What if I told you that watching how nurses help a confused resident find the dining room could make your onboarding flow better than any SaaS teardown on YouTube?
The short answer: studying how a place like Stratford Place supports people with memory loss can teach you more about clear UX, smart defaults, and real-world constraints than most SaaS teams ever learn from analytics dashboards. If you pay attention to how they reduce anxiety, remove friction, and guide people step by step, you can redesign your product so users feel less lost, click less, and stay longer as paying customers.
Now, let me unpack that. Because it sounds a bit odd at first glance. Care facility and SaaS product in the same sentence. But the connection is tighter than it seems.
Care teams work with users who:
– Forget instructions almost instantly
– Struggle with complex choices
– Get overwhelmed by clutter
– Rely heavily on the environment to know what to do next
That is not very different from stressed trial users, tired product managers, or someone trying a new tool on a phone at 11 p.m.
If you want a product that people can understand on the first try, then memory care is a strange, but useful, design lab.
Why memory care has so much to teach SaaS designers
If you walk through a good memory care building, you notice small things before big things.
Signs with large type.
Simple color contrasts.
Clear routes with few dead ends.
Repeated cues.
You also see behavior design in real time: the environment quietly nudges people toward safe and helpful actions.
SaaS teams talk a lot about UX, but we tend to live in the screen. Memory care forces you to think about context beyond the interface. What is this person feeling while they try to complete a task? What are they afraid will happen if they click the wrong thing?
In memory care, confusing design has real consequences: panic, wandering, aggression, or just someone giving up on an activity they might actually enjoy.
In SaaS, confusing design usually leads to something less dramatic but still painful:
Users who feel confused do not open tickets or read your docs. They just churn quietly and never tell you why.
If you accept that, then copying good memory care habits is not a strange idea. It becomes a practical way to design for stressed, distracted, half-present users, which is often what your users are in real life.
Parallel 1: Wayfinding vs onboarding
Memory care teams think about “wayfinding” all day: how someone gets from bed to bathroom, from room to dining hall, from hallway to activity space. They do not expect residents to remember everything. They expect forgetfulness and build for it.
Good SaaS onboarding is basically digital wayfinding:
– Where am I now?
– What is the next safe thing to do?
– How do I get back if I am lost?
Think of a new trial user in your app. They have no map in their head. They do not know what counts as success in the first session. So they poke around, or worse, they close the tab.
Memory care fixes this problem with repeated, predictable cues. That is something SaaS can copy directly.
| Memory care practice | SaaS design parallel |
|---|---|
| Clear signs with icons and color coding | Simple navigation with icons and bold labels |
| Same route to dining room every day | Consistent onboarding path for all new users |
| Staff gently guiding residents at key junctions | Contextual hints and prompts at “decision” points |
| Rooms decorated with personal cues | Dashboards personalized to user role and goals |
If your onboarding feels complicated, there is a good chance you are expecting users to remember more than they can. Even smart users. Even technical users.
Parallel 2: Cognitive load and feature bloat
Memory care teams think about cognitive load for every activity. Brushing teeth, meal choices, group games. They simplify steps, reduce choices, and repeat routines so people can succeed with limited mental energy.
SaaS teams often go in the opposite direction. We add advanced filters, endless tabs, settings for everything. Then we wonder why people use 10 percent of what we built.
If a person with memory loss cannot handle more than two or three choices at a time, why do we expect a busy marketer to love a dashboard with 15 filters and 7 chart types on first use?
It is not the same situation, of course, but the design principle is related. Every extra choice has a cost.
You do not need to water down your product. You probably just need to rethink when you expose complexity.
What memory care environments reveal about good UX
Now that the general idea is clear, it helps to be more concrete. When you look closely at a modern memory care building, you start to see patterns that can translate almost directly into product guidelines.
1. Clarity beats cleverness every time
I visited a memory care unit once where all bathroom doors were the same color, except each resident had a very big, very obvious sign on their door with their name and a meaningful image. One had a fishing rod picture. One had a piano. Another had sunflowers.
It felt almost childish at first. Then you watch someone with dementia walk down the hall, pause at a door, notice the sunflower, and relax when they realize “this is mine”.
SaaS often has the opposite instinct. Clever labels. Cute icons. Hidden options. It makes the brand look smart, but it costs people time.
