a good way to say goodbye
Remember Me is a unique and innovative funeral service that reimagines the way we remember and celebrate our loved ones. It provides an affordable and sustainable solution to the often costly and stressful process of saying goodbye to a loved one. With Remember Me, families can honour and cherish the memory of their loved ones in a highly personalized way, while also building stronger connections to their community.
As a project responding to the Global Student Service Challenge 2022, four colleagues and I partnered with the design strategists from IBM and Philips for 6 months. The project was a finalist and entered the top 10 in the competition. In the project, I played multiple roles as a service designer, user researcher and technical specialist. My diverse skill set allowed me to contribute to various aspects of the project, from understanding user needs and designing user interaction, to developing technical solutions that enable innovative and affordable funeral services.
CHALLENGE
Our ambitions were to create a more people-centric and planet-positive funeral service that disrupted the current ownership economy.
OUTCOME
The service offers an alternative to traditional funerals by providing online memory museums and using public facilities as memorial 'headstones'.
PROBLEMS IN FUNERARY SERVICES
High cost
If the cost of a basic funeral rises at the same rate as it has since 2004, the average cost of a funeral in the UK could reach £5,044 (around 8,000 CAD) in 2025.
The cost of a funeral amounted to 18% of the annual expenditure of median household disposable income.
High waste
There can be significant waste generated by the funeral industry, both in the preparation of a funeral and during the burial process. Some examples include:
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Flowers: Fresh flowers are a common addition to funerals, but they are often a one-time use item.
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Food and drinks: Catering for a funeral can generate a large amount of food waste, especially if the amount of food provided is not well-matched to the number of guests attending. In addition, disposable plates, cups, and cutlery can contribute to waste if they are not recyclable.
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Stationery and printed materials: Funeral programs, thank you cards, and other printed materials are usually not recycled.
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Coffin and casket materials: Traditional coffins and caskets are often made from materials that are not biodegradable, such as hardwoods and metals.
DESIGN PROCESS
To facilitate the way of working, our design strategy is structured around 4 main rounds: an initial ‘Proposal’, ‘Empathize & Discover’, ‘Frame & Define’ and ‘Ideate & Develop’. It is based on the User Centered Design process.
Preparatory research
Find opportunities
Problem Statement
Stakeholder map
User research
Cultural probes
Experience Map
Share stories
Find themes
Insight statement
How might we?
Concept selection
Storyboard
Experience prototype
Service blueprint
Business canvas
Early on, it was important to explore the current ownership-oriented economy and identify potential local opportunities in the funeral industry.
OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT
To find the best design opportunities, we mapped all the possible concepts and translated this into the mind mapping framework.
RESEARCH
Field observation
We visited 3 cemeteries located in Scotland and England across the United Kingdom.
We observed the preparation process for a funeral and participated in the ceremony.
Interview
We conducted a thorough research study involving 12 participants of diverse cultural backgrounds and ages to gather their perspectives and attitudes towards funerals.
Market research
We also sought expertise from a professional funeral director, a designer with relevant knowledge, and a vicar who had plenty of experience in funeral venue hiring to gain valuable insights into the funeral industry.
Workshop
To explore the ideal funeral of people, we held a design workshop with 5 participants and asked them to create their own funerals by game.
DISCOVERY
Shortage of graveyards
As populations have grown and urban areas have expanded, available land for graveyards has become increasingly scarce. This has led to some graveyards becoming full and others becoming too expensive to purchase.
One-time consumption
There is a lot of one-time consumption at funerals. Not only are they expensive, but they also contribute to resource waste and environmental damage.
For example, tombstones are the most significant expense in funerals, often costing more than £1,000 (around 1,600 CAD). Flowers, which are not only used during the funeral but also frequently purchased after a funeral, are costly and unsustainable.
Average cost of a funeral in the UK
Personalized services
People desire to provide a customized and dignified funeral for themselves or their loved ones. However, personalizing the funeral through services such as custom headstone design often significantly increases the cost. The desire to show respect for the deceased leads to overspending in the funeral industry.
Diverse Headstones in UK Cemeteries
Grief and emotional distress
Families often spend excessive amounts on funeral services because of sadness.
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Impulsive spending: Grief can make individuals more susceptible to high and unreasonable prices offered by funeral directors.
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Catharsis: People will feel ashamed and sorry if they spent so little money on their loved ones. Some individuals may use funeral expenses as a way to cope with feelings of regret and loss, leading to excessive spending as a form of catharsis.
Lack of awareness and planning
Only 10% of people will consider their own funeral in advance, and fewer would discuss the funeral plans with their families. Most families make funeral decisions based on the recommendations of the funeral director, without fully understanding their options. This can result in overspending on funeral services and conflicts with the wishes of the deceased.
STAKEHOLDER MAP
Based on the insights gathered from our research, we created a comprehensive stakeholder map that outlines the flow of value within the funeral industry. This map not only considers the role of customers and funeral directors, but also incorporates the involvement of government, solicitors and third-party providers in the funeral process.
FUNERAL PROCESS EXPERIENCE MAP
A funeral process experience framework was mapped out to understand touchpoints and looked for areas that can have an opportunity to make an impact. In each phase, we listed the user pain points and the possible design opportunities.
FINDING THEMES
Sharing inspiring stories
We shared inspiring stories together so that they become part of our collective consciousness. The goal is to build a repository of stories for us to draw from, tell, and retell. Capturing those resonant ideas and feelings, and building them into the very narrative of our team’s work helps us find the ultimate themes to focus on.
Diverse consumer behaviors in funeral industry
The funeral industry today is a blend of the old and the new, with four different value-driven consumer behaviours emerging simultaneously among the population. It is important to reduce consumerist values and guide individualism needs in a more sustainable way.
