Inter-Generate: A Set of Design Offerings for Chinese Empty Nesters

A S E T OF D E S IGN O FFE R IN GS FO R C HI NE S E E MPTY- NE STE R S

INTER-GENERATE

H A N G YUA N | T H E SIS 2021

INTER-GENERATE A SET OF DE SIGN O FFE R I NGS FOR CHI NESE EM PTY-NESTERS

HANG YUAN

COPYRIGHT 2021 BY HANG YUAN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DESIGN BY HANG YUAN THESIS BOOK PUBLISHED IN COMPLETION OF MASTERS OF FINE ART DESIGN FOR THE PRODUCT OF DESIGN PROGRAM AT THE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, NEW YORK.

FOR THE CHINESE EMPTY-NESTERS WHO ARE STILL ON THE “ ISLAND.”

CONTENTS Personal Statement: My Journey to Intergenerate……………8………

8 Key Terminology………………………………………………………………

12 An Introduction to Chinese Empty Nesters

Reflections on Aging……………………………………………………

16

Defining Empty Nesters………………………………………………

20

Technology and Elders……………………………………………………

24

Drawing Inspiration from May Sarton……………………………………

26 My Design Practice……………………………………………………………………

32 Core Users………………………………………………………………………………

36 Competitive Analysis………………………………………………………………

38 Projects

Medical Perspectives 1. Bonding…………………………………………………………

52 2. Blue Alert…………………………………………………………

62 3. Sighing Experience Lab…………………………………………

74 4. Policy Paper…………………………………………………………

84

Relationship Perspectives 1. Koan………………………………………………………………

92 2. Flashcards…………………………………………………………

106

Philosophical Perspectives 1. Charge………………………………………………………………

124 2. Mutual………………………………………………………………

138 Conclusion Looking Forward………………………………………………………………………………

154 Addendum

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………

156

PERSONAL STATEMENT: MY JOURNEY TO INTERGENERATE

It was a very strange thing for me, at my age, to think about old people. The main reason might be an impressive memory of my childhood. When I was a child, I once went to a nearby market with my parents to buy some vegetables. I found a very elderly woman begging by the side of the road. I don’t remember exactly what she looked like, but I felt a strong emotional impact when I stared at her. It was an indescribable emotion, perhaps tinged with guilt mixed with anger. The guilt was that I passed her coldly because of my childhood shyness. But I was furious at what kind of children would let their mother go out begging. It’s a paradoxical emotion, but perhaps it’s the same one that prompted me to start paying extra attention to elderly people living around me after that time. Sometimes I even bring myself into their characters consciously

我从来以为，相对于物质力量对于我们的压迫，人类心灵上巨大 的困境，更为强烈地作用在我们的生命中。肉体的病痛，物质的匮 乏，乃至诸般种种的天灾与人祸，这些似乎都是外力，有时候几乎 是不可辨驳与无法转圜的；而心灵专属于我们，我永远在意的是， 是什么，让我们的心灵都无法自已？如果说，空巢，衰老，对于我 们还是未来之事，那么，孤独，此刻便潜藏在我们每个人的内心， 它柔韧地蛰伏着，伺机荼毒我们的灵魂。-《我在这世上太孤 独 》

to think about their feelings.

Looking back now, I still want to thank my continued extra attention to this group of people and some accumulated thinking that gave me the courage to choose it as my graduate project.

As a country with the largest elderly population in the world, China has been facing severe challenges of social aging. According to <China Development Report 2020>, in 2022, China will enter a deeply aging society, with the elderly population accounting for 14%. By 2033, China will become a super-aged society with an aged population of 22 percent. After that, around 2060, the proportion of the aging population will reach 35 percent, which means that in 2060, one in three Chinese will be over 65 years old. Such a large group has been neglected for a long time. One of the most important reasons may be that China is still in a period of development and reform.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a theoretical framework developed by Abraham Maslow in 1943, posits that human existence can be segmented into three essential categories of needs - the lowest being one’s basic needs such as food, shelter, and safety; the middle being psychological, such as relationships and status; and the top defined as self-fulfillment, which includes creativity. In this context, we can see China as having now achieved - as a thriving nation - its root requirements of safety and security. As China enters the new millennium, its national strength has improved significantly. In other words, the nation is thriving.

It’s time, now, to take care of our elderly.

Among the many challenges I want to fo-

cus on, the mental health of empty-nesters is my primary focus. According to statistics, depression among the elderly accounts for 25 percent of the total, and this number indicates a growing trend. At the same time, the suicide rate among China’s rural elderly remains stubbornly high. This thesis investigation demonstrates the starting point for my considering the research on the mental health of the elderly in China as an entry point for developing products of design that can serve as both prevention and support for the elderly and those who care for them.

One of the central threads this work considers is the relationship between Chinese and Western forms of care. Since ancient times, Chinese culture has emphasized the body and mind as a whole. As a result, Western psychotherapy was largely unaccepted by Chinese, leading to a lack of knowledge on mental health and resources of psychotherapists.

Even though currently the Chinese government is realizing the importance of construction of mental health, there is still a long way to go.

As I’ve conceived it, Intergenerate is designed to address the elderly who are deserving of care of support; but in order to achieve that, this work is also speaking to younger generations - to the children and grandchildren and even great grandchildren of our nation’s elders. Intergenerate asks for us to consider what care we can provide even when we are far away and busy with our own thriving, modern lives. Our elders are not just being left behind geographically, but technologically, socially, and through the loss of traditions.

Intergenerate asks what we can literally generate together for our loved ones but, perhaps just as importantly, for our future selves. In the best case scenario, we will all be old one day. Intergenerate is making room for us to

thrive as time brings us into old age and our own children and grandchildren are forced to ask, what can I do to help?

When I think about the old woman I saw on the side of the road that day, I think about my future self. But I also think about my own beloved grandparents and parents. The work they’ve done all their lives so that I, too, can thrive.

Intergenerate is my promise to see them, care for them, and never leave them behind.

LEXICON OF TERMS

· Digital divide

· Empty nest syndrome

The digital divide is a term that refers to the gap between the demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology. Such technology can include telephone, television, personal computers, and the Internet.

Empty nest syndrome is a phenomenon in which parents experience the feelings of sadness and loss when the last child leaves home.

Although you might actively encourage your children to become independent, the experience of letting go can be painful.

· Somatization

· Intergenerational communities

Somatization is the word we use for the physical (or body) expression of stress and emotions through the mind-body connection.

We are all somatized. Up to 12% of doctors’ visits are for somatic symptoms. Somatic symptoms are very real.

Intergenerational communities promote interaction and cooperation between individuals of different ages and focus on the needs of all residents, especially children and older adults.

This place-based approach to community building focuses on a distinct geographic area, such as a neighborhood, town, or county.

· Old solitary people Old solitary people, also known as the elderly living alone, refer to the singles or husbands and wives of the elderly living alone, and it is one of the social problems. Elderly people may live alone because of the death of their spouses or because they have no offspring or because their children live elsewhere. The elderly who fall into the latter category are also called empty nesters in mainland China. As the population ages, empty-nesters have become one of the social problems in the Chinese mainland, often facing more serious psychological problems than others.

· Single-child policy

· Chinese empty nest young

One-child policy is an official program initiated in the late 1970s and early ‘80s by the central government of China, the purpose of which is to limit the great majority of family units in the country to have one child each.

The rationale for implementing the policy was to reduce the growth rate of China’s enormous population.

Far away from their hometown and relatives, the empty-nesters live alone and lack emotional sustenance and family life. They struggle in big cities alone, but the prosperity and survival pressure of big cities make them even lonelier.

· “421” family

· The Belt and Road Initiative

It is an inverted pyramid family structure, composed of 4 grandparents, 2 parents, and 1 kid in a closely bonded Chinese family.

The ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) initiative is a Chinese economic and strategic agenda, by which the two ends of Eurasia, as well as Africa and Oceania, are more closely tied along two routes – one overland and one maritime.

AN INTRODUCTION TO CHINESE EMPTY NESTERS

The main three questions philosophy asks are: Where am I f rom?

Who am I? Where am I going to go?

As the population ages, these questions continue to evolve. Where we are from is often rooted in their experience of belonging to family and community. As the generations before them passed on, they are left looking toward the younger generation - their children and grandchildren - as part of the story of their past. Where they are from is both the physical spaces but also the familial ties they hold and pass along. As the young leave their geographical homes, the elderly can feel equally uprooted through a sense of loss. Where they are from feels less certain as people leave.

Who we are is equally defined by who we care for, love, and connect with, as well as who cares for, loves, and feels connected to us. An elder’s sense of self changes - grows or diminishes - as the people who care they cared for and who might care for them leave, and they are left not with loved ones but professional caretakers who might feel responsible for but not deeply connected to them. The difference between being called Mom or Mrs., the difference between seeing yourself in the eyes of your child and looking into the face of a stranger, deeply impacts who you think you are.

Lastly, the question of where we are going is more present for the elderly. Possibly even ever-present. Where they are going is not long about the ambitions of youth - how high will I rise or how much will I achieve. In old age, the question is what will happen to me at the end and where will I go after.

As we consider the contemporary conditions

and challenges of elder empty-nesters in China, these questions serve as a centerpoint for how we might design care. We are not solving the problems of aging and death, but we can center the very real philosophical questions elders confront in their lives. We can also ask, in developing a set of design products intended to provide care and support, what a proactive philosophical thought process enables us to consider.

