Press Release
Akhil Patel Is Honored with the Bronze A' Design Award for Alz Well Dementia Caregiving Ecosystem in Digital Product Design
Akhil Patel honored for digital product design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 18, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ Alz Well Dementia Caregiving Ecosystem by Akhil Patel, designed for Akhil Patel Designs, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Digital Product Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Bronze A' Design Award
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
More About Alz Well Dementia Caregiving Ecosystem
Alz Well is a digital care system for dementia caregivers and patients. The system includes a caregiver application with a dark mode for night use, a smart band with simple voice and one-tap controls, and a smart speaker with a large screen. Location tracking helps caregivers find patients who wander. Central scheduling with automated suggestions supports daily routines, and a wellness dashboard shows the state of patient and caregiver. Familiar voice options and contextual images help patients recall memories. Several dementia care needs are addressed in one system.
About Akhil Patel
Akhil is currently the Founding Designer/Head of Design of an AI pioneer startup, Hero - building the world's first daily assistant. He's responsible for everything design and brand in the company. Here's an article talking about his work: https://edm.com/gear-tech/inside-hero-innovative-ai-productivity-app-the-chainsmokers Akhil is also a member of AIVA (Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts) and a jury member for W3 Awards, Communicator Awards, and Davey Awards. He's won numerous national/international design awards as well. Akhil has led design for Microsoft Shopping on Bing and other Microsoft surfaces with over 100 Million users.
Award Record
Akhil Patel is a winner of 2 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards were granted in the 2024 - 2025 edition of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Digital Product Design Award
The A' Digital Product Design Award is an international competition recognizing top digital product designs by leading brands, designers and agencies worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to digital product designers, user experience designers, user interface designers and interaction designers from all countries. Typical entries include digital products, apps, e-books, virtual reality experiences, interactive websites and digital games. The awarded digital product designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/digital-product
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/163729
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/163729
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!163729
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/174550
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Alz Well Dementia Caregiving Ecosystem
- Function
- Dementia Caregiving Ecosystem
- Category
- Digital Product Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Software
- Colors
- Dark Slate Gray, Sea Green, Saddle Brown, Dim Gray and Dark Olive Green
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Akhil Patel Designs
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Akhil Patel
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #163729
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- AlzWell includes a caregiver app with dark mode for night use, a smart band for patients with simple voice and one-tap interactions, and a smart speaker with a large screen for voice commands and viewing memories. Key features: AI location tracking for wandering patients, central scheduling with AI suggestions, custom voice options for familiarity, and a wellness dashboard for caregivers. Patients gain confidence with contextual visuals, and the system simplifies caregiver-patient management.
- Inspiration
- Dementia caregivers are the worst-hit caregivers in the healthcare industry: - 17 billion hours of unpaid care (mostly family) - 60% have extreme stress levels - 1/6 quit their jobs Dementia is also the most expensive disease in the USA: 2.8 Trillion USD estimated societal cost by 2030. Alz Well aims to reduce stress for caregivers by helping them: - effectively managing the symptoms & well-being of the patient - having a smart care framework at their fingertips - manage their day-to-day schedules along with the caregiving responsibility using AI - get help in emergencies
- Research
- The research was divided into 2 parts: 1. User research: I talked to 3 dementia patients' family members and caregivers to understand how their lives and daily schedules are affected while caregiving. 2. Desk Research: Extensive secondary research was done from online sources like the CDC website, caregiving.org, Alz.org, etc.
- Challenge
- The most difficult part of this challenge was to create something that had zero learning curve for the dementia patient (achieved via voice and one-click UI) and build a comprehensive monitoring system for the caregiver while integrating their current daily routine into the caregiving workflow.
- Realization and Technology
- For the app: The product was designed in Figma. The animations are done in Rive/SwiftUI. The v1 prototype is built specifically for iOS using Swift UI and UIKit with some parts done in React. The voice interactions and routing are done via a Large Language Model (LLM). Wearable & Speaker: V2 additions to the ecosystem are designed in Figma and will be built on open-source libraries.
- Operation and Interaction
- Alz Well is the first system designed for both dementia caregivers and patients, improving both lives. It uses AI for wandering tracking and time management, a breakthrough in dementia care. Unlike other solutions that address one issue at a time, Alz Well manages multiple dementia challenges in one system (wandering, reminiscence, home tasks, monitoring). The tech is invisible to the patient, requiring no learning curve, making it effortless to use for both patients and caregivers.
- Project Duration and Location
- Initial research and design: 6 months (May 2022 - Jul 2022) Development: Ongoing Location: San Francisco, CA
- Specifications
- App: Responsive iOS devices (iPhone SE - iPhone 16Pro Max) Wearable: 36mm diagonal rectangular display Speaker: 10.2in diagonal display (1.8in depth)
- Keywords
- Dementia, Alzheimer's, Monitoring, Mobile, Caregivers, SmartDevices, Voice, AI
