How can seniors be encouraged to reflect upon, document and share their decisions about death with their relatives? In Denmark, death is considered a taboo on a societal level. This entails that many do not take the precautions needed before their end of life, which results in different consequences for the individual, relatives and society. The objective of the project was to co-create with seniors a communication tool to help them have an informal and reflective talk about life and death.

Testament, living testament, organ donation, wishes concerning the funeral are just some of the several decisions that need to be taken before death occurs and whether these are registered or shared has a huge impact on a person’s relatives and on society as a whole. The decision to investigate these social sustainable issues challenged the team to think to a solution that could address different experiences and perceptions of death.

Through qualitative interviews with several stakeholders two key problems were identified: On one hand many are not communicating important decisions about their death to relatives and on the other hand they do not register officially their decisions. Liv&Død stressed the difficulty of having all the wishes concerning the end of life registered under an unique solution. Knowing that there are significant challenges in getting people to communicate about death, a public design game and a diary study enabled the team to get a better understanding of how people relate to death through personal experiences. After the analysis, a brainstorm lead to several ideas based on the criteria and requirements, where the practice of tea was highlighted as an opportunity to gather the family together and initiate the conversation. Interviews, grand tours seniors’ kitchens and video observations were assisting the understanding of the tea making practices: "When do seniors drink tea?", "What kind of feelings do they associate with it?", "Are there hidden practices in the making?". The team created three personas based on the findings and engaged seniors in a series of co-design workshops. During the first workshop, ideation was supported by a series of tools developed to explore the different aspects of a tea box. During the second workshop, wireflows, small mock-ups of design ideas, enabled the team to rapidly test some of the solutions and understand the end-user even better. The end-user test showed that‘The til Eftertanke’ works as an icebreaker for seniors to invite relatives or close friends over for a cup of tea, while having an informal and reflective talk about life and death.

The til Eftertanke is a communication tool that helps seniors 65+ talking about their desires and wishes related to their end of life. Specifically the product aims to challenge the issues of testament, living testament, organ and body donation, funeral wishes and last days of life. The box contains 24 bags of Earl Grey tea, placed in six different subdivisions. The tea is contained in individual differentiated wrappings for preserving the flavor and facilitating conversation about death. The name of the concept, 'The til Eftertanke', states the atmosphere that the user should perceive in the moment of use.

‘The til Eftertanke’ has proved to be a valuable tool to initiate and facilitate the dialogue between the senior and relative and can be a step towards breaking down the taboo around death and making more people actively shape their end of life.