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Designing user interfaces for an aging population
Johnson J., Finn K., Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Cambridge, MA, 2017. Type: Book (9780128044674)
Date Reviewed: Jul 18 2017

Johnson and Finn observe that we are continuing to see increases in the number of people aged 50 or more; by 2035, the percentage of people in this category in more developed regions has been predicted to be 45 percent. These people can take longer to learn new procedures and have more difficulties hitting on-screen targets than their younger counterparts. It would be foolish to overlook their needs. And in addressing the needs of older people, we will also be making life easier for others who might have visual or aural handicaps, or who might have to work in dimly lit or bumpy environments.

Six personas (with pictures and biographies) representing older adults are introduced, and pictures of these are used throughout the book to illustrate some of the issues being addressed. In chapter 3 (“Vision”), to illustrate how peripheral vision declines with age, there is a picture of “Carolina” (52, US citizen from Latin America, works as a music therapist) saying, “Sometimes I don’t even notice things on the edge of the screen.” And to illustrate a diminishing ability to discriminate colors, we have “John” (retired 80-year-old teacher in London) saying: “I discovered the text links on my news website purely by accident. They look just like regular text, except they are dark blue instead of black.”

The “Vision” chapter is followed by chapters relating to motor control, hearing and speech, cognition, and other age-related characteristics. A similar format is used in each of these chapters. The issues perceived by the personas are introduced in the first part of the chapter, and this part is followed by a second part in which a number of guidelines for addressing those issues are presented in some detail. Thus, in the “Vision” chapter, designers are encouraged to use larger fonts from some suggested families, to remove unnecessary visual elements, and to use color judiciously. Color screen shots are sprinkled liberally throughout the text to clearly illustrate what is bad and what is good.

A couple of years ago, while participating in a 15-kilometer running event, I was passed by a couple of guys less than half my age, and one of them said (very slowly, nodding his head meaningfully so as to make sure that I would understand): “Keep going mate, you’re doing very well!” I found this hilarious, but it provides a good example of some issues addressed in a chapter titled: “Working With Older Adults.” Developers sometimes don’t actually know any older people, and they may have preconceived ideas about their capabilities. A number of suggestions are offered in relation to the selection, care, and retention of older adults for usability studies.

In the penultimate chapter, some interesting case studies of five different projects are presented. One that particularly grabbed my attention was the ASSISTANT support tool for elders using public transportation. A web-based trip planning facility is employed and the user then receives instructions on a stripped-down smartphone, which informs him which vehicle to board and when to exit. A “design for failure” approach was used throughout the project. The design motto was: “Things always go wrong; why not build a system around this?”

Another of the case studies was initiated by Subaru after an annual navigation satisfaction survey placed its in-vehicle infotainment system last in a field of 26 brands. It was determined that the design team was relatively young, and there was a mistaken belief that the buyers would also be relatively young. It was also found that customers of all ages preferred a design that was “familiar” rather than “cutting-edge,” as a result of which the revised infotainment system was made to behave like a simple smartphone with large color-coded icons.

The final chapter summarizes the points made in earlier chapters and exhorts the reader in its closing sentence: “Go forth and design for all ages!” I believe that is something you will want to do after reading this book.

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Reviewer:  G. K. Jenkins Review #: CR145432 (1709-0591)
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