Sheng-Hung Lee

Designed by Sheng-Hung Lee, Joseph F. Coughlin, and Sofie Hodara, 2022-24.
| Design for Longevity: Financial Planning Service Systems and Immersive Technologies |

Book Chapter
2024 ─ Design in Action, Intellect ─ Inclusive Financial Planning Service Design Considerations for an Aging Population [ link ]
2024 ─ Systemic Service Design, Routledge ─ Prototyping Longevity Service Systems: Tech or Touch? [ link ]
2024 ─ Service Design Futures, Bloomsbury ─ Design for Longevity: An Empathic Service Design Framework [ link ]
2024 ─ Service Design Futures, Edward Elgar ─ Design for Longevity and Immersive Technology: Literature Review [ link ]
Journal
2022 ─ Arte, entre paréntesis ─ Retail Banking and Financial Service Under System Analysis [ link ]
2023 ─ The European Journal of Creative Practices in Cities and Landscapes ─ Longevity Planning Service Across Immersive Technologies [ link ]
Conference
2023 ─ IASDR ─ Designing Longevity Planning Blocks through Experimental Participatory Observation and Interviews [ link ]
2023 ─ Cumulus Antwerp ─ Applying Human-Centered System Design to the Development of a Tool for Service Innovation [ link ]
2023 ─ ICED ─ Co-create Financial Planning Services for an Aging Population: Designers' Perspectives [ link ]
2023 ─ ICED ─ Service Design in Action: Transformation, Consideration, and System Thinking [ link ]
2023 ─ IDC ─ Design Artifacts and Gaming Transform Financial Planning Services [ link ]
2023 ─ IDC ─ From Brainstorming to Bodystorming: Co-creation Workshop Analysis Using Applied Video Ethnography [ link ]
Column
2024 ─ DesignWanted ─ Using boundary objects for enhanced design perspectives and insights [ link ]
2024 ─ DesignWanted ─ Design for Vulnerability (D4V): Adaptability, Artifacts, and Apprehension [ link ]
2023 ─ DesignWanted ─ Building an AgeTech City: Services, Community, and Technology [ link ]
2023 ─ DesignWanted ─ Design for simulation: how to project your future self? [ link ]
2023 ─ DesignWanted ─ Design for Longevity: Service, Systems, and Sustainability [ link ]

In the era of a super-aging society, people are living longer. But that does not guarantee that they are living well. Financial well-being plays a critical role in the ability to age gracefully and in good health. Attaining financial well-being starts by shifting people’s mindset and behavior from financial planning to longevity planning. To foster this shift, we are creating longevity coaching experiences that not only engage and educate participants, but also give facilitators the confidence to navigate sensitive conversations.

The study explored the research question of how to design an effective longevity coaching service and system by experimenting with two types of service encounters: tech-based and touch-based. The authors developed six research hypotheses about service encounter types, resulting in six corresponding dependent variables/design attributes: 1. Learnability: A touch-based service can help first-time clients learn new concepts or knowledge about longevity more easily than a tech-based service; 2. Efficiency: A tech-based service can help clients get the task done as quickly and accurately as possible, enhancing their capabilities to adapt to complexity better than a touch-based service; 3. Safety: A touch-based service can easily create a safe and reliable personal space that enables clients to better expose their vulnerable side with comfort than a tech-based service; 4. Trustworthiness: A tech-based service can more easily build trust with a client than a touch-based service; 5. Confidence: A touch-based service can empower clients with the confidence to grow and explore the unknown better than a tech-based service; 6. Satisfaction: A tech-based service can provide better-perceived service quality to meet client’s satisfaction and expectations than a touch-based service. An experimental longevity coaching service was designed to see if service encounter type would impact six dependent variables/design attributes of longevity services.

The authors applied script theory and seven script-based variables to design and construct the longevity service, which was pilot tested with twelve volunteer participants from Boston or New York with various backgrounds, educations, age ranges, and different financial planning experiences and knowledge. To conduct and analyze the experiment, authors used four qualitative research methods: surveys, Think-aloud approach, semi-structured interviews, and semantic and transcript analysis coded by a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) and Open AI. In the conclusion, the authors use six hypotheses based on the dependent variables/design attributes to structure and frame takeaways about user experience. 

This project also demonstrates the iterative process and results of designing a guided longevity coaching service experiment pairing tangible objects, Longevity Planning Blocks (LPBs), with different forms of immersive technologies: projection augmented reality (AR), tablet AR, and wearable AR. The resulting experiments measure effectiveness, usability, and user experience. We applied the Think Aloud method with nine participants with academic backgrounds for 30-minutes to explore the advantages and limitations of each medium. We reached three conclusions: 1. the facilitating roles of financial planners change based on the different technologies, 2. immersive service experiences increase privacy and enable discovery and sharing of sensitive personal financial concerns and opportunities, and 3. tangible artifacts help participants spark ideas to better express abstract financial concepts.

Special Thanks to
Ph.D. Research Project Advisors: Prof. Maria Yang, Dr. Joseph F. Coughlin, Prof. Olivier de Weck, Prof. Eric Klopfer, Prof. John Ochsendorf
MIT AgeLab: Dr. Lisa D'Ambrosio, Dr. Chaiwoo Lee, Alexa Balmuth, Lauren Cerino
Northeastern University College of Arts, Media, and Design: Prof. Sofie Hodara
Zhou Xuan Studio: Zhou Xuan (Language Expert)