DEEPER INSIGHTS
Conflict in user needs
The desire for personal, dignified and planet-positive funeral services
The reality of
limited budgets
The conflict creates a significant challenge for families who want to provide a fitting farewell for their loved ones while also navigating the financial constraints of organizing a funeral.
Rethinking the aim of funeral service
The wishes of the deceased
The need of
the surviving family members
Funeral services are intended for the deceased, however, the majority of the time, the decisions regarding the funeral are made by their families rather than the deceased themselves. This creates a discrepancy between the wishes of the deceased and the actual funeral services provided by the industry, which primarily caters to the needs of the surviving family members. As a result, funerals may not align with the desires of the deceased.
REFRAMING THE PROBLEM
How might we make funerals both cost-effective and eco-friendly,
while still maintaining the personal touch and emotional connection
that comes with honoring the memory of a loved one?
WHAT IF ......
To address the challenge of balancing personalization and limited budgets, we explored various scenarios through "what-if" questions to find solutions that meet users' needs.
In funeral services, a significant portion of the one-time consumption cost is the send-off fee, which includes optional extras like tombstones, catering, and flowers that make the funeral more personalized. However, we recognized that some of these send-off items could be replaced or reduced without sacrificing user satisfaction.
To ensure that any reduction in send-off items would not have a negative impact on users, we created a coordinate system to measure the level of impact and guide our decision-making process.
Concept selection
The evaluation result shows that virtual headstones, virtual limos, virtual memorials, virtual ceremonies and virtual flowers are both cost-saving and satisfying to people. We decided to make a service that provides hybrid funeral services.
SERVICE CONCEPT
After identifying the key pain points associated with traditional funeral services, our team set out to create an innovative solution that would give people more control over the end-of-life process. Through extensive ideation and brainstorming, we arrived at the concept of a hybrid funeral service that would decentralize the traditional funeral and cemetery experience.
INTRODUCING REMEMBER ME
The service offers an alternative to traditional funerals by providing online memory museums and using public facilities as memorial 'headstones'.
It provides a tag with an introduction to the deceased, which will be placed in the chosen public facility. Using their phone's NFC technology, users can tap on the sensory area, and the online memory museum of the deceased will open automatically. The memory museums are also accessible through link and app.
Keeping memories alive in the community
Remember Me utilizes public facilities (e.g. streetlight, tree, bench) as a form of memorial to foster a deeper connection between individuals and their local communities.
By utilizing these shared spaces to pay tribute to the deceased, it creates a collective sense of remembrance and community spirit. It allows individuals to honor their loved ones in a way that contributes to the community, rather than just serving as a private memorial. This not only provides a memorable and meaningful tribute, but also strengthens the bonds between community members.
Truly reflecting the life and spirit of the cherished loved one
Remember Me allows you to create a unique online memory museum to celebrate the life of yourself or your loved one.
Share the story, photos, videos, and memories in a museum that's tailored to your personal needs.
You can design it in advance to ensure it aligns with your or your loved one's wishes.
Green and lasting way to show respect
People could visit the online museum anytime, anywhere, and invite friends and family to connect and share cherished memories. Online memory museums create a green and cost-saving experience for people and their loved ones by leaving words and digital gifts at the online memorial. All the gifts will be saved permanently without the risk to get withered.
By using the alternative memorials, the need for expensive tombstones and flowers is reduced, making funeral services more affordable and environmentally friendly.
Education in awareness
We partner with charity organizations to improve awareness of funeral costs, waste, and the importance of planning by providing online tests.
PERSONA
STORYBOARD
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
In order to gain insights and inspiration, we conducted case studies on two existing services: the Van Gogh Museum virtual tour and Muchloved, an online tribute platform.
Our analysis of Muchloved revealed that it has a poor permission system that does not allow for effective control over who has access to a deceased person's online tribute. To address this issue, we developed a new permission system based on invitation and access levels. This system allows users to set specific permissions for their online memorials, and if no permissions are set, the default rules for intestacy laid down in the Administration of Estate Act 1925 will be applied after the owner's death.
We also examined the Van Gogh Museum virtual tour and found that while it provides an immersive experience, it lacks clear descriptions of the artwork. To address this issue, we designed a function that displays descriptions when the user is looking at a particular piece of artwork. This enhances the user's experience by providing additional information and context about the artwork.
SERVICE BLUEPRINT
BUSINESS CANVAS
RESULTS
User feedback
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“I think the Remember Me project is a unique and innovative way to change the way people perceive death and funerals. The use of technology to showcase personalised museums is a beautiful way to keep the memory of those who passed alive and present in the minds of their loved ones and those who visit the space. If this project were common practice, it would be an amazing way to preserve human history through objects and storytelling.”
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"I appreciate the ability to customize the online memory museum to truly reflect the life and personality of my loved one. It helped me to stay connected to my loved one and preserve their memory in a meaningful way."
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“Hey! This is really amazing. I L-O-V-E the consistency in your story. Really well done! I would probably focus more on religions or different cultures than countries because religions usually do not know borders.”
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"The convenience of being able to visit the online museum without time or location constraints has been a great comfort to me."
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"It transforms the traditional idea of mourning into a more personal and meaningful experience. "
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"I found the sensory area feature to be a thoughtful and convenient way to access the online museum while out in public."
Awards
The project won the top 10 in the Global Student Service Challenge 2022.
VIDEO
Demonstration video for 2022 Global Student Service Design Challenge
* Cases for using trees as memorials and using phones to visit Memory Museums are included in this video.
Demonstration video for VR Memory Museum
* Cases for using personal items as memorials and using VR helmets to visit Memory Museums are included in this video.