototype of an Android app using Java, as well as designs for the user interface. The app would be easily portable to iOS in the future. The app syncs using a Google account, ensuring that no data is lost in case of a lost device. This also allows a designated caretaker to add appointments from their device, and view the daily schedule.

At the home screen, the user can see a list of cards containing the tasks already in their schedule for the day, organized in chronological order. The current weekday and date is displayed at the top of the screen as a reminder. There is a '+' button to easily add a new event or task. A "call" button is also present, allowing the user to easily call their designated caretaker if they get lost or confused. By tapping an event, the user can see more details about the event, as well as an optional image to help remind them of the nature of the task.

When the user chooses to create a new event, they are shown a screen that allows them to choose the date and time, provide more information about the event, such as an address. They can also decide whether the event is daily (e.g. taking medication), weekly (e.g. physical therapy appointment), or monthly (e.g. due date for a bill). If the user would like, they can add an image from a gallery of icons in order to help them remember what the event is related to.

For our design, we emphasized simplicity, readability, and ease of use. All design decisions were made to ensure the user is not overwhelmed, even if they are at a later stage of the disease or unfamiliar with technology.

Challenges we ran into

It was difficult to design an app that had the appropriate level of functionality without excessive complexity. An emphasis on readability and usability was challenging using the smaller screens available on mobile devices.

What's next for Today

After finishing a fully functional Android app, we hope to port to iOS, so that it is available for all mobile users.

There are also a few features that we would implement in the future. We would like for the user to be able to specify whether each event they create is located at home, work, or elsewhere. The user or the caregiver would be able to identify the location of the user's home. Then, the app would use the device's location based services to determine whether the user is at home or elsewhere, and only present notifications for events that are located in the user's location. This would prevent the user from being confused by notifications that are inappropriate for their current location.

We would also like to implement a version for Android Wear and Apple Watch OS to allow notifications to be delivered and read more easily. We would also consider implementing a connection between a reminder and Google Maps, to allow the user to get directions to the location of their event.