Mnéme is a playful, motivational and non-pharmacological cognitive stimulation tool whose function stems from a real and personal need: my father’s diagnosis of vascular dementia. An ailment that, caused by a series of small strokes, over a long period of time, affects memory, attention, thinking, emotion and behaviour. And that, consequently, when Dementia enters a Home an avalanche of mixed feelings and unanswered questions arise in the patient and their relatives, who assume a responsibility that will involve an extraordinary physical, psychological, emotional and economic effort.
For this reason, our aim will be to provide the patient, together with their therapists and relatives, with a series of tools with which to work, through play, on cognitive neurorehabilitation. And, divided into two levels of work, Mnéme fulfils the main purpose of being a complementary tool to a rehabilitation therapy of higher mental functions (memory, attention, orientation, visuospatial capacity, agnosia, oral and written language, praxias and executive capacities) with the aim of obtaining a better cognitive performance and personal autonomy of the patient.
Consequently, and adapting at all times to the patient’s stimuli, Mnéme means, in the course of 400 activities, the creation of a time, a space and means in which the patient, together with their therapist or family member, can spend an entertaining, motivational and fun time. Above all, fun. And that, while playing and stimulating their cognitive capacity, they can slow down the progression of their illness and improve, in short, their wellbeing and quality of life. And, of course, that of their families.
Mnéme proposes, finally, from my dual role as co-therapist and designer, to generate a cognitive stimulation tool for patients diagnosed with Dementia. A tool whose function will be to generate a space, a time and means, as well as the generation of a visual coding system applied to the 49 areas of cognitive work; so that the patient, together with his therapist or co-therapist, have a fun and motivational time. And that, while playing, they can slow down the inevitable progression of their disease and improve, in the long run, their quality of life. Therefore, a clear, simple, concise and adapted design, both in form and in the language used. A tangible and manipulable design in which the patient should not be a mere passive recipient of the language. And which, with its own visual identity, subject to a homogeneous and immovable structure, protected by a typographic, chromatic and shape and counterform selection, must be visually attractive for the patient and in accordance with his or her evolutionary stage (adult population).”
