Apps Supporting Dementia and Depression Sweep Global Design Awards... UNIST Professor Team Wins 4 Main Prizes at 'iF Design Award'

UNIST Department of Design Professors Kim Hwang and Lee Seungho Team, "Experience Design as a Solution for a Rapidly Changing World"

UNIST researchers who won the iF Design Award 2022 (Professor Lee Seung-ho, third from the left in the front row, and Professor Kim Hwang, fourth).

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] App designs developed at a domestic university have swept prestigious global awards.

A “smartphone app design” for finding missing dementia patients received an international design award.

Additionally, this university submitted app designs addressing community issues such as overcoming depression and encouraging volunteerism, which were also selected as award winners.

Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) announced on the 16th that four smartphone apps developed by the design department professors Kim Hwang and Lee Seung-ho’s team received the main prize at the “iF Design Award 2022.”

The award-winning apps include “Findie,” which helps easily locate missing dementia patients; “DADLE,” which gathers people with similar concerns to enhance counseling effectiveness for depression; “Volluun,” which encourages more people to participate in volunteer activities; and “Moee,” which enables communication with others at exhibitions.

Findie is installed on the smartphones of dementia patients and their nearby neighbors. When a dementia patient goes missing, the app immediately notifies nearby neighbors of the expected location to facilitate quicker discovery.

The expected location of the missing person is extracted through machine learning based on places entered by users and usual movement paths.

Kang Yoon-gu, a graduate student in the design department who designed this app, said, “While serving as a conscripted police officer, I had many heartbreaking experiences searching for missing dementia patients,” and explained, “If we can estimate the expected location of missing dementia patients and involve nearby neighbors, finding the missing person will become much easier.”

DADLE helps overcome depression through “anonymous group counseling.” First, participants complete a simple questionnaire, and based on this, artificial intelligence selects the most suitable counselor.

It is also designed so that people facing similar difficulties can participate in group counseling to better empathize with each other. During counseling, character avatars and nicknames are used to guarantee the anonymity of depression patients.

Graduate student Yoo Dong-hyuk from the design department introduced, “The app’s name means ‘everyone,’ implying that you are not alone in your struggles,” and added, “By comforting and empathizing with each other and strengthening bonds, it will help overcome depression.”

Volluun is a platform that helps individuals find volunteer activities that perfectly suit them and records their activities. When users set their areas of interest, they receive notifications about related volunteer opportunities, and their activity history becomes items to decorate their virtual space. The goal is to make volunteering enjoyable and encourage more participation.

Han Min-joo, an undergraduate student in the design department who participated in the project, said, “Even if people want to donate their talents or volunteer, limited information often prevents them from stepping forward,” and added, “Volluun will be a welcome service for individuals who want to help others and exert socially positive influence.”

Moee is a work that won two awards, including the “Red Dot Design Award 2021” last summer. This app is designed to provide a better experience during exhibition visits.

Users can stand in front of an artwork, record their impressions, and view others’ impressions. This allows visitors to see the exhibition from various perspectives beyond the services provided by exhibition curators.

Graduate student Kim Seong-beom from the design department introduced, “It is a technology that enables communication by considering the perspectives of neighbors viewing the same artwork,” and added, “A distinctive feature is that impressions can continue even after the exhibition ends.”

Professors Kim Hwang and Lee Seung-ho, who supervised these projects, are designers who joined the UNIST design department in 2019.

Professor Kim Hwang runs the “OF NOW Lab” and researches “UX, digital, innovation, service, and strategy.” He said, “Our goal is to create digital innovation through design methodologies and creative processes,” and added, “This iF award-winning work also aligns with that context.”

Professor Lee Seung-ho runs a lab called “New Design Studio” and focuses on service and policy design.

He said, “We are considering strategic alternatives to build a sustainable society with various stakeholders,” and added, “The answer to problems faced by a rapidly changing world lies in people’s experiences and hopes, and we aim to solve these within the realm of design.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.