Some of the questions this thesis attempts to address are: How do we understand the social and psychological dimensions of aging from the elder’s point of view? define elderly empty-nesters?

What are some root causes of the Chinese elderly empty-nester problems?

What can we do to provide elderly empty-nesters with care and support?

Reflections on Aging In her poetic book, Recovering: A Journal (1980), author May Sarton shares her thoughts on the pain she has experienced as a result of aging, asking, “To close the door on pain is to miss the chance for growth, isn’t it?”

In thinking about old age, Sarton comes to an epiphany that one of the results of old age is that we can accept it with pleasure. Acceptance is a sign of confidence. “There is generosity in giving and grace in receiving.” This is how the author explores loneliness and self, i.e., giving and receiving, in the course of a life struggling with illness.

Some parts of pain that we bear are from the resistance of rejecting it. This also reminds me of the current dilemma of the Chinese elderly.

Modern technology always wants to eliminate the physical pain of the elderly. At the same time, our designers want to eliminate the psychological pain as well, constantly figuring out different genius solutions. However, we never think that pain and happiness are not in absolute binary opposition relations. There is no clear boundary between these two terms.

If happiness exists in the world, pain will also appear. So, how do we deal with the unresistant pain?

The wise author gives us a different point of view: Treat every pain as an opportunity to grow, like grasses breaking through tough rocks or eagles cruelly plucking their feathers for the next chance of hovering in the sky. The elderly might not take advantage of pain to exercise their body, but they can exercise their mind. The power of the soul is always stronger than the physical bodies.

If we accept that pain accompanies aging, we may not want to eliminate but honor it. Here, the author Gezhou reflects on the relationship between mind and body in accepting or rejecting pain, saying: 我从来以为，相对于物质力量对于我们的压迫， 人类心灵上巨大的困境，更为强烈地作用在我们 的生命中。肉体的病痛，物质的匮乏，乃至诸般 种种的天灾与人祸，这些似乎都是外力，有时候 几乎是不可辨驳与无法转圜的；而心灵专属于我 们，我永远在意的是，是什么，让我们的心灵都 无法自已？如果说，空巢，衰老，对于我们还是 未来之事，那么，孤独，此刻便潜藏在我们每个 人的内心，它柔韧地蛰伏着，伺机荼毒我们的灵 魂。-戈舟 “I have always believed that the great plight of the human mind plays a stronger role in our lives than the oppression of material forces. Bodily infirmity, material wants, and all manners of natural and manmade calamities seem external, and sometimes almost indefensible. And the mind belongs to us. I will

always care about it. What makes our mind unable to control? If empty-nest and senility are still the future of us, then loneliness is lurking within each of us at the moment, pliable and dormant, waiting to poison our souls.” -Zhou Ge. I am so lonely in this world, 2020.

People care about their physical demands, such as the prices of houses, the salary of a better job, or their future career. However, those physical demands have never been satisfied, and what people need is to fulfill their empty hearts. As a saying goes, everyone is like a small island living in this world.

In addition to the physical demands, elders face the challenge of cognitive decline. One of my interview subjects, Gezhou, shared this thought about the relationship between cognitive decline and loneliness, saying, “It’s logical to think that when someone’s cognitive abilities break down, they are less likely to go out and meet friends, enjoy a camping trip, or participate in community clubs. If memory and thinking capabilities fail, socializing becomes difficult.” The elderly continually lose their social relationships due to their low cognitive ability. Currently, having an effective offline social network is not an easy thing. Because of the prevalence of mobile phones and globe networks, more and more people choose to socialize on the Internet. For the elderly, it is a challenge. How to create a comfortable offline social platform is the goal. Due to the low motivation of the elderly to go outside, people need to figure out a new way which is more suitable for the elderly people to guide them to create social relationships for themselves.

People need to find boundary objects of elderly version. For now, I think planting, cooking and eating are good objects, because these behaviors are accessible for the most elderly. And, the elderly are also willing to talk about these

things.

Only when people become old, uploading external burdens, do they have time to stare at their real minds. They start to find how lonely they are. This is a sad story. As the above sentence said, if empty-nest and senility are still the future of us, then loneliness is lurking within each of us at the moment, pliable and dormant, waiting to poison our souls. I have to say it reflects lots of Chinese situations. I firmly believe that empty-nest is not just a future thing. It indeed happens every day, hiding in every corner, but people adapt to ignoring it.

We should start to pay attention to them and to help them. It will also help our future selves.

Loneliness, to some extent, is the underlying theme of this work. And its irony is not lost on me. To some extent, there is no absolute anti-loneliness. We are living in a constantly connected world; however, we still feel lonely. Philosopher Martin Buber reminds us that, ““All real living is meeting” (Buber, I and Thou, 1923) in his wonderfully prescient book about the need for human connection. Buber’s statement is so concise but real. It reminds me of the pandemic. People have to stay at home for two months in China. Research shows that lots of elderly people committed suicide during this time. It is sad data research, but also uncovers a truth that meeting face-to-face is so essential for the elderly. If people just deliver their “warm greeting” in a call, I think it is useless for the elderly, especially for empty-nesters.

Hence, organizing meetings for those marginalized people is the most effective way to relieve their loneliness.

But meeting is not so simple during a pandemic or at a time when families are separated by vast distances. Providing a means of communication to the elderly is not necessarily a wise

way to help them combat loneliness. To help them realize the essence of loneliness and let them develop their initiative is more important.

Based on this statement, I want to push my thoughts further: How about helping our young generation build up a strong mind to face their loneliness? It is prepared for the biggest loneliness in the future. There are still lots of hypotheses here, but I want to stop here, so as to leave a door for further imagination.

As a designer, the desire to combat problems of loneliness through objects comes into focus.

But reinforcing process over product, the words of David Bollier from his essay, Re-imagining Value: Insights from the Care Economy, Commons, Cyberspace and Nature (2017), reminds the designer to place their emphasis on action not object, saying, “Value does not inhere in objects -- it arises from relationships” Bollier reveals lots of truths in one sentence.

Primarily, people treated shells as money, using them to trade for other stuff. Later, people start to learn to print patterns on paper and treat those pieces of paper with signals as money. In the long river of history, it seems that people always like endowing value to external things. However, they do not realize that everything they used to do is for building and containing relationships. Because people have the same standard of value, they can start to trade, exchange, and cooperate. The great treasure of humans that we have created so far contributes to the relationships we built.

Hence, relationships are so important for people in this society.

Bollier also serves to remind us that relationships cannot be constructed artificially. Our coming together is a product of culture. We first have to understand one another - in language, experience, values, beliefs - in order

to form meaningful relationships. Psychologist Paul B. Pedersen emphasizes the importance of basing any care solution on a cultural framework, saying, “Culture is the most important and most misunderstood concept in psychological theory. Any attempt at accurate evaluation, meaningful understanding, and appropriate behavioral change is misguided, naive, and dangerous without considering the cultural context.” I’m struck by his use of the word “dangerous” here because it means that we have to make that element of culture very central to how we begin to design. It’s not a side note at all, but a foundation on which to build solutions.

A similar thought was shared by one of my interview subjects, ZhouGe, a Chinese writer, who inspires me in his book, “Judgment about a group without considering cultural factors is likely to be arbitrary.” Without considering cultural factors when people judge a group is common nowadays. It has another interpretation -bias. When we try to help a group of people, bias still exists in our minds. We always try to use our empathy to understand people. However, our living surroundings and our culture constantly influence this judgment. We try to imagine us to play a role of our target users, and try to put ourselves into those surroundings. However, it is not enough. We must know what shapes them, what their past experiences are, what their social context is, and what their beliefs are. Ethnographic research has been highly emphasized in the business world.

I would say that we also need to focus on it in the psychotherapy field.

The issue of meaning is addressed by Christoper Moon in his work, Relationship: Bridge to the Soul (1999) in a more metaphysical way.

Moon reflects back on childhood and the importance of early bonding in the earliest times

in our life. Having our actions and emotions mirrored by a parent forms connections that are deeply emotional, but also physical. Moon shares this thought about how a lack of connection affects one’s emotional health, saying, “Our actions don’t have the desired results, and we tend to feel more alone and less valued. We are likely to feel that the world lacks care, warmth and affection, and thus feel desperate. This feeling can make us doubt our own importance” (Moon, Relationship, 1999). While this passage refers to the child’s mind flow, it seems equally pertinent for elders.

for us to figure out a treatment that is combined with our own culture. For these patients, it is more acceptable and supportive.

When we are in childhood, most of our actions are resulting from demanding for the sense of belonging and others’ attention. The statement reminds me of a quotation, which is that every senior is actually a baby. Hence, if we want to know the meaning behind some strange actions of the elderly, we could try to understand it from the above statement. Giving more attention to the elderly is a good way to reduce their anxiety. Based on that, we could know why some seniors are easily suffering from mental health. Once their actions do not accept the expected consequence, the loneliness and some negative feelings will appear. How to give a proper response to the elderly when we do not live with them? How to show their importance for us even though sometimes we do not know how to express our emotions? I think there is a huge opportunity in the future market for the long-distance relationship, especially for the elderly empty-nesters.

number of elderly people who live alone choose to remarry.

China has the largest population of the elderly who are suffering from depression in the world.

However, Chinese mental treatment is out of date; and main treatments are introduced from western countries. I think most Chinese seniors lack a subjective initiative to seek mental support. Due to this reason, it is more important

Def ining the elderly empty-nester When Chinese adult children leave their parents to live alone, their parents become an empty-nest family. As the parents get older, some of their spouses die, and the spouses’ other halves become loners. Some old people who live alone will choose to live with other old people for taking care of each other. A small

An interview subject, Changlin Lan, shared this critical insight with me: “Empty Nest is not a result but a process.”

