Poor vision was a common complaint among seniors in all three rounds of our research. Some seniors in our studies modified the display settings of laptop computers and mobile devices to increase the contrast on screen and the size of the text shown. Others adapted their behavior, moving screens closer to their eyes so that they could see what was displayed.
Several study participants became uncomfortable using a trackpad on a laptop due to arthritis or joint pain in their hands. One study participant noted that she preferred to browse the internet on her iPad because gestures on a touchscreen were more comfortable for her joints than a keyboard and mouse.
We recommend that designs for all users promote recognition over recall whenever possible. For seniors, designing for recognition rather than recall is particularly important. Approximately 40% of people over 65 have some type of age-related memory impairment. Several seniors in our study described themselves as forgetful and forgetting information was a common cause of task failure. In several instances, seniors:
Seniors have trouble encoding and retrieving information from their memory systems, which reduces the speed in which they can process information. They also have trouble making decisions and often take longer to do so.
In general, seniors:
Long, dense pages of content, especially when comparing products or offerings, as well as convoluted navigation systems seemed to slow older users down.
Designs that target seniors should use at least 12-point fonts as the default. And all designs, whether or not they specifically target seniors, should let users increase text size as desired—especially if the site opts for a smaller default font size.
For links and interactive elements, large text is especially important for two main reasons:
Dropdown menus and other moving interface elements cause problems for seniors who are not always steady with the mouse. On mobile, large touch targets helped seniors accomplish their goals on different apps.
Although technology changes quickly, the human mind evolves slowly, but we have observed some notable shifts in how seniors interact with digital products. User experience professionals should keep these changes in mind when designing for seniors.
Seniors today are more comfortable with digital products than they have been in years past. They are more likely to adapt their behavior to avoid what they dislike online.
Seniors’ expectations of digital products are increasing over time. Many seniors expected that content would be personalized to their interests: one senior said that sites needed to show her relevant content immediately because “if they can catch my interest right away then fine, I’ll stay – but if not I’m gone!”
Many older adults expressed specific concerns about data privacy online. Seniors were reluctant to trust companies that got “greedy” about data, particularly location and purchasing history.
Here are some of the main activities seniors do online:
Here are the types of content and common activities seniors access online:
Here are the types of content and common activities seniors access on smartphones: