Knotty

280 million people worldwide have diabetes causing 4 million deaths each year. With no cure on the horizon, daily self-management is the only option for sufferers to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Blood glucose levels must be tested several times a day and insulin dosage adjusted accordingly. While the technology to monitor blood glucose is improving, the cognitive and physical abilities of the (mostly older) patient group still present a major challenge. "For my patients who require insulin, the steps involved in the self-care of their diabetes can be complicated and overwhelming" -Diabetes Nurse (SanFrancisco) It often falls to nurses to overcome these usability obstacles - spending valuable consultation time training patients to use these devices instead of focusing on more important healthcare issues to prevent complications, e.g. blindness and amputations. In less developed healthcare systems, patients rarely get any training-leaving them frustrated by complex technology, procedures, and instructions that prevent them from effectively managing their diabetes, increasing their health risks. Roche Diabetes Care commissioned Frontend to analyze this issue. What are the usability barriers for patients and nurses? How could the process be simplified? How can we empower patients to manage their diabetes? How can we help nurses optimize training?

Our inspiration for the Little People™ Apptivity™ Barnyard came from watching young children play with apps and toys. They didn’t view the world as “digital” vs. “physical” but rather moved fluidly between both modalities and even used them together. We therefore set out to reinvent our classic farm playset to reflect how children naturally want to play. The Little People Apptivity Barnyard represents a new level of interactivity, where the app and toy are fully integrated and augment each other. The app provides a rich, living world while the conductive playset and figures provide a new, tangible way to explore this world. Everything works with everything else, just as children expect!

For many asthmatics, the daily routines of asthma management can be a complex process entailing; monitoring the condition, logging results and inhaling the medicine in the right way. Life-long treatment often has a huge impact on people’s daily life. For an asthmatic regular, the measuring of one’s condition and tracking in the long term, is crucial to learn their own triggers. With several products and routines, living with asthma can be a constant daily challenge. Otto creates one seamless experience and redefines the asthma treatment process.

MyMachine DreamsDrop is a brand-new complimentary program, turning our inter-generational co-design methodology into a cross-border collaboration: it's an online world map that invites anyone (adults and children alike) to upload their dream machine idea. In addition, we run an annual open call to primary school teachers to join their class, combined with a call to university professors to participate with their students.

MixDown is a digital service for young adults to engage with radio in an innovative way. The service allows youth to express themselves by creating short audio mash-ups using radio clips, repurposing and mixing the content with personalized messages.

Expressive Wearable explores clothing as a communication tool. This project imagines a scenario in which clothing expresses the wearer’s attitude directly without the concern of adhering to social conventions.

Jury Chair May-Li Khoe nominated the Feminist Coalition to honor their mission to champion equality for women in Nigerian society with a core focus on education, financial freedom and representation in public office, and to recognize how the Coalition was able to create a financially-transparent food, water, medical, security, and legal aid services system in a record-breaking amount of time under extreme conditions of duress.

Sound Blocks, was a fantastically fun project to be part of. More so that it is an amazing tool to teach children and adults alike about the basic elements of sound of made of.

With a brief to explore innovations in the area of space design and placemaking, we decided to look at low-cost and low-entry-barrier solutions that would allow us to engage the local population in public consultations.

Indonesian state-owned bank, Bank BRI, is one of the biggest banks in Indonesia that are specializes on micro segment. As a way to help adult population in Indonesia who are still unbanked or underbanked, Bank BRI wants to find a way to help the customers do savings that are more convenient for them. Many of them still rely on cash for daily transactions. They keep their money at home, in a piggy bank, or join informal neighborhood saving program. This way of saving money is prone to thief and cheat. The customers themselves often get itchy to open their piggy bank and use the money.