Empty Nest is a stage in our life. However, people are always used to paying attention to the consequences. For example, when people feel headache, they will firstly find headache medicine to take, but do not think about what causes the headache. The reason might be a bad life hobby, or it is caused by other diseases.

Hence, when we cannot illuminate something by the surface, looking through the phenomena to uncover the essence is more important than solving the surface problem. Hence, during the research about the empty nest, we should not just focus on the old age people, but shall also pay attention to the middle age people. What they experienced leads to the empty nest.

Could we do something proactively for them before they suffer from empty nests?

We can find that the group of widowed old people needs the most social attention. This group makes up an estimated 10 percent of all empty-nesters. Some of them choose to go to

nursing homes under the social welfare system.

There are also a significant number of people who choose to live alone. With the aging process of China, the number of elderly will be continually increasing.

In terms of Empty-nest, it refers to those who have no children or live alone without their children. They can be divided into three categories: forced empty-nesters (having no children, relatives or children do not want to bear responsibilities), voluntary empty-nesters (self-awareness of living alone), and helpless empty-nesters (children go out to work in other cities). Therefore, the elderly living alone can be said to be a kind of empty nesters. Those who are forced to live alone in empty nests.

At present, more and more young people in rural China choose to work in big cities. Therefore, the empty-nest rate in rural China has increased very fast over recent years. As research shows, it has exceeded the average empty-nest rate in Chinese cities. Compared with China’s urban areas, China’s rural areas lack perfect medical care and old-age related services and facilities. Secondly, a considerable part of the elderly in China’s rural areas still have a huge economic pressure to support themselves. Most of their daily expenses come from their children who work in other cities.

Urban vs. Rural Empty Nesters At present, both rural areas and urban areas are facing the problem of empty nests. A key question is how can service providers and policy makers effectively take measures according to local conditions and combine relevant policy advantages to help empty nesters have a better pension life?

I subdivide China’s empty-nesters into ru-

ral empty-nesters and urban empty-nesters according to regions, because the problems faced by the urban and rural empty-nesters in China are very different.

Compared with the rural empty-nesters, the urban empty-nesters have more perfect community pension facilities. However, because the relationship between people and people is relatively distant in cities, the neighborhood relationship is far less close than the clan relationship in the countryside. Therefore, in recent years, there are also related reports about empty nesters in cities, who died alone at home.

Besides, urban empty-nesters are generally more educated and have a higher pursuit of the spiritual world. Therefore, a considerable number of urban empty-nesters suffer from depression due to the lack of a spiritual world.

What causes the Chinese elderly empty-nests?

The improvement of China’s economic strength has contributed to the rapid development of empty-nest families from both subjective and objective aspects. With the acceleration of social transformation, the generation gap is becoming more and more prominent.

1. Lifestyle change With the improvement of material living standards, people pursue a spiritual life. Both the old and the young generations demand independent activity space and freedom. The traditional way of living in a big family is no longer suitable for people’s needs, so the small families are widely accepted. The families in our country are becoming smaller. Over recent years, China’s urban living conditions have been improved significantly. Children first move into new homes, leaving their parents living together. It has become fashionable in many areas for young people in rural areas to set up their own small families after marriage. Moving into a new home often serves as an opportunity for

separation between generations.

2. Family pattern change China has carried out the family planning policy for more than 20 years. In 20 to 30 years, as the only-one children gradually enter their middle ages and their parents enter old ages, there will be more and more empty-nest families. It is expected that the empty-nest family will be the main pattern of the elderly families in urban and even many rural areas in China in the 21st century.

Current policies about empty nesters 1. In the countryside of Hebei Province, there are five main models of elder support policies.

Each model is instructive, and highlights opportunities for designers to plug into theory and praxis regarding eldercare.

2. Pension-sharing Model, which is a current policy in Handan built on a self-help framework. This model is based on community and trust, essential principles to help elders thrive by supporting one another.

3. The health care model of Zhangjiakou, which integrates funds to build regional pension institutions and nursing homes, and the villagers bear the living expenses themselves. This model has strong vitality.

4. Handan’s sharing mode, which is close to the market operation, village-level hosting, and market operation. The mode of combining medical care is mainly characterized by the integration of health centers and clinics in towns and villages to serve each other, which has a relatively strong vitality.

5. Hengshui’s old-age pension model. After

the farmers complete the land ownership confirmation, the income from the farmers’ land transfer, together with the national social basic endowment insurance of 80 yuan/month, will be used to pay their pension expenses in the village happiness house.

Why do I want to design f irstly for the elderly who live in small cities?

Accessible, Viable, and Strategic The prevalence of using smartphones is high for the elderly who live in small cities compared to the people who live in rural areas. Hence, it is viable for them to access the platform that I designed.

Another reason is that a small city is more like an experimental unit. Compared to the countryside, the resources in a small city are accessible. With the development of urbanization, some modes could be copied and pasted into nearby countryside. One small city could help the nearby countryside build their own characterized age caregiving system, which is similar to the Belt and Road Initiative.

The challenges of urban vs. rural or suburban elders is articulated by Kenichi Ohmae. Though he is not referring to life in rural China, his experience as a resident of a suburban town later in life resonates with this thesis. He shared, “In order to stay alive during this period, it is necessary to have some purpose or excitement, and to have friends. But those who live in the suburbs during their working lives have less access to these resources, so facilities like vibrant silver villages will become increasingly in demand in the future” (How to Ignite the Low Desire Society, 2015). The author is talking about the current situation of Japanese society. Based on the background of low desire society, the elderly group is more vigorous than the new generation. Through

analysis, the author mentions the balance of resource distribution. How to allocate the resource equitably is a new challenge. Building a new elderly village is a good option. When we consider Chinese society, the situation is different. The supercities are constantly enlarging. The imbalance of allocation of resources leads to conflict between cities and villages. If we can build more elderly communities around cities, we can relieve the elderly population’s pressure. Besides, through this process, the social assets can be distributed to other areas.

a problem. Every manager needs to follow the higher instructions from a top government, which sometimes leads to bureaucratism. If mutual-aid becomes a social consensus, which is propagated through the educational media, I believe that the centralized mutual-aid systems will also be slowly replaced.

If I can offer one thing to the elders I have centered in this work, it’s that products of design can replace loneliness with purpose and love.

I was struck by this passage from Christopher Moon:

Groups report that people are keen to join and offer their services, but are not willing to take the initiative.

When a disaster happens, people will potentially protect them first, which is the nature of humans that has evolved for thousands of years.

However, this self-interested behavior is not suitable for our modern society. Sometimes, it will cause larger disasters. How to ask people to be against their nature and to take the positive response to disasters? I think building up a clear and convinced concept model is important. For example, when a fire happens, people will orderly go downstairs, because people have a concept model in their mind. If they follow the instructions, they will get saved. Hence, a mutual-aid mechanism also can be built into a concept model. People could depend on realistic conditions to adapt to it. When everyone has a clear model in their mind and also makes sure the feedback mechanism works, they will not be panicked. Here, I want to trace back to my thesis: the mutual-aid mechanism is also suitable for my elderly community. The problem is also about humans’ lack of initiative, especially for the elderly. The current solution is that every community has one community manager who is responsible for organizing the mutual-aid activities. However, it still has

当放弃一项需求时，我们便把心中原本被需求占 据的空间释放出来；而宇宙是不容许有空洞存在 的，所以我们心中的空间将会被爱所填满。 “When we let go of a need, we free up the space in our heart that would otherwise have been occupied by a need. And the universe does not tolerate any void, so the space in our heart will be filled with love.” (Moon, Relationship: Bridge to the Soul, 1999) What a powerful statement. I agree with what the author says. Truly, sometimes it is the obsessiveness that makes us have to make choices. As a saying goes, obsessiveness is like the sand that is held by our hands. If you hold tighter, the sand will more easily flee away. It is quite suitable for describing the relationship between two intimate individuals. I think that as parents, they also need to know the profound meaning of it. Ironically, Chinese parents always want to keep their children around their sides due to traditional culture. Hence, when their children decide to leave them to go after a new world, what they feel is panic and uncontrollable. They are constantly eager for the information from their children. On the contrary, their children are more eager to break free of this bond. The negative circle makes both sides heartbreaking. For every long-dis-

tance relationship, leaving space to the other side is the most important thing. Besides, rationally delivering emotion is also critical.

I think when we have the courage to leave a space to the individuals we love, we will also gain the love from them to fill in the space.

Technology and Empty Nesters This work relies on understanding the significant gap between elders and users of contemporary technologies around them, including caregivers, younger family members, and a range of service providers. It would be irresponsible to base a suite of products of design around technologies that elders cannot access - either materially or cognitively. Several of my interview subjects reflected on the role technology plays in their own lives to help illustrate some of the challenges.

Respondent 1) Xiuhua Yu (64 years old/Baby Sitting) “Before using a smartphone, I was used to the previous life pattern. I do feel a little lonely when I am bored, but it’s ok. But ever since I used my smartphone, I have come back to find that I was really lonely at that time.”

When I heard this fact from the elder’s mouth, I felt so sad. Smartphones seem to be the only entry for the elderly to connect with the world.

