Background

This year-long project started off as I was curious about death and dying. Once you pass on, what might you leave behind to your loved ones?

I was curious to what people would want to leave behind beyond the legal will. Was there something more meaningful beyond that? Having asked the question above to friends and strangers, many said they wanted to leave behind a legacy and memory that would last.

Approach

How would I come up with a service to extend one’s presence beyond death? This train of thought brought me to explore memories in box frames by displaying the object like an art piece on a pedestal. The Deathbox Service delivers this precious gilded box to their loved ones annually, extending his presence beyond death.

Given the nature of this taboo topic and having multiple interview rejections, I managed to work around it to get a good mix of qualitative and quantitative research done. I tested participants with a try-out of what I would personally like to be remember by when I have passed on. Results of this research was that people would want to leave behind their ‘last words’ and precious ‘objects’.

For a higher fidelity try-out, I crafted a box for my mother. She wanted to have her presence extend beyond her years. To elevate the preciousness of the object the designer explored various box sizes and display methods before coming to a precious gilded frame.

I benchmarked my current process and outcome with similar ‘extension’ services that made my project more grounded. Having taken inspiration from some of the websites, I attempted my own and tested this with a few people. The mock final website was a simple four step instruction to come up with a selected deathbox. It was made and tested in a palliative context to have a seamless delivery and 'unboxing experience'. This was also public for awhile to elicit response and feedback from the market. There was alot of positive interest for this to be made real. I present to you The Deathbox Service, a service that lasts.

Solution

The Deathbox Service is an after-death box service to palliative care patients to extend their presence for up to 4 years.

This service enables willing patients to curate and leave behind five “last words” or precious “objects” to their loved ones guided by a palliative caregiver. Framing the item in a precious gilded frame, this box will be packaged and delivered yearly.