As a part of Kingston University coursework the brief of the peoject was to specialise on focusing on the important and distinctive UX aspects and embed them in a broaded IT related context.
- To research on the best principals used to design mobile interface for elderly and create an online library in a form of a website.
- To redeign a mobile application based on the principals defined.
According to AARP - American Association of Retired Persons - people over 50 years of age are classified as elderly people. The United Nations (UN)estimates that by 2050 one in five individual will be over 60 years old.
Aging issue that effect Seniors
- Cognitive Decline
- Motor Skill Decline like: Arthritis, Parkinson's, Tremors
- Hearing Loss
- Vision Decline
- Provide large buttons that are easy to interpret for function and interaction logic.
- Use san-serif such as Helvetica or Roboto with large and bold typeface.
- Maximize contrast and avoid use of excessively bright colors as color discrimination ability declines with age.
- Clear instructions on how to use the app (preferably text based) should be provided.
- Provide a sense of accomplishment when certain tasks are completed. This promotes self-efficacy.
- Avoid background with images and patterns.
- Use minimalist design to prevent cognitive overload in elderly population.
- Provide less steps to the final goal.
- Based on the guidelines listed above, I choose a mobile application focusing on diabeties.
- The reason behind picking up this type of app is a lot of elederly people suffer from diabeties and they have to regulary monitor it.
- Sugar Sense mobile application is a product by MedHelp and is used by more than 10K users for both android and iOS to record their insulin levels. The rating of the app is 4.3 starts out of 5 starts.
- Drawback: most of the diabetic patients are 50+, the application is not designed keeping in mind the old people. Therefore, they might feel is difficult to use and may face usability issues when using the application.