I think it is a wrong direction. Online social activities should never replace the social activities in the real world. However, what the elderly said also unravels the truth that the current elderly social community construction has a big problem. The elderly are more willing to use smartphones to entertain themselves. “I have come back to find that I was really lonely at that time.” It is such a heartbreaking answer.

Respondent 2) John Thackara (Writer, Advisor and Public Speaker) “In the future, and certainly in the near future, as we navigate our way through these amazing times is in the relationships that we enable rather than in singles that we decide, or transactions.”

another far place. At that time, even if we got one letter per month, the relationship was still strong. When we can contact our relatives at any time, we start to feel the relationship is a burden. We are losing our sense of relationships!

Indeed, strong social relationships can bring joyfulness to us, and it is also the most beautiful thing to build relationships with others.

Currently, the development of 5G Internet gives us more access to connect with each other.

However, the reduction in threshold value does not bring more enjoyable relationships. People become too lazy to go outside. Behind the big screen, they swipe the figures to control the direction of chatting. I think it is deformed and envied. I firmly believe that touching, smiling and hugging bring us together. From this standpoint, we should organize our future socializing.

Respondent 4) YuanZhu (UX vice Professor) “If technology evolves quickly, older people may experience another technological leap.”This sentence, like a hammer, punches my mind. Yes, we are always used to focusing on the current moment. But as a designer, we also need to pay attention to the tendency of de-

Respondent 3) Alex Haagaard (Research, The Disabled List) “So I think learning more, not just about the barriers specifically related to smartphones, but just learning more about their relationships and maybe how their relationship has changed over the time.

What are some of the things that they’ve missed, you know, things like that?”

What Alex Haagaard said reminds me of one sentence that I heard: “Granted, we have a quick way to connect with people, but sometimes you do not feel a connection with them.” Technology only gives us an accessible way to communicate; however, it does not teach us how to communicate. Besides, if we tightly depend on technology, we will be more likely to ignore the changes in relationships. For example, in the past, we depended on letters to deliver our messages to our relatives who were living in

velopment of things. Now, we always want to teach the elderly to use smartphones. However, smartphones were becoming prevalent only 10 years ago. As 5G and other technologies develop, who can promise the older people may not experience another technological leap? Continually pursuing new things is what the elderly want. What is the most important thing behind the behaviors? What shall we do to push them forward and to change their behaviors? Or change our profit-seeking society, so as to pay more attention to those groups of people? I think this is what I am trying to think about deeply.

Respondent 5) Yijun Zhou（Journalist） “You realize that you have a quick way to connect with people, but you often feel that you do not have a connection with them.”

Indeed, even though humans have the most convenient communication, humans still feel lonely right now. During the pandemic period, people almost stayed with smartphones all day, using them to socialize. The consequence is the rate of prevalence of depression is highly increased. I think the real communication is not just about listening, but also about touching,

hugging and eye contacting. Martin Buber once said, all real living is meeting. I could not agree with it more. Offline contacting can never be replaced by online communication. It is not only decided by our used behavior, but also decided by our genes.

Drawing Inspiration f rom May Sarton Throughout this process, I have drawn inspiration from the work of May Sarton. Her book, Recovering: A Journal (1980), offers insights into how a suite of products designed for elders might capture some of their core needs: The need for Reflection The need for Connection The need for Action The need for Meaning The need for Communication The following passages from Sarton’s work have been particularly influential for this thesis and the products of design I developed in response to my research.

PASSAGE 1: REFLECTION 我希望有两三天空闲来回味所发生的一切，并真 正发现到底发生了什么，既然这本日记与内在世 界有关，也许我最好是从此开始。 “I would like to have two or three days free to reflect on what happened and really discover what happened, and since this diary has to do with the inner world, maybe I’d better start from there.”

After an enjoyable trip, May Sarton plans to use a diary to review what just happened. It is indeed a perfect way to record. As a saying goes, the diary is a channel that connects our internal mind. Nowadays, lots of people are adopting smartphones to record everything. However, those unpolished memories are rough and blank. When we review those

photos, it is hard for us to review the feeling at that moment. Besides, modern recording technology has another defect. It is always so easy to access, leading to our overlook sometimes.

Trace back to the diary. Every time we try to transfer our memory into beautiful sentences in our diaries, we relive the feeling of that time.

When we reflect on modern recording technology, it is pointing to a larger meaningful question. How to create a profound recording machine for our new generation? When the young generation becomes older, how do they face tons of photos in their database? What do they leave out? At the same time, how to create

Even for the most intimate friends or parents and their children, there are still some misunderstandings among them. During solitude, it is the best time to recognize ourselves. Lacking solitude time leads to an incomplete soul and identity. Hence, as we recognize the importance of solitude, we can also use different attitudes towards them. Let us move forward to the next statement of the author. “The capability of solitude is also the capability of communication.” I cannot agree with it more. If people cannot bear the solitude, and always want to invade other people’s solitude, the relationship will go into a bad circle. For example, among

a better experience for our current generation to memorize and record their life? Could we give them another option as the smartphone is overwhelming our daily life?

the relationships of couples, the balance sometimes is hard to keep. One side cannot bear the indifference of the other side, which leads to some aggressive action to trigger the attention. However, the method always fails.

A healthy relationship is a trust that gives the permission of solitude. Sarton shows us how an older generation today might also have been experiencing the dilemma of the relationship between themselves and their children. Due to the cultural issue, Chinese parents always want to disturb their children’s life when they grow up. The result is that children cannot understand their parents’ loneliness, which leads to family conflicts. I do not want to judge any sides of them. However, I do think that studies on solitude are so important that they can help us recognize our internal mind and better communicate with others. How to help people better adapt to solitude? How to stimulate people to reflect on their improper behavior of constantly interrupting others’ solitude? During the pandemic, I stayed alone for nearly half a year, which gave me some good inspirations.

Meditation is a good option so far.

PASSAGE 2: CONNECTION “Without solitude, there can be no real people. The more you discover what a person is and experience what a human relationship requires in order to remain profound and fruitful as a source of growth and development, the more you discover that you are alone - and that the measure of your solitude is the measure of your capacity for communication.

The measure of your awareness of God’s transcendent call to each person is the measure of your capacity for intimacy with others. If you do not realize that the persons to whom you are relating are each called to an eternal transcendent relationship that transcends everything else, how can you relate intimately to another person at his/her center from your center?”

Here, May Sarton negotiates the relationship between solitude and intimacy. “Without solitude, there can be no real people.” What a wise insight! As I am impressed with the deep thinking of the author, it also reminds me of an old saying, “Every individual is holy and lonely.”

People cannot totally understand each other.

PASSAGE 3: ACTION 人的不安与对自己的不满，以及渴望一种更生 动、更有意味的存在，其大部分秘密是植根于每

个人内心深处的——朝向太阳，去爱那必须崇拜 的美德与杰出。人都有内在的和谐感。我指的是 人可以本能地辨认天道的和谐，并相应调整自己 固有的不和谐和不对称。人总是在试图使自我变 得闻所未闻地完美。 “Much of the secret of man’s restlessness, his dissatisfaction with himself, and his longing for a more vivid and meaningful existence is rooted in what is deep within each of us -- to turn toward the sun and love the goodness and excellence that must be worshipped. Everyone has an inner sense of harmony. I mean that man instinctively recognizes the harmony of the heavenly ways and adjusts his inherent dissonances and asymmetries accordingly. Man is always trying to make himself unheard-of perfect.”

Here, May Sarton explores the root reason of humans always struggling between inner order and confusion. The essential reason is people always long for perfection. The ironic thing is that humans are not a perfect species. There are lots of physical defects in our bodies. Our thinking mode sometimes is very subjective and arbitrary. The conflict between reality and the ideal world, to some extent, will let us be in disorder. The author tries to compliment human quality by using this conflict. However, I want to propose my statement that I do not appreciate the behavior of longing for perfection. I firmly believe that the biggest redemption is accepting ourselves. Accepting our defects needs courage and confidence. It is not just about our physical defects, but also our blank elderly life. Sometimes, the pain is derived from our dissatisfaction with life. Lying on the beach, or skating on the snowy mountain, is our expectation for the elderly lives. However, when everything is a delusion in the end, how do we recover from this disappointment? I appreciate a quote from Buddhism: “People always ask how to quickly get into the state of DISCIPLINE; but when people put down their obsessiveness with DISCIPLINE, they are already there.”

AND 高龄者的问题，其实就是一个有时间而生出闲暇 的问题。特别是以前只专注工作而少有闲趣之 人，一旦退休，就会有大量充裕时间，很多人想 再回归职场。 “The problem of the elderly is, in fact, a problem of having time to produce leisure. Especially for those who used to focus on work with little leisure time, once they retire, there will be plenty of time and many want to return to work.” (How to Ignite the Low Desire Society, 2015).

As the author says, the biggest problem is how to balance the free time for the elderly, especially when people do not have plans for their retired life. It seems to be a common issue for Asians. Compared to western citizens, the Asians contribute their most energy to their jobs and their families. They hardly invest some time for their hobbies, leading to losing targets when they retire. Instead of figuring out a reaction solution, why not take some preventive intervention? If people could consciously learn something or start a new hobby before retirement, I believe it will be profoundly helpful for them. Of course, the whole society should have a common consensus. If one person wants to learn some new things, however, but his/her boss or wife/husband does not support them, it will be meaningless. Besides, supporting government policy is critical. Otherwise, the companies that are driven by profits will not leave enough time for their employees who are about to retire. In short, achieving this goal needs whole social cooperation and understanding.