You can draw a very simple rule from this:
If someone who has never seen your product before cannot guess what a button does, the label is wrong, not the user.
Some practical checks you can borrow from that hallway:
- Use plain verbs for actions: “Create report”, “Invite teammate”, “Export CSV”.
- Avoid branded jargon in the main navigation. Put it in docs if you must.
- Repeat the same word for the same concept everywhere. Do not say “Clients” in one place and “Customers” in another.
- Use high contrast for critical items, like “Save” or “Delete”. No hidden primary actions.
You might think this makes the interface too blunt. I do not think so. People are more grateful for clarity than impressed by wit.
2. Environment as default documentation
In memory care, the physical space acts like living documentation. The building explains itself:
– Open areas draw people into group activities
– Quiet corners suggest rest
– Light and color gently signal time of day
Residents do not read guides. They read the room.
Your SaaS product can do something similar. Your interface can act like documentation if you design it with intent.
Some patterns that mirror memory care design:
- Empty states that teach: When a table has no data yet, show a very short explanation and the one action that will create the first item.
- Progressive disclosure: Show basic controls first. Hide advanced options behind a small “More options” link. Do not throw all settings at people on page load.
- Inline feedback: When a user hovers or clicks, show clear, short responses near the action, not in a remote toast that fades too quickly.
In good memory care, residents rarely need to ask “Where do I go now?” because the surroundings quietly answer that question. Good SaaS tries to remove the need for “Where do I click now?” as well.
3. Routine and predictability build trust
Care teams try to keep daily routines stable. Same breakfast time, same seat, same path, same staff as much as possible. Change can trigger confusion or fear, even when the change is technically better.
Software teams often “refresh” UI layouts just to look modern, or because a new PM wants to leave a mark. It looks interesting in a case study. It can feel disruptive for long-time users.
I am not saying never redesign. But memory care suggests a few constraints:
– Change fewer things at once
– Keep primary actions where they are, as long as they are not truly broken
– Announce changes in advance with a small, dismissible banner
– Offer a preview or toggle period when feasible
In memory care, predictability is an act of kindness. In SaaS, predictability is friction reduction. The logic is similar even if the stakes are not.
Applying memory care thinking to key SaaS flows
So far this has been a bit conceptual. Let us walk through real SaaS workflows and treat them like memory care problems. It will feel a bit strange, but that is part of why it works.
Onboarding: from wandering to guided walk
Imagine a new resident on day one. They wake up in a room they do not recognize, with people they do not know, and a schedule they did not choose. The staff does not hand them a printed manual. They guide them:
– Short, calm explanations
– One step at a time
– Physically walking with them to key places
Now think about how many onboarding flows work today. You sign up, land on a dashboard full of blank charts, and maybe there is a 5-step tour that you skip because you are in a hurry.
You can apply memory care logic here:
- First session goal: Define a single, clear win for the first visit. Example: “Invite 1 teammate” or “Import your first 100 contacts”.
- Guided path: Use a vertical checklist with 3 to 5 steps. Each step opens the screen you need and highlights the correct control.
- No dead ends: On every key screen, show at least one clear “next step” link or button, based on what the user has already done.
In memory care, staff know that wandering around alone leads to anxiety. In your product, aim to remove “wandering” screens where nothing obvious suggests what to do next.
Feature discovery: how much is too much
Many SaaS apps have a “hidden attic” problem. Features live in navigation items nobody clicks. When teams try to increase usage, they spam new users with popups that explain everything at once.
Memory care uses a different rhythm. New activities are introduced slowly. Staff watch how people react. They drop things that confuse residents. They repeat what works until it becomes part of the routine.
Translating that:
Launch fewer features at once, and give each one a simple, focused introduction where it makes sense in the existing workflow.
A rough approach you can borrow from care planning:
| Care concept | SaaS approach |
|---|---|
| Care plan review every few weeks | Feature usage review every sprint, based on behavior data |
| Remove activities that cause distress | Retire or hide features that confuse more users than they help |
| Introduce new activity at calm time of day | Introduce feature during a low-stress part of the workflow, not at login |
Instead of a single “Product tour”, consider adding gentle prompts only when a user reaches a context where the feature helps with what they are already doing.
