Vivien photoradio.

Standalone device that receives picture emails, photocasts, and SMS messages from family and friends, and prints picture postcards into a photo frame.

Vivien photoradio. They send picture emails. You get picture postcards.

Opportunity

The digital-analog gap

Silvers — people over age 50 — want to be tuned in to what's going on in the lives of their family and friends, and enjoy the tangibility of photos and letters as a way of doing this.

But printing and mailing actual photos doesn't fit in the lifestyle of younger people, who are more likely to email a photo or to send one captured with a cameraphone via SMS.

Solution

They send picture emails. You get picture postcards.

Vivien translates between generations. Vivien prints pictures with messages on the back from family and friends, placing them right into a photo frame. It is warmer and easier to maintain than current printers and requires no computer, receiving emails with pictures, subscribed photostreams and SMS messages through Wi-Fi.

Vivien product brief (1.2MB PDF).

User research

Observing older people's interactions with family and communication devices identified positive and negative contact points.

Design process

From the research, I built a series of forms with foam and Illustrator to work out how to make a friendlier and more connected printer for an older population.