PASSAGE 4: MEANING 人们静悄悄地说话，你听不到别的，只有溪流穿 过山谷发出的潺潺水声。我们慢慢走着，谈着， 沉默着，我又一次感到一个人存在的力量，她富 有思想，感受深刻，见多识广。希拉比我略大一 点。我们谈到老年。她觉得痛苦不少，但是快乐 也许更多，我相信那是真的。纯粹的快乐，一朵

野花或一只鸟的快乐，或者单纯的树的寂静，这 些都存在于老年，因为我们已很少受个人感情的 干扰了。不是吗？ “People talked so quietly that you could hear nothing but the babbling of the stream across the valley.

As we walked slowly, talking, in silence, I felt once again the power of the presence of a person who was thoughtful and well-informed. Sheila is a little older than me. We talked about old age. She felt more pain, but perhaps with more pleasures, and I believed it was true. Pure joy, the joy of a wild flower or bird, or the silence of a simple tree, is present in old age, because we are less disturbed by personal feelings. Isn’t it?”

“Once again, I felt the power of being alone.” I am impressed by the simplest but powerful sentence, which also reminds me of the wisest moment when people stay alone. In our daily life, people are always occupied with work and the trivia of life. We rarely have time to experience the small moments of life. Lacking a sense of ritual in our life leads to numbness to life, which also numbs our ability to perceive good things. It is necessary to have some sense of ritual, like what the author did: walking in a peaceful forest, hearing chirps, or smelling wildflowers. Those small beautiful moments will eventually become our power to support our body and soul. The author uses a dialectical point of view to treat the old life in the following article. I firmly believe that everything in the world is relative. Once you give something, you will also get something. This theory is not only suitable for our great physics, but also for our life. Generally speaking, the elderly life is boring, accompanied by physical pain.

However, the author states her thoughts from a different viewpoint. Although our body is entering death, our mind is entering peace. Our ear is becoming deaf, but we can hear more about our life. I want to trace back to my thesis here. Our current elderly care system is always

focused on physical care, but never guides the elderly to realize what they gain from age. How can we build up a better guiding system to lead our elderly to regain the sense of ritual is the next step I want to pay attention to.

PASSAGE 5: COMMUNICATION 永远不被讨论的并不因此而不再存在。相反，它 会溃烂化脓，最后变成致命的毒素。 “What is never discussed does not cease to exist.

Instead, it festers, eventually turning into a deadly toxin.”

May Sarton talks about her attitude towards relationships, i.e., how to deal with the relationship, which is struggling with the conflicts, tiring, and escaping. Here, the author proposes her view. If we always hide our thoughts into the deep mind, the thoughts will eventually destroy us. The author uses poison to describe it. Hence, the best way to deal with it is to release it as if people release their pressure.

Having a conversation is always a good choice.

As an adult, people seem to have a harder time expressing their real emotion than children.

When people grow older, the situation seems worse. The elderly easily think over one thing.

If their family does not talk with them in time, the overstocked emotion will lead to mental illness in the end. Given Chinese introverted mental characteristics, building up a thorough psychological consultant system is necessary.

Besides, what family members could do during this process? Communication is always an option.

DESIGN APPROACH

Human-Centered Design A design approach that considers the target users first during the design process, Human-Centered Design (HCD) has three main principles: empathy, creativity, and business need. Empathy is the essential key point of Human-Centered Design, which means the designer should truly understand the real environment and situation that the target users are suffering. Besides, it is necessary to try to think from the users’ perspective.

“Good design is practical”, “Good design is honest” and “Good design makes products easy to understand” leave a strong impression on me. As I learned about design in undergraduate school, I learned about a great Design case about OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler, initially created for people who have arthritis. Is this because that design pays more attention to the human demand and makes it become a good design?

The reason why this design method is so important is that, to some extent, the feasible, usable and accessible feature is always the standard to measure whether a product is successful or not. Hence, using Human-Centered Design can help designers better achieve those three design goals. Another reason is that the main direction of social development is treating people as a valued individual. In the past, humans gathered together to eliminate slavery; and now, humans gather together to oppose the exploitation of capitalism. Awakening thoughts provoke humans to pay more and more attention to their demands.

Human-Centered Design is the main design method in my thesis design process. It gives me guidance and design principles, because I always know empathy is so important for me to understand the Chinese elderly empty nesters. Because of cognitive limitations, I decided to have qualitative research before I started to think about design. In addition, I read about Chinese rural culture, trying to understand what they did and what they thought in the past.

I first got this idea from ten design principles of Dieter Rams. Among those principles,

Another tactic I employed was subject matter interviews, where I gained several useful insights. For example, in an interview with a social psychologist, I received a suggestion that empty-nest is not a result but a process.

Hence, I decided to broaden my user group.

Journey Map I also started to research people in middle age to learn about their lives and experiences before they become empty-nesters.

All in all, the Human-Centered Design method helps me better understand my target group and their true demands. I firmly believe Human-Centered Design is the foundation of every good design in the future.

A critical tool I have employed in my design practice is the creation of Journey Maps, which visualize the process that a person goes through to accomplish a goal. It’s a useful tool for designers to understand and address customers’ needs and pain points.

Eight Steps of Journey Map: 1. Set clear objectives for the map.

2. Profile your personas and define their goals.

3. Highlight your target customer personas.

4. List all the touchpoints.

5. Identify the elements you want your map to show.

6. Determine the resources you have and the ones you’ll need.

7. Take the customer journey yourself.

8. Make necessary changes.

I often treat Journey Maps as a part of Human-Centered Design methodology. It is more like an executive way to analyze user needs after finishing qualitative research and persona drawing.

I often use Journey Maps as I start to think about design opportunities. Usually, when I face tons of research information, it is hard to compile it into the right position and do an

insightful analysis. However, drawing a Journey Map is the easiest and most direct way to find design opportunities among complicated user data.

For example, I drew a Journey Map of the psychological counseling process of empty-nesters based on the information obtained from previous user surveys. I found that family members of patients did not know the real mental health status of the elderly, which led to the delay in treatments. The Journey Map helped to elucidate the gap between experience and need, or even between perception and need. Seeing the gap between the elder’s experience and the family member’s perception highlighted the design opportunity.

Another example is that I drew a Journey Map of searching elderly learning platforms for Chinese elderly who are about to retire. The pain point was squarely situated in the search experience, as it was clear how hard it was for them to find formal learning resources on the Internet due to the complex operation modes of computers or mobile phones. In fact, there are few formal learning platforms designed for the elderly. Here the opportunity presented itself to close the gap between

the resources that are available and the elder user’s ability to access them.

During the design process, I also found that although Journey Map is based on our cognitive understanding, it is still an initial way to start to construct a human-centered service.

Using Journey Map can help us improve our logical thinking and find design defaults of services.

All in all, the Journey Map is an integral element in a thorough service.

System Map The components and boundaries of a system and the components of the environment at a point of time can be effectively visualized on a system map.

The main use of a system map is to help me structure a system. It allows me to clarify thoughts at an early stage of analysis of my thesis and decide on structural elements for a more detailed diagram of different types.

One example is about the mental health platform. I use the system map to analyse the Chinese culture’s impact on the elderly. Through analysing, I find that the current dilemma of the elderly is a systemic problem. I start to analyse the Chinese mental problems from three different perspectives: individual, family, and society.

Individual: A passive form of self-centered protection.

Personal mental health awareness is weak.

Somatization of psychological problems.

Family: Family mental health education awareness is weak.

Lack of experience in psychological coun-

seling in the communication between family members and the elderly.

Society: China’s introverted traditional mental health.

Society stigmatizes psychological problems.

Lack of corresponding psychological services for the elderly in each community.

Lack of experience in psychological counseling in the communication process between social workers and the elderly.

And these three sections are influenced by each other. For example: (Personal mental health awareness is weak.) - (Family mental health education awareness is weak.) - (Residents’ mental health literacy is low.) - (Society stigmatizes psychological problems.)

If I want to break the negative feedback mechanism, I need to focus on one section, so as to break the chain. Considering the accessibility and viability, I decided to focus first on the family sections, because Chinese population consists of family units. Chinese people attach great importance to family relations according to the Chinese culture.

CORE USERS I want to better understand the real situation of the Chinese elderly empty-nesters, because I have my personal bias about them.

Before those seniors suffer from empty nest syndrome, what did they experience? There is no doubt that every problem is not immediately apparent. What is the process of it?

What is the reason that leads to this problem?

What is the current solution of dealing with this situation? To these questions, I want to get answers from my research.

Name: MeiFang Xu Age: 63 Gender: Female Location: Live alone in Jian City (a small city) in China Visual presentation: Short hair, often wearing neat light blue clothes, with a pair of presbyopic glasses.

Like wearing a sweater hat in winter.

Ability/Disability: She has a slight depressed disorder.

She has potential Alzheimer’s disease, but she does not tell anyone yet.

She has difficulty in reaching out to the men-

tal consultant.

Require presbyopic glasses for vision.

Activity: -She used to like travelling; however, after her husband died 5 years ago, no one accompanied her to travel.

-She used to like planting some flowers; however, one storm destroyed all of her plants.

She eventually gives up planting again.

-She used to like cooking; however, she has forgotten things over recent years. For the security, she gives up this hobby, following up her son’s suggestions.

-She usually walks around a nearby park alone before breakfast for exercising.

-At noon, she usually buys her lunch in nearby restaurants, because it is cheap and delicious.

-After dinner, she usually watches her favorite TV shows at home.

