CareCards

When patients in the ICU can’t speak or move, how do they express basic needs or complex emotions? A project about designing for the lack of entertainment in hospitals, we reframed as a broken link in human communication in one of the most vulnerable places imaginable.

Develop a simple, accessible system that gives non-verbal ICU patients the dignity of being understood, while being inclusive of age, language, culture, and cognitive ability; built not just for patients and staff, but with them.

Through extensive co-creation with ICU staff and patients, we designed CareCards: a set of 18 color-coded, hook-mounted communication cards covering needs from medical to emotional. Each card uses empathetic illustrations and intuitive symbols to invite quick and gentle interaction, to make patients feel more human and caregivers connect more meaningfully.