In this paper, we illustrate a concrete case to apply the Life-Based Design approach to identifying human goals for technology to achieve. We focus on a form-of-life method of design, which seeks to reach a mental state of “digital wellbeing.” Digital well-being aims to facilitate digitalization and changes in the digital environment, and to maximize the availability and accessibility of services. We evaluate the target group of senior citizens, who are facing an accelerating pace of digitalization of the services in their daily lives. This increases their sense of anxiety and undermines their well-being.

Global conditions are changing at such a rate that foreseeing trends in technological development, economic fluctuations and climatic conditions is ever more difficult. When developing technologies, there is one constant factor that practitioners and researchers should be aware of, and that is people. This is not to say that people, culture and social conditions remain stagnant, for these too evolve with the surrounding circumstances. Rather, appropriate tools and capabilities for investigating people, their lives and life situations, are integral to understanding what people need in terms of technology, how these technologies will be used, and more importantly how they will be valued in the scheme of a person's life. This paper describes the process and outcomes of a course in Cognitive Science focused on developing the tools needed for Life-Based Service Design (LBSD). The course is implemented via problem-based learning (PBL), and students are guided through the process by charting an explanatory method adhering to the Life-Based Design (LBD) ontology. This ontology comprises: 1) Form-of-life analysis; 2) service concept and requirements; 3) fit-for-life analysis; and 4) innovation design. Results show heightened awareness and sensitivity of life conditions, values and needs, revealing design concept strengths and weaknesses in the pre-development phase.

In this paper we introduce prerequisites for the empowerment of social interaction when using a multi-user mobile service. The paper is based on a case study of user experiences of a multiplayer mobile game where the players attend the game via their mobile phones whilst their activity is materialized on a common public display. Based on the results of user evaluation we introduce three enabling factors for social interaction in a multiplayer game: context, communication and identification. User aspects to these factors as well as perspectives to other types of services are presented.