T H E C H A N G I N G L A N D S C A P E O F W E B U S E R S : H O W T O D E S I G N F O R A N A G I N G P O P U L AT I O N

UXPA 2015 - SAN DIEGO

L E A C U N I B E R T I - D U R A N A N D K R Y S B L A C K W O O D

W H O A R E S E N I O R S / O L D E R A D U LT S ?

• 65+ years old

• Live on a fixed income

• Average income per person: $21,000 from Social Security and pensions

W H Y D O W E WA N T T O D E S I G N F O R S E N I O R S ?

S E N I O R P O W E R !

• One of the fastest growing segments on the web

• 39M according to 2010 U.S. Census

• 10,000 Baby boomers retire everyday

O T H E R C O N S I D E R AT I O N S

• Designing for seniors will make your site accessible to pretty much everybody else

• Implementing good practices: Older Adults are particularly effected by poor usability standards

• Other populations may benefit from a senior-friendly design approach

• Low/impaired vision

• Little technological experience

• English learners

S E N I O R S A N D T E C H N O L O G Y

O L D E R A D U LT S O N L I N E

• 59% who are 65 or older go online

• 47% have broadband

• Once online it becomes a regular part of their lives

• 71% go online everyday

• 82% go online at least weekly

T O P M O T I VAT I O N S T O G O O N L I N E

• 75% to stay in contact with family and friends

• 58% to shop online

• 53% to research about health care or medical issues

• 46% to look for bargains on products

• 40% to keep up with the community

• 17% to watch TV, shows, videos, etc.

I N T E R N E T U S A G E VA R I E S B Y A G E

• Seniors who use the internet and adopt technology tend to be younger, more educated and affluent.

• Baby boomers

• Have at least some college

• Income above average ($30,000+)

• Live in an urban or suburban area

T E C H N O L O G Y

0

25

50

75

100

Cell Phone Desktop/laptop Smartphone Tablet

= Seniors over 65 yo

= All adults

T E C H N O L O G Y A D O P T I O N

• A substantial majority of seniors express trepidation about using new digital tools or devices without assistance

• Physical challenges play a role in technology adoption

• Less likely to go online

• Less likely to have broadband

• Less likely to own a smartphone

AT T I T U D E

• Attitudes toward technology differ based on age

• 60yo+ (Baby boomers)

• More apt at exploring

• 70yo+ (Greater Generation)

• Risk adverse

A G E - R E L AT E D P H Y S I C A L L I M I TAT I O N S A N D W E B U S E

E F F E C T S O F A G I N G O N T H E E Y E

• Presbyopia (not being able to focus at close distance)

• Cataracts (yellowing of the lenses)

• Reduced pupil size (heightened sensitivity to glare, contrast, low lighting ).

• Decreased color vision

• Loss of peripheral vision. (Glaucoma)

Most common conditions experienced by older adults

N O R M A L V I E W

P R E S B Y O P I A ( N O G L A S S E S )

P R E S B Y O P I A ( B I F O C A L )

Lea

P R E S B Y O P I A ( P R O G R E S S I V E )

L I M I T E D V I S U A L F I E L D

D E S I G N T I P : U S E A N I M AT I O N T O G U I D E U S E R AT T E N T I O N

C ATA R A C T S ( Y E L L O W I N G O F T H E L E N S E S ) Y E L L O W I S H A R D T O D E T E C T

O T H E R C O M M O N V I S U A L P E R C E P T I O N D E F I C I T S

• Decreased ability to visually compare elements (what is the same and what is different)

• Trouble decoding and recognizing icons

T I P : A D D E X P L I C I T L A B E L S

“Visual search is the common task of looking for something in a cluttered visual environment. The item that the observer is searching for is termed the target, while non-target items are termed distractors. ”

V I S U A L S E A R C H

V I S U A L S E A R C H I N O L D E R A D U LT S

• Significant changes in eye tracking speed and accuracy

• Reduced ability to detect changes in the visual stimuli

• Decline in peripheral vision

S E N I O R S C O N D U C T V I S U A L S E A R C H E S B Y S C A N N I N G L E F T T O R I G H T T O P T O B O T T O M

T Y P O G R A P H Y B E S T P R A C T I C E S F O R O L D E R A D U LT S

• Font size: 16 px or greater

• Font weight should be at least regular (avoid thin, light, etc)

• Contrasting font color

• Left align

T Y P O G R A P H Y B E S T P R A C T I C E S F O R O L D E R A D U LT S

Typographical golden ratio:

Line Width = Font Size x Font Height

E F F E C T S O F A G I N G O N H E A R I N G

• Seniors have difficulties with:

• Filtering background sounds

• Loss of high pitch sounds

• Understanding fast speech

• Think about this! how many instructional videos currently on the web have one or more of the characteristics listed here?

E F F E C T S O F A G I N G O N M O T O R S K I L L S

• Lower dexterity

• Seniors look at keyboard while typing TIP: avoid auto-populate

• Fitt’s Law is amplified: mice are hard to use

E F F E C T S O F A G I N G O N C O G N I T I O N

• Reduced processing speed

• Greater tendency to be distracted

• Reduced capacity of their working memory

• Reduced confidence as they question their own abilities and memory

E M O T I O N A L N E E D S A N D C O N N E C T I O N S

T I R E D O F “ S C A R E TA C T I C S ”

• They express a lot of fatigue around negative messaging

• “Don’t tell me what to do, let me decide and help me do it”

• Hungry for neutral and unbiased advice

• Encouragement, positive spin, inviting, empowerment all good themes

T R U S T I S S U E S

• Lots of stories of people being taken advantage of

• Wary of the hard sell

• Suspicious of advertising: they know the cost gets passed on to them.

• Read the fine print

• Often they have at least one story of having been duped or bullied

T H E Y D O I T T H E I R W AY

• Frequently print pages and emails so they can review them later Tip: think about your print stylesheet and optimize for readability

• Will read every word on a page Tip: links in content/body

• Use their own terminologyTip: make sure you aren’t using lingo

T R U S T B U T V E R I F Y

• 50% want to pick up the phone and talk to a human being. 50% want to get information emailed to them or online. TIP: Have a prominent phone number in addition to online exploration

• Very thorough about doing their homework TIP: Provide meaningful content that brings value to the user

• Whether online or on phone, they want a human connection TIP: Use imagery with people

“The computer has a language all its own and sometimes I’m intimidated by it and I am right now.”

C A S E S T U D Y: B E S T P R A C T I C E S I N A C T I O N

Q U E S T I O N S ?

T H A N K Y O U !

@lea_designer lea.posta@gmail.com

@shodoshan shodoshan@gmail.com