product design intern · 2025
what is lighthouse?
lighthouse is a team of global health consultants and care providers, partnered with organizations like the bill & melinda gates foundation, who-searo, and the packard foundation to strengthen health systems and expand access to care. i joined as their first product design intern.
the problem?
the market treated adults with dementia like children. almost everything on the market was kid-oriented, down to the cartoon images on the pieces - but the person living with dementia is still an adult.
my process?
designed a line of therapeutic puzzles with grown-up imagery - a calm flower set, a vintage bicycle set, and an abstract colour + shape set
found patients loved the click of a piece dropping into place, so i designed the pieces and placement mechanics around that moment
a 3d-printed transparent variant grew out of feedback from instituto não me esqueças in brazil
as a side project, prototyped a tactile family tree - velcro family members you stick onto branches, so remembering becomes something you do with your hands
reflection
i also started prototyping lighthouse's next product - a family tree using photos and velcro to bring in touch and sound. one patient recognised her son and pressed the two pieces together herself, which was the most rewarding part of the internship.
i learned the art of iteration - not to be let down by something that doesn't work, but to just try again.