 Design for the Mind, Caring Kind, Pratt Institute, and Cooper Hewitt. Lou Ellen Barkin, President and CEO, Caring Kind. The interesting thing about Alzheimer's disease is that while it is the most expensive disease and one that is likely to bankrupt the nation if nothing is done to find an effective therapy, there's very little attention paid to it versus other diseases. So what we know at Caring Kind is that in the absence of an effective therapy, to treat, cure, or adopt the progression of this disease, the best therapy is good care. You really just want to keep them happy. Lauren Lee, designer, dirty dog. And enjoying every moment of the rest of their life as much as possible. So don't try to correct them, don't try to make them understand reality. So the best thing to do is to go into their reality, which is a new way of thinking. A stuffed dog made of microfiber sponges sits in her lap. I really just wanted to make something emotionally inviting and encouraging and nostalgic, something that they used to enjoy when they had full capabilities and something where it takes the focus off bathing completely and just makes them happy and makes them enjoy the experience they're having. When I found out there was a class that was all about Alzheimer's. Cody Calamio, designer, door camouflage. I was really intrigued of kind of using the design thinking skills that we apply to other types of problem solving and apply it to a really complex, sensitive subject. So the idea is that the product would simply be stuffed. She presses a flat panel onto a door handle. Then unfolds it to create a shelf lined with framed photos. Then you can open it up and suddenly a little world pops down and there's picture frames that when you approach the door now you see a whole different world of color and depth and these can simply be slid in and out so the user can change them. And then when you need to leave, you simply close it back up. Raiden Young. I developed a Velcro wallpaper system that kind of plays off the idea of like a carpet tile in terms of it's small and something that can be repeated and then you can kind of apply those things at like a local level or like an entire wall you can do. A framed photo and remote control are shown clinging to the wallpaper. So I looked at wallpaper from the 50s, 60s and 70s and that's how I took kind of their motifs. So this is a story dice. Morgan McEnvale, designer, story dice. Kind of a conversation aid game. Each one of these six-sided die you can just place a sticker that is printable on standard Avery sticker sheets on just anyone's home printer. The sides of the wooden blocks are adorned with simple images. So the idea is that if conversation ever kind of comes to a stop and there's a awkward silence or something like that, say you're going to have like jewel rain sun so it could be like my mom got engaged and it rained the whole time when you were camping out in the woods. It's not a great memory and then it starts a different conversation or it starts an imaginary conversation and it doesn't matter. It really is just for the user and the way that they feel best to use it. Sinyin Liang. People are scared looking at themselves in the mirror and then I start to think about how can I solve this problem. Family caregiver when they use it, it's like a mirror but they can just like turn the light on and then when the patient with a timer, when they use it, it becomes a picture frame so that when they won't look at the mirror. Lou Ellen Barkin. I have been really gratified to see some of these incredible opportunities that the students have helped us with and we're really hoping to bring some of these into the marketplace. Accessible design for individuals with dementia will make the family situation easier and make caring for them easier and that's what this is all about. All thanks to Alex Schvader and Konstantin Boyum. Video produced by Chris J. Gautier with help from Matthew J. Kennedy and Abby Hebein. In conjunction with the exhibition Access Plusability, on view December 15th, 2017 through September 3rd, 2018.