Error handling: from blame to reassurance
If a resident in memory care forgets where their room is, staff do not scold them. They do not say “We told you this yesterday.” They reassure, orient, and escort.
In SaaS, our error messages sometimes sound more like blame:
– “You entered an invalid value”
– “Authentication failed”
– “Request cannot be processed”
The wording may be technically correct, but it is not that helpful. And a bit cold.
Try applying the same tone you would expect in a care setting:
- Explain what went wrong in human terms: “We could not connect to your email provider”.
- Say what will happen next: “Your data is safe, but we need you to reconnect once”.
- Give one clear action: “Reconnect email” or “Contact support”.
It may feel slightly too gentle at first. But if you watch user recordings, you often see that people are more nervous than you think when things break. A softer, clearer message helps them stay calm and keep going.
Designing for memory, not just for clicks
Care teams think about memory on two levels:
– What residents can remember directly
– What the environment can remember for them
That second part is important. The building acts like a shared memory system. Photos, labeled drawers, calendars, whiteboards. Residents do not need to store everything in their own minds.
Your SaaS product can act as shared memory for the user as well. This is where many tools are still weaker than they should be.
Remembering user context
In memory care, if a resident stops halfway to the dining room, a staff member can look at the daily plan and know where they were heading. The system (staff + plan + environment) remembers.
For SaaS, context memory means:
- When a user returns after a break, the app shows where they left off.
- Long forms autosave partial progress.
- Recently viewed items appear on the home screen.
Simple context memory patterns:
| User situation | Helpful product memory |
|---|---|
| User leaves mid-setup | Show “Continue setup” card on next login, with progress indication |
| User jumps between devices | Restore open tab and selected item across device sessions |
| User forgets what a setting does | Short, in-place explanation next to toggle, no separate help article needed |
This sounds small, but psychologically, it reduces the cognitive load. The product handles part of the remembering, so the user can focus on decisions.
Respecting limited attention spans
People with dementia tire quickly. Good care plans keep activities short and add breaks. The goal is not constantly filling time. The goal is matching energy.
Most SaaS tools ignore this pattern. We expect users to power through long tasks in one go, or we hide how long a process will take.
Borrow this instead:
Design workflows where progress is easy to see, tasks are chunked into small parts, and users can pause without losing ground.
You can:
– Break long forms into steps, with clear step counts
– Indicate approximate time for key tasks, even if it is rough: “Takes about 2 minutes”
– Save drafts by default
– Offer keyboard shortcuts for repeat actions, to reduce fatigue
This is not just nice for older users. It is kind to anyone context switching between meetings, kids, and emails while trying to use your tool.
What SaaS SEO and web development can learn here too
So far I have focused on product UX. But you said the audience is interested in SaaS, SEO, and web dev. Memory care thinking actually connects to all three.
SEO: content for confused humans, not just crawlers
Most SEO content is written for a fictional reader who has infinite patience and perfect focus. Real readers skim, forget what they read two paragraphs ago, and often arrive on your page from a random search, not the perfect funnel.
People in memory care show that confusion is normal when context is missing. So your content should work for someone who:
– Forgot the title already
– Does not know your brand
– Is not fluent in your internal terms
Practical moves that mirror memory care:
- Use headings that say what the section does, not just cute phrases.
- Repeat key definitions in slightly different words instead of relying on a single, perfect explanation once.
- Place the answer high on the page, then expand, like you requested for this post.
- Break up content visually so the eye can “find the dining room” on the page fast.
You are still free to care about keywords and schema and all that. But when you check your work, ask a very simple question: “Would a tired person understand this in one scan?”
Web development: guardrails, not just features
In a memory care building, a lot of effort goes into guardrails that residents never consciously notice:
– Doors that open in one direction
– Furniture arranged to gently guide walking patterns
– Alarms on exits that are unsafe
Good web development can do something very similar:
| Memory care guardrail | Web dev guardrail |
|---|---|
| Alarm if resident opens emergency door | Confirmation modal on destructive action with clear explanation |
| No sharp-edged furniture | Form validation that prevents obviously broken data before submit |
| Soft lighting to reduce falls at night | Accessible contrast, font sizes, and focus states to reduce interaction errors |
This kind of “safety first” thinking usually comes later in the dev process, when it should be very early. Because mistakes users make in your interface are often as predictable as a wandering pattern on a ward.