Relationships: -Her husband died 5 years ago.

-She has a son, but her son now is working in Beijing city. Because the work is so busy, her son comes back home twice a year.

-She does not often attend community activ-

ities, especially after her husband died. She has few friends in her neighborhood.

-She had a good friend, who was a community doctor. However, the doctor was transferred to another department so that she loses one person who can listen to her.

Personality: Introvert, isolated, independent, considerate, stubborn, sensitive, not confident, and with high dignity Local/worldview: Traditional, Conservative, and Parochial.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

ZhiYuan Hu Advantages: The Rewarding section is creative. Because people can get rewards based on how many hours they have devoted themselves to voluntary activities.

Voluntary hours could be exchanged with insurance, which gives the elderly a good opportunity to get useful benefits. Hence, more and more older people will be motivated to do voluntary activities.

This APP has a voluntary board where everyone could post their voluntary activities.

Hence, people could share information.

Disadvantages: Some institutions require their staff to reach specific voluntary hours, which is formalism.

The variety of voluntary activities is so complex that it is difficult to supervise.

The platform lacks a specific section to help elderly empty-nesters.

The SCAN Foundation Advantages: The website has a function of enlarging the word size, which is usually ignored by most people.

It has a very broad range of aging care. The platform’s service ranges from elderly per-

sonal care to community engagement.

The “design with seniors” section is of very much initiative. From another perspective, it gives seniors a chance to voice.

Talkspace Advantages: All users have their matching agents, helping them find better suitable therapists.

The operation mode is very simple and clear.

On the main surface, it has clear instructions and guiding videos, which are convenient.

This platform does not just focus on psychological treatment. It also tries to give people support by guiding them to do exercises.

Margaret at Sixty and Me Advantages: This platform is based on Youtube personal IP to spread the company’s concept, which is very interesting.

This platform attracts its user group by sending their subscribers the related articles or activity information timely.

Disadvantage: There are so many different kinds of functions, which do not consider the low perception of the elderly.

To better understand their condition. I immersed myself in books and papers from psychology to sociology.

I also engaged with many expert stakeholders and empty-nesters.

SU BTITL E GOE S

I try to deconstruct the empty-nest from three perspectives developed through my analysis of my thesis interviews, as well as the in-depth thinking of the books and papers about the elderly. These perspectives are: Medical Relationship Philosophical My understanding of the nature of the empty nest has also shifted from the external pathological features to the significance of human aging and the value of human beings. I think this process of gradually analyzing the origin is necessary and meaningful to deepen my understanding of the empty-nest. Next, I will introduce the process of deconstructing the essence of the empty nest step by step and show the corresponding design works.

In the first part, I treat Empty-Nest as a syndrome. However, I do not want to just focus on the surface of the problem. During analysis of process of Empty-nest, I found that, for the elderly, loneliness can be the leading reason for psychological and emotional challenges.

PROJ

JECT

SYMPTOM During research, I find that the phenomenon of empty-nest reflects some problems of Chinese seniors. One of the problems that I want to address is that a quarter of the elderly empty-nesters are mental illness patients.

Based on the results of this study, there are approximately 37.17–54.63 million elderly suffering from depression. However, China only has 20000 psychotherapists, which is far away enough for 1.4 billion people. From the Chinese traditional culture angle, the Chinese are not good at expressing their intern thoughts. The introverted traditional mental health leads to the high possibility of getting a mental illness. Besides, The whole society stigmatizes the psychological problems due to low residents’ mental health literacy. All in all, it is a tremendous culture swift for the Chinese.

Hence, I want to devote myself to this field. I do not expect to eradicate this problem through my design, but I want to reframe it, trying to better understand this dilemma from multiple perspectives.

“the idea of raising children for old age is rooted in the Chinese elderly’s minds. It is easy to feel lonely when children are not around, which can easily lead to mental illness.”

-MingXing Qiu

HIGH FIDELITY M ENTAL H E A LTH CO N S ULTI N G PL ATFORM

Bonding is a mental health counseling platform designed to facilitate long-distance caregiving between Chinese empty-nesters and their adult children. The platform connects children, seniors, the local community and psychotherapists. Through Bonding, the children can monitor their parents’ mental health in daily life and, when necessary, guide their parents to get mental treatment on time.

When a user first downloads Bonding, they can choose a character — either a care-giv-

S UBTI TL E G O E S

ing family member, or an elderly parent who may need support. An adult child can use the Bonding platform to help their parents find expert therapists and counsellors. An elderly person can use Bonding to be accompanied by their child during online counseling, if that’s the right fit.

SU BTITL E GOES

Our brand image is a ribbon that looks like the number “8”.The ends of the ribbon separately represent children and old people.We hope that through our platform, we can strengthen the connection of family members who are in different places.

“Empty Nest is not a result but a process.”

-Changlin Lan

BLUE ALERT A I M E D I CA L PREVE N TIVE SE RVIC E

Joey created Blue Alert — a platform that takes advantage of AI technology to analyze messages exchanged between the elderly and their children — in order to spot early warning signs of deteriorating mental health or depression. Blue Alert analyzes the text and the tone of chatting records and delivers weekly reports to the adult children. These reports can then serve as the basis for possible medical interventions.

Joey found that people with mental illness had a hard time acknowledging their suffering. In order to try to surmount this challenge, Joey designed an IP character — “Blue Baby’’ — that reflects different mental states for the elderly. Personalizing depression and other mental health challenges in this way normalizes them.

Blue Alert is more than just a “warning application.” It is a reminder to pay attention to the mental health needs of one’s parents.

Blue Alert proactively reminds adult children about the warning sign. Besides, adult children could also actively analyse the text messages from other resources such as Gmail. Every time, when the adult children call their parents, Blue Alert will analyze the tone of chatting records.

Adult children can receive a weekly assessment report. These reports can then serve as the basis for possible medical intervention. If the adult child finds early symptoms of depression in the report, Blue Alert will recommend third party-Bonding (online counseling service) to them.

Every year Blue Alert will cooperate with Bonding to offer users’ parents offline comprehensive mental health testing.

To get reactions from the eldelry and adult children about this concept, I tested it with users and user experts. And they told me that it is hard for people suffering from mental illness to admit their suffering. So, in order to try to bridge this challenge, I designed an IP character—“Blue Baby’’—a character that reflects different mental states for the elderly.

I’m attempting to personalize depression and other mental health challenges in order to normalize them.

Blue Alert is not just a “warning application.”

Rather, it is a reminder for “paying attention” to the mental health needs and support of their parents.

Empty-nest for a family is not just a hardship for the elderly. It is also a hardship for their children who live far away. Especially because of China’s one-child policy, those born in the 1980s have to bear numerous life pressures on one hand, and on the other hand, they have to face the responsibility of taking care of four elderly people. Extreme stress has also led many middle-aged people today to have severe anxiety disorders. Middle-aged people today will also be old people 20 years from now. I decided to try to design an online platform for these middle-aged people to communicate with each other to reduce pressures.

“I probably might not sigh beside everyone, it depends on the amount of openness I have with the person.”-Karan Bansal “When I sigh, it reminds me of a blown up balloon that is letting out a little air at a time. It is to relieve stress. It balances me. It is not a negative thing but I think a positive action that I can do for myself.”-Pamela Cosgrove/Operations Services Supervisor

SIGHING LAB SI G HI NG EXPE RI M E N T

What: Sighing Experiment is an experience test to help people know how many times they sigh once a day through conscious documentation.

Why: 1.People do not know how many times they sigh every day.

2.People do not truly understand their internal emotions behind sighing.

How: When people have a sigh, they consciously write down the specific time and the emotion of sighing. They could use the voice recording pen that we provided to record the sounds of sighing.

My Goal: 1.Help people understand their internal emotions.

2.Guide people to treat sighing from another perspective.

People could use the recording pen to record their sounds of signing, which motivates them to think about their signing from another perspective.

After the test, the users could answer the questions that we prepared for them. During this process, the users could understand and reflect on signing better, which also gives us insightful researching materials.

I divide the variety of signing into three kinds, the normal one, feeling relief and feeling anxious. Using three different geometrical shapes to represent those feelings, which makes users feel easier to record their emotions.

After the test. I find that my test does help my users understand their internal minds better.

Sighing Lab is an anonymous communication platform through users’ same sighing moments to help users to match people who are in the same mood. There are three modules in my platform, Sighing meditation, Sighing friends, and Sighing box. Sighing meditation uses sounds to guide users to have a deep sighing, relieving pressure. The second one uses a big data matching system to help users match similar people to have a talk. The third one depends on the sound sensor of the smartphone to detect users’ sighing and do a record.

I chose sighing as a media due to four key factors: 1. American Psychological Study shows that sighing can reduce tension in people with anxiety sensitivity.

2. Sighing is another form of a deep breath, which is helpful to our lung functions.

3. Sighing is a good way to indirectly convey our emotions.

4. Through sighing to match people is a good way to find people who are in the same situation.

The mental illness of Chinese people is a systemic problem. While we switch target objects to analyze the causes of the disease, It is also necessary to analyze the occurrence of mental illness from a larger perspective. I divide the causes of mental illness in China into three major modules. Personal perspective, family perspective, and social perspective. In social perspective, the stigma of mental illness in Chinese society is an important reason why Chinese empty-nesters are not willing to accept psychological treatment. The underlying reason for the stigma is the lack of knowledge about mental health among Chinese people.

