O! Locals
You Xu
In China, the number of people over 50 in 2025 will reach 300 million. The law allows companies to legally force them to retire at age 60 for men, 50 for women. This upcoming retired group’s characteristics are different from the current aging population. This group is influenced by the one-child policy (where couples were only allowed one child), willing to pay attention to their own living experience, and is very familiar with digital products.
After their retirement, they lose ideas about how to spend their excess amount of free time on meaningful things. Thus, they feel their values for this society get lost both functionally and socially. Besides, under the one-child policy, many “only” kids will bear huge pressure to raise the entire family. It is quite usual that kids will depart from their parents because of work. For their parents, they may strongly feel lonely. As a graphic designer, I want to build an app that can help the upcoming aging population spend their free time properly and connect them with more who share the same interest. In the end, they can find their new position in society for the rest of their lives. In China, a lot of online information portrays the retired group as a disabled aging group and tells them their responsibility for their grand generations. Many energetic activity apps are made for youth and the ones made for adults only provide serious lectures. The energy and the love for oneself should exist regardless of age consideration.