Designing AI with Empathy

Context Setting

For families considering senior living for the first time, the process can be overwhelming. Many don’t know where to start or even what questions to ask.

Welltower, a real estate investment trust with a vast network of senior living communities, saw this problem as an opportunity to help create a better informed customer base.

As the product designer, working with a product owner, my challenge was to use artificial intelligence to create something far more compassionate than a traditional, static help desk.

Goals:

1

Gently guide families through a complex life decision, helping them feel more informed and less alone.

2

Introduce families to the WellTower communities that could support them, without turning the platform into a sales pitch.

TL;DR

As the Product Designer, I:

Designed a compassionate help desk interface that meets users with empathy and helps them navigate uncertainty.
Created a dynamic, conversational AI experience that provides intelligent and empathetic content.
Balanced user support with business goals by integrating marketing content in a way that felt respectful and trust-building.

This redesigned help desk experience for senior living communities gently guides users through one of life’s most emotional transitions by helping families ask better questions, find clear answers, and feel supported from the start.

I’m trying to do the right thing for my mom, but I don’t even know what the right thing is.

"

It feels like I’m supposed to already understand how this works but I’ve never done this before.

"

We promised Dad we’d never put him in a home but now we’re out of options and feel so guilty.

"

We’re not ready for this conversation, but we can’t just keep ignoring how mom is doing.

"

Exploration

Not wanting to reach out to families going through this tough experience directly, I gathered story after story from community operators.

I learned that most people didn’t arrive with a specific question. Families came to communities with the feeling that something wasn't right and needed to change, but didn't know what that change might look like. This insight led us to my "friendly guide" approach to the Help Desk.

I also looked at chatbot and help desk experiences from outside the industry. Tools like Perplexity.ai inspired me with their ability to guide open-ended exploration, but none offered the emotional intelligence required for this space. I needed to combine that technical flexibility with the human warmth people needed.

Design & Refine

Before putting thoughts into wireframes, I spent some time working with the product owner and a copywriter to come up with a series of questions and needs that arose in our interviews as well as FAQs on Senior Living from across the web. We organized these questions by theme into "learning paths."

In the first design for the page, I positioned these learning paths at the top of the page to give seniors and families the easiest access to their most likely needs. This section was followed by a search box for users to put in their own question, and then by modules for surveys, FAQs outside of the learning paths, and advertising space.

Upon further reflection, I felt that advertising on the first page was too soon for it to be actually useful and that it had the potential to decrease user trust. Using choice architecture, I expanded the isolated FAQs into two boxes, one for seniors searching for care for themselves and the other for loved ones considering care options. I also expanded the survey in order to include more information and signifiers.

No matter where the user starts, though, they are taken to a dynamic Q&A experience. Built like a conversational research assistant, this chatbot-style interface doesn't just provide answers, it helps users form their questions. Using the powers of AI, it offers personalized prompts, surfaces other common concerns with smart surveys, and suggests resources based on what they’ve shared. Included in these suggestions are both further learning resources as well as communities and specific care units that could address their needs.

Since this is rarely a decision made by a single person, users are able to bookmark and share answers with loved ones, all without needing to give away any information of their own.

Status

Despite very positive reception to the initial designs from community leaders, this project was put on permanent hiatus due to changing leadership in top management.

I maintain hope for the senior living market space that something like this will emerge to assist families without taking advantage of their need by forcing them to become marketing leads.