The Chinese government needs to fully spread mental health knowledge to its citizens. I combined China’s mental health knowledge popularization plan in the next five years and with some of my own insights, producing policy guidelines about reducing stigmatized mental illness among Chinese people.

POLICY MEMO C HI NE SE E L D E RLY M E N TA L PRO BL E M

Policy problem statement: There are 118 million empty-nesters in China, many of whom may be suffering from depression. Due to the lack of a comprehensive psychotherapist educational system, there are not enough psychotherapists to meet the needs of the empty-nesters.

Description and context of the problem: China has the largest population of seniors. At the same time, it also has the biggest number of elderly empty-nesters. It was estimated that, by the end of 2020, Chinese empty-nest elders would reach 118 million. China is experiencing a period of rapid economic rise. People are enthusiastic about talking about the current economy, but sometimes ignore the marginalized group of people, who are suffering from loneliness. Hence, I want to devote myself to this field. I do not expect to eradicate this problem through my design, but I want to reframe it, trying to better understand this dilemma from multiple perspectives. During the process, I find that the phenomenon of empty-nest reflects some problems of Chinese seniors. One of the problems that I want to address is that a quarter of the elderly empty-nesters are mental illness patients.

Based on the results of this study, there are approximately 37.17–54.63 million elderly suffering from depression. However, China

has only 20000 psychotherapists, which are far away from sufficiency for 1.4 billion people. From the Chinese traditional culture, Chinese are not good at expressing their internal thoughts. The introverted traditional mental health leads to a high possibility of getting a mental illness. Besides, the whole society stigmatizes the psychological problems, due to low residents’ mental health literacy. All in all, it is a tremendous cultural shift for Chinese. The fundamental change in culture lies in education Government and related social institutions are responsible for making policies to change the current psychotherapist educational system.

Relevant Stakeholders Medical College, Chinese Government, Social welfare institutions, Psychology consultant institutions, and Community Department.

Potential policy solutions: 1. Make a uniform certification of psychotherapy consultants 2. Increase funds for psychology programs to the same level as other college departments.

At the same time, urge college managers to develop psychological departments.

3. Set up more local community psychology consultant spots.

4. Encourage local psychology students to

connect with the local community.

5. Carry out more psychological knowledge popularization courses in rural areas.

Pros: China has only 20000 psychotherapists, who are far away from sufficiency for 37.17–54.63 million elderly empty-nesters suffering from depression. There is no comprehensive psychotherapist educational system, which is one of the biggest reasons.

Policy Problem: Currently, there are around one million Chinese who have certification as a psychotherapy consultant. However, due to the lack of uniform and professional certification, the Chinese government cannot permit those people to treat patients. The consequence is that China only has 20 thousand psychotherapists. In contrast, the whole society has 95 million depression patients, forming a huge medical hole.

Policy Solution 1: Chinese government cooperates with the Chinese psychology institution to issue a uniform certification for psychotherapy consultants.

Pro/Con Policy Solution 1: Standardize and transparentize the current market of psychotherapy consultants. Allow more people to access this field. Tremendously relieve the pressure of the lack of psychotherapists.

Advocates of Policy Solution 1: I recommend the government to make a uniform certification for psychotherapy consultants.

Currently, the certification in this field is very chaotic and unclear, which results in a consequence that lots of people have the certifi-

cation for psychotherapy consultants, but they cannot do the consultancy job. Psychotherapy consultants need good professional knowledge and high communication skills. If the certification is casual and unprofessional, the related departments cannot qualify them to do the related jobs. The data research shows that there are around 1000 thousands people who have already had the certification. However, due to this situation, they cannot do anything about it. Therefore, I recommend the government to launch a completed and professional psychotherapy consultant policy as soon as possible.

At the same time, set up the psychology ed-

to support the developments. Hence, government funding is highly important for the education system. I recommend the Chinese government increase the funding to the same level as other departments. At the same time, the positive attitude can also urge college managers to develop psychological departments.

ucational departments for the people who are interested in this field.

Pro/Con Policy Solution 3: It can cover the shortage of psychotherapists.

Besides, it is a good opportunity for local students to get practical experience.

Policy Solution 2: The Chinese government offers more funds to the psychological departments of Chinese colleges.

Pro/Con Policy Solution 2: Deliver the message of developing psychology education to the related managers of colleges.

The colleges will pay more attention to improve the current educational system.

Advocates of Policy Solution 2: I recommend the government to offer more funds to the psychological departments of Chinese colleges. The current data show that the Chinese government offers funding of 30000000 RMB/Y to the college departments in natural science. However, it only offers onethird of the money to the departments in human sciences. The psychological departments belong to human science. The consequence of the unequal support is that college managers overlook the building of psychological departments. On the other hand, even if they want to promote the development of Chinese psychological education, they do not have the money

Policy Solution 3: Government educates more psychotherapists in rural areas. Encourage local colleges to connect with local communities to launch psychology consultant activities.

Advocates of Policy Solution 3: I recommend the government to educate more psychotherapists in rural areas. Even though the government has already started a policy of building local community psychology consultant spots, such as by publishing <Notice on Distributing the Work Plan for The Pilot Construction of the National Social Psychological Service System>, there are still some problems with the current policy. The psychotherapists are far away from sufficiency for the community’s demand. Accordingly, I think the government should educate more psychotherapists in rural areas. Besides, encourage local colleges to connect with local communities. On the one hand, it can cover the shortage of psychotherapists. On the other hand, it is a good opportunity for local students to get practical experience.

Policy Solution 4: Carry out more psychological knowledge popularization courses in rural areas.

Pro/Con Policy Solution 4: The rural elderly will better understand the essence of psychology and realize that the mental issues are not a stigma, but a real disease.

Advocates of Policy Solution 4: I recommend the government to carry out more psychological knowledge popularization courses in rural areas. Because of the culture of the Chinese, people always treat mental issues with a stigma. Helping them build up the right value towards modern psychology is necessary. Besides, due to the introverted personality of Chinese, especially for seniors, they are not good at expressing their feelings, which is negative for mental treatment. Therefore, the related courses are particularly helpful for them to prevent mental issues or to get active treatments.

Discussion of counter-arguments: Even if the government can offer more funding to support the development of psychology in China, the main problem is not only about money. If citizens are not aware of the importance of mental health, more consultant spots will be useless. Therefore, enhancing the residents’ mental health literacy is another addressing point.

Besides, the western theory alone might not fit the Chinese. The government and related institutions should develop Chinese own psychology, combining their unique cultural background.

RELATIONSHIP In the first part, I treat Empty-Nest as a syndrome. However, I do not want to just focus on the surface of the problem. During research, I found that, for the elderly, loneliness can be the leading reason for psychological and emotional challenges.

Relationships play a critical role to humans. In our life mountain, there are two main relationships, family relationships and social relationships. When we grew up and left home to start our own life, the proportion of family relationships with parents is constantly reducing. On the contrary, our parents paid more attention to family relationships when they became older. As adult children, we could not just immerse ourselves into our career singly. Taking some time to keep relationships with our parents is equally important to creating social relationships.

The current dilemma is “Long distance makes the family hard to keep intimacy.” said by one of my interviewees, Mingxing. The barrier of spatial distance leads to low frequency of communication, which causes misunderstandings when families could not make the same decision on the family affair. Besides, The introverted and shy nature of the Chinese does not contribute to long-distance communication. People prefer actions rather than languages to express their love to each other. Could we deliver our love across limitations of distance and languages? With this in mind, I began to explore the next section of my Thesis.

“In the future, and certainly in the near future, as we navigate our way through these amazing times is in the relationships that we enable rathewr than in singles that we decide, or transactions.”

-John Thackara

KOAN

I n tera c tive D ev i ce D e s i gn e d for Lo n g - d is tan ce Com m u n i c a t i on

Koan — Interactive Device Designed for Long-distance Communication Koan is an interactive device to help empty-nest families make a close connection across physical distance and language barriers. It consists of two parts. The first part is an app controlled by the children. The second is a physical object part that hangs on the elderly person’s wall with an instruction book explaining its basic shapes.

The adult children and the elderly can drag the circle line to customize the symbols and therefore deliver different emotions to each other.

This intriguing method enhances the daily interaction between the elderly and their children, with the goal being to maintain family intimacy.

The biggest success of Koan is that I create a set of systematic vocabularies for intimate communication. Through comprehensive research, I stop my step on the “ single circle”.

It is such a beautiful and concise shape for humans. The more important feature is that it is easy enough for people to understand and operate even if they are the elderly people. I hope “drawing a circle to say I love you” could be a product culture, spreading our concept to more people.

The adult children and the elderly could drag the circle line to customize the symbols for delivering different emotions to each other. The intriguing method could enhance the daily interaction between the elderly and their children.

The adult children and the elderly could drag the circle line to customize the symbols for delivering different emotions to each other. The intriguing method could enhance the daily interaction between the elderly and their children.

The intriguing method could enhance the daily interaction between the elderly and their children.

Our vision is to cross distance and language boundaries to keep family intimacy.

“If technology evolves quickly, older people may experience another technological leap.”

-Yuan Zhu

FLASHCARDS POKER CARDS FOR EASY LEARNING

Inspired by playing poker with his grandmother, Joey designed Flashcards, a simple poker game designed to teach people how to use a smartphone and make it easier to memorize and practice operating tips. In order for the elderly to better absorb the information, Joey combined the poker cards with augmented reality, so that when users want more detailed information about a certain poker card, they can scan the cards with a phone. The app provides users with comprehensive information, including operating videos.

