Digital relief for family caregivers: How eDEM-CONNECT helps with optimal UX design

Around 1.8 million people live with dementia in Germany [source]. With approximately 445,000 new cases each year, this number is steadily increasing. The majority of these individuals are cared for at home by family members — a task that is emotionally demanding, time-consuming, and full of challenges [source]. 

This is precisely where the research project eDEM-CONNECT, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung), comes in: it aims to support family caregivers with a digital platform. Ergosign was involved as the UX partner in this project and demonstrates how human-centered design can concretely help in challenging life situations.

Putting individual care at the heart of digital design

The eDEM-CONNECT platform offers three core functions: a chatbot for individual questions, a practice-oriented knowledge portal, and a search function for regional support services. The idea is that family caregivers should be able to find information and assistance easily and based on their needs — especially for behavioral issues such as restlessness or aggression.

While the chatbot enables caregivers to get answers to individual questions, the knowledge portal provides practical information in the form of articles. Through the search function, caregivers can quickly find appropriate support services such as day care, care groups, or self-help groups — for both people with dementia and themselves.

UX at the core: empathize, create, validate

Ergosign took responsibility for UX design, research, prototyping, visual design, and testing in the project. Our approach: only those who understand the target group can create a truly helpful application. Therefore, we analyzed interviews with family caregivers and created validated personas based on these — including, for example, Britta (see illustration), who cares for her father with dementia. These personas gave us deep insights into individual life realities and caregiving challenges.

From caregiving journey to tested prototype

Using the personas, we developed a care journey to capture the changing needs over the course of the illness. It maps typical stress points and information requirements along the different stages of dementia — from the initial diagnosis to advanced care dependency. This structured perspective helped us derive targeted UX measures — such as intuitive navigation, appropriate content for specific phases, or quick access to regional support services.

The result was a prototype specifically tailored to the needs of the older target group — inclusive design was an integral part from the beginning. Since many users have age-related impairments like visual weaknesses, we placed special emphasis on clear contrasts, easily readable fonts, generous controls, and intuitive navigation. To continuously improve usability and user experience, the prototype was tested in two iterations with the target group. The collected feedback was directly incorporated into further development — resulting in an application concept that truly meets the everyday needs of family caregivers and people with dementia.

Emotions meet ethics — tactful design 

Caring for a person with dementia is associated with many emotions. This emotional aspect was incorporated into all phases of the concept. In workshops at the Evangelical University of Nuremberg, ethical questions were discussed, such as: How much can a chatbot do? Where is human support needed? Our design approach therefore focused on building trust. A warm color scheme, clear language, and relatable examples are intended to facilitate access.

Chatbot with responsibility

Special attention was given to developing the chatbot. Although it provides low-threshold help, it reaches its limits with emotional topics. Usability tests showed that many users are skeptical and desire human support for sensitive questions. Our insight: digital tools must take the needs of the target group seriously, not only technically but also ethically. A possible future development is a targeted handover to professional counseling centers.

Conclusion: UX design as a bridge to better quality of life

eDEM-CONNECT shows how UX and inclusive design can be used deliberately to create digital solutions for sensitive and complex life situations. The platform was designed to intuitively, accessibly, and emotionally support family caregivers of people with dementia. Through comprehensive research, iterative usability testing, and mindful handling of the topic of dementia, a prototype was created that convinces both functionally and empathetically. With a clear information structure, legible typography, high contrast, and simple navigation, eDEM-CONNECT is an example of how human-centered design in healthcare can deliver more than just attractive interfaces — it can provide real added value in everyday life.

Note: This project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung) under grant number 16SV8338. The authors are responsible for the content of this publication.