AI-assisted Design | Process Exploration
HAVEN : Designing a care companion for older adults, accelerated by AI
Overview
Project Summary:
HAVEN is a care companion app concept for older adults. It helps them keep up with daily medications, stay on top of routines, and feel a little less alone. I used AI tools like Figma Make, Google Gemini, and ChatGPT throughout the project to move faster, from early ideas to interface concepts. The design decisions were mine. The speed was theirs.
Project Type: AI-assisted Design Exploration
My Role: Product Designer
Domain: Human–AI Collaboration in Product Design, Digital Health and Assistive Technology
Tools used: Figma, Miro, Claude
MOTIVATION
Why design for older adults?
I have watched my grandfather struggle with technology that wasn't designed for him.
Setting a simple medication reminder shouldn't require navigating three menus and a settings screen, but that's what most apps expect. A lot of digital health tools treat older adults as an afterthought. The interfaces are cluttered, the language is clinical, and there's little consideration for how overwhelming a busy screen feels to someone who didn't grow up with smartphones.
I picked this problem because it forced me to think carefully about accessibility, trust, and simplicity. I also wanted to see how far AI tools could take me in early-stage design, while I stayed in the driver's seat for the decisions that matter.
PROCESS
How I got to the design
AI tools are great at generating ideas quickly. But they don't tell you which ideas are good, whether they will actually work for your users, or when something feels off. That gap is where I spent most of my time on this project. Here's how the design came together!
Concept Definition:
I started with a simple question: where would a care companion actually fit into someone's day?
Older adults often deal with medication schedules, daily routines that need gentle structure, and stretches of time where they are just alone. Most apps try to solve all of this with dashboards and notifications. I wanted something quieter.
HAVEN is built around four things: medication reminders, daily routine prompts, light conversational check-ins, and a design that prioritizes clarity and accessibility throughout.
The goal wasn't to build a medical tool. It was to build something that feels like a helpful presence.
-> I mapped out observations, questions, and possible directions before narrowing down to the concept that had the most potential
Design Direction:
Before generating any screens, I set a few ground rules for the design. These came from thinking about how older adults actually use their phones, what frustrates them, and what would make this app feel safe to use every day.
Voice first- Most older adults aren't comfortable typing on small screens. Voice is the primary way to navigate.
Minimal taps- Every task should be reachable in as few steps as possible. No nested menus, no hidden options.
Accessible by default- Large text, strong contrast, and haptic feedback for critical moments. All adjustable by the user.
Warm, not clinical- A calm, subtle color palette. No bright sterile whites or harsh blues.
A companion with boundaries- Supportive and gentle most of the time, but direct when something seems off. If the situation is serious, it points to a real person.
With these in place, I explored a few visual directions using Google Stitch:
Warm Cards
Minimal Cool
Illustrated warmth
Voice-first
Each direction had something worth keeping. None was right on its own.
Colour scheme and card structure from Warm Cards
Voice-first home screen from Voice First
Activity reminder idea from Illustrated Warmth
The rest came from my own judgment.
Stitch was great for exploring directions quickly but limited for refinement. I exported the frames into Figma and made the following changes:
Replaced the avatar with one that felt more human and inviting
Made the avatar customisable by gender and role
Rewrote the medication reminder copy to feel warmer
Removed voice from the navigation bar, added a persistent voice icon on every screen instead
Fixed layouts and spacing that weren't responsive
Medication Reminder
Status confirmation
Missed Dose Follow-up
Daily Check-In
Settings and Controls
Reflection
What worked: Prompting through directions quickly meant I could explore more than I normally would. The speed was genuinely useful.
What didn't: No tool could tell me when something felt off. That part was always mine to figure out.
What I'd do differently: Sit with real users earlier. My understanding of older adults got me started, but it's not the same as watching someone actually use the thing.
What I took away: Designing for this audience taught me that simplicity isn't about how little you show. It's about how clear everything that stays needs to be.