He also plans to develop a version of the poker cards specifically designed for learning how to use Zoom or Wechat.

Intergenerational games do not only reduce the distance between family members, but also encourage new generations to tutor their grandparents to use modern technology and build their own social circles.

BRAINSTORMING POKER CARDS FOR EASY LEARNING

Through brainstorming, I draw forty sketches to express my thoughts from two main ways.

The first is from the perspective of alternatives to mobile phones. In the future, we could replace the social functions of mobile phones to make it more accessible and viable. The other way is the educational aspect. How can we help people learn to use smartphones easily

and quickly? Among the designs, I particularly liked the idea of learning Poker. When we were children, we learned simple arithmetic through learning cards with our parents. I think learning cards can not only help us strengthen our memory. The process of communicating with parents also makes the learning process more interesting.

HIGH FIDELITY POKER CARDS FOR EASY LEARNING

I take advantage of the shape of pokers to simulate the surface of smartphones so that people could easily use the poker to memorize operating tips. Because nowadays, there are many kinds of operating systems in the smartphones’ market. Hence, I plan to design different kinds of learning pokers for adapting those systems. What I am showing here is the Apple IOS operating system. Due to the limitation of size, the current leaning pokers just include the

basic learning information of smartphones. ernatqui tet, omniscit, abo. Ximusapidit raeriaspitat ut providerum estrume exerovit vit, cus conestiatis.

We also plan to develop a version of learning pokers which is specifically designed for learning how to use Zoom or Wechat. This kind of directed learning may be more suitable for our target users.

I prototyped Flashcards and attributed those cards to my ideal users to test it. During the test, I found that my design does not work well as still, because the information is not clear and defined. Besides, the cognitive ability of the eldelry is quite low for understanding this information. Hence, I decided to cooperate with AR technology to show more comprehensive learning information.

To the other aspect. Our product potentially suggests users to play poker with the one you loved, learning about how to use smartphones.

Through intergenerational games, it does not only reduce the distance between families, but also encourages new generations to tutor their grandparents to use modern media to create social relationships for themselves.

MINDSET During previous interviews with eldelry empty-nesters. I realize that people’s mindset will influence their motivation to seek relationships. As Margaret Thatcher said, “ Be careful of your thinking because it will influence your behavior.” In most situations, Outside aid is limited. As a stereotyped mindset, Empty-Nest has already influenced Chinese for thousands of years. I plan to find answers from history.

In ancient China. The connection between different families is much closer than today. Due to the uncertainty of surroundings, people need to share food or clothes with others. Impacted by western culture, humans more and more address personal privacy and the sanctity of property.

Sharing life mode is hardly seen in modern Chinese society. However, recently, as a new business model, the sharing mode is applied into different areas in China, which reminds me of the potential ancient power of it. As I mentioned before “ Our mind will influence our actions.” Oppositely, actions will also affect our mindset. Yes, Sharing is the key point. If people always accept help from others, they will feel they are delicate. This thinking will influence their mindset to make them become negative and dependent. However, if people could share something with others, they will feel more powerful about themselves, which also strengthens their self-value. It is also helpful for them to find their social positions.

One of the most important causes of elderly mental illness is chronic low self-esteem of receiving physical help leads to low self-value, which causes self-doubting. This emotions block the eldelry to actively seek positive relationships for themselves. Day by day, chronic loneliness and low self-value leads to the cause of mental illness.

“Everything is a matter of attitude for us.”

-Co-designing with old people

“When we let go of a need, we free up the space in our heart that would otherwise have been occupied by a need. And the universe does not tolerate any void, so the space in our heart will be filled with love.”

- Chris G. Moon

CHARGE

A SKILL-SHARING PL ATFORM FOR THE ELDERLY Retired people are actually eager to learn new things. However, they are often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information on the Internet. When they turn to ask for help from their children, their children are frequently too busy to give their full attention, which leads to frustration.

Charge is a skill-sharing platform allowing elderly users to upload videos about their skills and hobbies. If others “like” their videos, they can earn “fictional energy,” which can be exchanged for some courses they are interested in. This inner loop keeps the platform energetic, giving everyone — elderly empty-nesters included — the opportunity to show their value to the world.

Through analysis of the user journey map, I find that the retired people are actually eager to learn new things. However, they are often overwhelmed by tons of information on the Internet. When they turn to ask for help from their children.

Their children are often too busy to give favor to the elderly, which makes the elderly frustrated. inciaes eum essundi blacill aborectem.

HIGH FIDELITY A SKILL-SHARING PL ATFORM FOR THE ELDERLY

Upload your videos to our platform.

Collect “energy” f ing videos.

from your upload-

Use “energy” to exchange other online courses.

“All real living is meeting” -Martin Buber

“We are actively seeking to build or join communities we can be a part of.”

-<Co-designing with old people>

Mutual is a new ecosystem community that uses sharing modes to create social relationships for the elderly empty-nesters.

It consists of two main parts: Mutual Kitchen is a public cooking platform for the community. People can bring their own food to cook together, taking advantage of the professional cooking tools that the platform offers. When people cook together, it is a good time for them to communicate with each other.

Mutual Garden is a shared community garden where everyone who is in the community has access to working in it. Joey thinks it is a good time to create social relationships for people while they are working together. When the food is harvested, the platform encourages people to share their harvests.

BRANDING SHARING ECOSYSTEM PL ATFORM

I also design the branding for my platform. The shape of the logo is like two hands that hold together, which means supporting each other is the essential value to our platform. The feature of the shirt is that there is a big pocket on the front of the shirt, and there are some vegetables in it.

This means that we encourage people to share with other people.

Mutual is not only a O2O platform, but also a cultural symbol. We want to introduce the sharing culture to society through our branding.

CONCLUSION When I trace back the whole thesis journey. Start from a medical phonomen to a reflection on the value of life. I think this process perfectly reflects the order in which we think about things. From appearance to essence. In this process, I feel the joy of constant exploration. I guess that’s the fun part of design.

Back to the topic of Empty-nest. From a larger view, Empty-nest is not just a personal event but also an aging consequence. Aging, as a natural regular, is unavoidable. However, we can use values to build a spiritual shield against the fears of aging. Creating connections with others for building self-worth through sharing is my current approach. Besides, it is necessary for us to change the way we think about Empty-nest itself.

“Insight” written by Weigang Wan , talks about Buddhism principles, mentions, “Most of the pain in life is caused by our mind.” It is ourselves constantly pushing us to the edge of life. In fact, we can totally adjust our attitude to live a different life.

Last but not least, I want to say to the Chinese elderly empty-nesters, the sunshine and flowers are always there. All we need to do is reach out our hands.

AT LAST, I WANT TO SAY SOMETHING.

Looking back on the thesis of this year, I was confused about the topic at the beginning. I think I’m lucky. I did related projects on the subject of the elderly when I was an undergraduate. It was kind of a deep study at that time. I think this project also provides a foundation for further research of the thesis.

As a large group in China, empty-nesters have always been the concern of Chinese government. In terms of the attention and importance of society, this topic is also very meaningful. With the rise of the Internet+, the future of the pension will also be the O2O model. I think Internet + pension is a huge blue ocean market in the future of China. At present, the major enterprises have been actively laying out plans. China Ping An Company is planning and designing from insurance to medical care and even future housing for the aged. What can be seen is that the future pension model will not be the traditional family version. As the productive forces of society are improved, the society is also beginning to take on more obligations.

The endowment is no longer a family matter, but more of a national policy. I am optimistic about the future of elderly care in China.

My research is mainly from the relationship as the entry point. From chronic loneliness to depression, to how to maintain relationships to avoid depression, and finally to how to create relationships, I think the lack of relationships is a common phenomenon in today’s society.

Since 2004 when Apple’s smartphones exploded into the stratosphere, everyone has been talking to the world through a narrow window.

In a society where relationships are missing, we think the sharing economy is an effective way to help us find and even create relationships.

At present, there have been many successful cases of sharing economy’s applications, such

as shared bikes, shared offices, and shared housing. We change our role from mere possessor to sharer by having something in common or by sharing it with others. Sharing was an important factor in the formation of early societies. And society itself is held together by relationships. So the sharing economy is not so much an innovation as a return to nature.

Modernization is a capitalized and market-oriented economy represented by the West. The form of expression is to emphasize the sanctity of ownership. Compared with the individualism of the West, China has always emphasized collectivism. In my opinion, collectivism has its irreplaceable advantages in the field of elderly care in China. This is the core of my Mutual Community. Of course, Mutual Community is not a very groundbreaking idea, but the significance of Mutual is that it breaks down the barrier of different sharing and tries to create a sharing ecology from the perspective of user experience. Of course, there are still many points to explore in the future. I hope to continue to make improvements on this subject.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have helped me and given me advice. The influence of this topic on me is not only reflected in the design level, but also reflected in future career planning. Maybe years from now, I’ll still be thinking about this project performed when I was a student in New York City. I guess I will be grateful to think about this experience...

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ABOUT AUTHOR Hang was born and raised in Quzhou, China. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Zhejiang University City College. Combining contemporary fashion elements and knitting techniques, he once cooperated with the successor of Coir Raincoat—a type of ancient Chinese raincoat—to redesign this traditional artifact. Inspired by this project, Hang believes that contemporary designers should not just focus on the market as the field of design is increasingly concerned with social value. His MFA thesis, INTER-GENERATE, a set of design offerings for Chinese elderly empty-nesers.

CONTACT I NFO

hyuan5@sva.edu hangdesign.co