What it does
Cognia supports families and caregivers of dementia patients with personalized cognitive games, mood tracking, and a caregiver dashboard. It addresses engagement and emotional well-being, offering an easy-to-use, empathetic tool to improve daily care.
Your inspiration
This project is deeply personal—my grandmother’s dementia affected not only her memory but our family’s emotional wellbeing. Talking with others, I saw many caregivers struggling to help loved ones without clear guidance. Inspired by simple routines like playing old songs or sharing photos, I created Cognia: a tool to bring structure, care, and confidence to caregiving. Dementia is heartbreaking, but early intervention and mental engagement can help. Design’s role is to support, connect, and empower families facing this challenge.
How it works
Cognia has two connected tools: a mobile app for the person with early-stage dementia and a web dashboard for their caregiver. The app offers a simple daily routine of short, personalised brain games like mood check-ins, typing exercises, and memory tasks using music or photos. These activities are designed to be easy to engage with and build confidence without pressure. The caregiver dashboard tracks trends in mood, engagement, and performance, offering suggestions powered by AI to adjust difficulty and recommend the most effective activities. Caregivers can also send gentle reminders and encouragement that appear on the patient’s phone or smartwatch. Cognia creates a supportive daily rhythm that helps stimulate the mind, keeps caregivers in the loop, and adapts over time to meet each person’s needs.
Design process
Cognia began from a personal place when my grandmother was diagnosed with dementia. As I spoke with friends and colleagues, I realised many of their families were going through the same thing. There was a clear gap. While brain-training apps exist, few are designed for early-stage dementia or include caregivers in a meaningful and customisable way. I started with quick sketches and mapped out a two-sided system. A gentle, app-based experience for patients and a smarter dashboard for caregivers. My focus was on simplicity, emotional design, and accessibility for older users. I built low-fidelity wireframes in Figma, testing colours, legibility, and interface size. With feedback from friends caring for loved ones, I refined the flows, especially around the mood check-ins and game experience. I added features like AI-powered game suggestions and personalised reminders to enhance long-term value. As the visual design progressed, I created a full interactive set of screens including cognitive games, a customisation system, patient trends, and caregiver tools. The result is a product that feels human, helpful, and easy to use even for those unfamiliar with technology.
How it is different
Most cognitive training apps focus solely on patients, offering repetitive games with little caregiver support. Cognia takes a different approach by prioritizing caregiver-led customization and AI-powered assistance, creating a personalized, collaborative experience. Patients engage in simple daily activities designed to build confidence without overwhelm, while caregivers use a smart dashboard to track mood, engagement, and progress. They can customize games, adjust difficulty, send personalized reminders, and monitor trends. Cognia’s AI adapts content based on performance to keep activities engaging and appropriately challenging. The experience is emotional, not clinical, with mood check-ins and memory games using music and photos. Cognia fills a crucial gap by involving caregivers and making cognitive care thoughtful, warm, and human.
Future plans
Cognia is now a high-fidelity prototype, moving toward functional testing with real caregivers and patients to enhance usability and impact. Early feedback guides collaboration with healthcare professionals and dementia organisations to ensure clinical accuracy and emotional safety. Development will focus on a working MVP featuring mood tracking, game routines, and a caregiver dashboard. The AI engine will improve using anonymised data for personalized content. Long-term, Cognia aims to scale as a subscription tool for families and a partner platform for aged care, with plans for Apple HealthKit and wearable integration.
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