Nowadays, the use of smart phones is more and more widespread, and the elderly have gradually become the main force to use smart phones.
Believe it or not, the 72-year-old has created 360 pages of graphic instructions to teach the elderly how to use their smartphones, not only how to check their health code, but also how to shop online.
Therefore, with the gradual expansion of the user group, the aging design of the interface should be gradually put on the agenda.
As a UI designer, I have been thinking about a question: when designing for aging, what other aspects of design should we carry out, besides adjusting large characters like the old phone, so that the old people can use mobile phones more smoothly?
So, today I want to share with you some of my own ideas, if you have other ideas, we can exchange
How to design for aging
The text
Size enlargement is the most basic function transformation of major mainstream software in the adaptation to aging revision.
When you open the old mode of each App, you can see that the font has been enlarged to different degrees, just like the phone has been enlarged by 2 times in general Settings.
Taobao Elder Version (left), JINGdong Elder version (right)
In addition, font selection should also be carefully considered.
For the elder mode, it is important to avoid using multiple fonts or carefully designed shapes to avoid confusing the mind of the elderly, so I think using a non-serif font is the first choice to improve the readability of the screen.
Simple to understand, a non-serif font (such as boldface) is no decorative stroke at the end of the text. It is often used on the web or mobile phone. This type of font is bold and clear, and is suitable for the elderly to read.
color
Color can bring infinite imagination to the person, any design cannot leave colorific ornament forever.
However, the vision of the elderly will gradually decline with the growth of age, will begin to be no longer sensitive to blue/green, gradually narrow visual range, difficult to adapt to the change of light and shade and other situations will most likely happen.
Therefore, only strengthen color contrast, in order to suit the case!
Let me illustrate with an example:
For example, in the interface of the elderly version of JINGdong Live, not only the light gray text information in the original standard version is deepened, but also some dark text design is adjusted, such as the placeholder text in the search box “click to search the host name/product” and other contents.
Therefore, in the aging design, the color contrast should be above 4.5:1 to enhance the contrast between the interface information and the background color, so that the elderly can see the information on the mobile phone clearly.
Here, I recommend a website to check the contrast of colors: color.review. Just fill the color value into the software and you can see the contrast relationship between two colors.
Behavior guidelines
In order for older people to be able to see what’s in the interface, the design needs to communicate the message clearly. The key to guiding behaviour is that information “conveys consensus”.
For example, when designing ICONS, it is necessary to avoid the appearance of graphic ICONS alone, and it is the most reasonable way to express ICONS in the form of pictures and words.
In addition, for most of the elderly, with the increase of age, the response will gradually become slower and slower, so in the design, it is necessary to ensure that the visual cues are clear, so as to ensure that the elderly can successfully complete the target behavior.
For example, in jingdong live broadcast, words such as “go and have a look” and “click to enter the live broadcast room” will be directly indicated to guide the elderly to click relevant information more conveniently.
In addition, compared with input type, it is easier for users to operate (eliminating typing behavior that the elderly are not good at), thus enhancing user experience.
voice
In the past two years, the voice function has been gradually added to the “elder mode” of many apps, enabling users to perform certain operations through voice, such as searching for goods or asking for help.
However, IN my opinion, the following scenarios need to be considered in the subsequent optimization process:
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Older people in most areas speak more accented regional dialects;
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Add a sound feedback mechanism that should give a sound notification if the sound is sent successfully.
The last
Smart phones, computers, projectors and other digital devices are not just for young people. In a few decades, we will also become old people, so from now on, it is very necessary for us to deepen the social topic of “appropriate aging”.
Well, designers, it’s time to find out what your aunts and aunts need
PS: Design tool used in this paper: www.mockplus.cn/dt