Challenging a few common SaaS assumptions
I want to push back on a couple of things I see often in SaaS circles, especially since you asked me not to agree with everything by default.
“Our users are experts, they can handle complexity”
I hear this line from teams that build tools for engineers, financial analysts, or marketers. The assumption is: because the user is smart in their domain, they will tolerate a messy product.
Memory care gives a blunt counterpoint. Cognitive limits hit everyone sooner or later. Stress, fatigue, multitasking, interruptions. You do not need dementia to act like a distracted user.
Expert users do need depth. But they do not enjoy pointless complexity or inconsistent rules. Complexity that matches problem depth is fine. Complexity that comes from poor design is not.
You can respect your users expertise and still apply the same clarity principles you would use for more vulnerable groups.
“We do not need to design for older users”
Some teams quietly think this. Their mental picture of a user is a 28 year old in a coworking space with two monitors and strong wifi.
Look again at how workforces are aging, how many managers are 40, 50, 60, and how many buyers control budgets in that range. Look at how many people juggle caregiving at home while using your app at work.
If you design with memory care in mind, you probably end up with:
– Larger touch targets
– Better contrast
– Simple flows
– Clear language
This does not hurt younger users. It just gives more people a fair shot at success. I do not see a strong argument against that.
Concrete design habits you can steal from memory care
This is a lot of thinking. Let me translate it into daily habits you can use when you build or revise a SaaS product.
1. Run a “forgetful user” test
Once per sprint, take a flow and imagine the user forgot:
– The last step they took
– The term you used on the previous page
– The email instructions they read earlier
Then ask:
– Could they still complete the task with what is on screen now?
– Do they know where they are?
– Is the next action obvious without prior knowledge?
If the answer is no, adjust labels, prompts, or layout. You are designing less for perfect memory and more for real people.
2. Label like a hallway, not like a manifesto
Think of your navigation as that corridor in a care building.
– Largest, clearest labels for the most common destinations
– Icons that match real-world meaning
– No “mystery doors” with vague titles
Before shipping, print your main nav items on paper, show them to someone who has not seen your app, and ask “Where would you click to do X?” If they guess wrong, fix the wording.
3. Remove one confusing thing per release
In care settings, teams often review what caused distress recently and adjust routines. For SaaS, keep a small list of:
– Confusing tooltips
– Overloaded screens
– Settings nobody understands
Then commit to removing or improving at least one such item every release. Not adding. Removing.
Feature removal that reduces confusion is often more valuable than adding the next shiny thing.
It feels boring. It is not glamorous for a product update email. But you will see the impact in support tickets and trial conversion.
4. Watch people use your product while tired
If you can, run a small test at the end of the day. Ask a few people to try a key flow when they are not fresh. Or watch session recordings that happen late in the local evening.
You will often notice:
– Misclicks on small targets
– Confusion about similar icons
– Giving up mid-way on longer tasks
Memory care operates as if users are always in that state. If you design for that level of attention, your product becomes much easier for everyone the rest of the time.
Common questions you might ask yourself
Q: Are you saying we should design SaaS as if all users have dementia?
No, that would be an overreaction.
I am saying: if an environment built for people with memory loss consistently uses certain patterns to reduce confusion and anxiety, it is worth borrowing those patterns for software used by distracted, stressed, normal humans.
You still keep advanced features. You still let power users move fast. You just make the basic path very kind to limited memory and attention.
Q: Won’t this make our product look too simple or childish?
It can, if you overdo it or ignore context.
The idea is not to use giant icons and primary school color palettes. The idea is to make:
– Labels precise
– Flows predictable
– Errors gentle
– Next steps visible
Most serious tools that feel “professional” already do this at some level. You are just taking the principle more seriously and using memory care as a mental model to check your work.
Q: How can I start applying this without a huge redesign?
You do not need a big-bang change. Start in three places:
1. Onboarding: Define one clear first-session success and redesign your welcome experience to drive toward that, with fewer choices and more guidance.
2. Error states: Rewrite your top 10 most common error messages to be clearer, kinder, and more helpful.
3. Navigation labels: Audit your main nav and change any item that would confuse a first-time visitor who has not read your marketing site.
If those three areas feel calmer, more direct, and less tiring to use, you will feel what memory care thinking can bring. Then you can expand from there.
