Abstract
The design of user interfaces for consumer products and
services for different generations of users presents problems
which have been rarely addressed by the HCI community.
How can designers meet the needs of senior citizens, the
"elderboom" of the 2000's, if they themselves are of the
computer game and "edutainment" generation? Or, how do
we design for children, having passed childhood long ago,
and with guidelines that are lagging behind technological
development? The panel will address user interface design
issues that concern the lifespan of people and products as
they relate to the rapid change in our population
distribution.
Introduction
The explosive changes in age structure in the western world
will put user interface designers in the position of designing
for senior citizens whose experiences with advanced
information, communication, and entertainment systems will
be extremely diverse. Most human computer interaction
research is devoted to applications for which the target
users are known or can be reasonably well-defined.
Distinctions can be made between different levels of
expertise of users. Adaptive user interfaces aim at individual
users and how they change or stabilize while using an
application. In contrast, consumer products, whose
computing power is rapidly increasing, have no explicitly
defined users. Undoubtedly, users of these products do not
expect to operate a computer system, they will be of all
ages and their preferences, capabilities, and motivations will
vary. User interface designers need to take these
generational variables into account; needing to understand
how to adapt and grow with users as they change over the
lifespan. What are age related user needs and how do they
evolve from childhood to senior citizenship? Designs which
are flexible and thus grow with the users are not only
desirable but reduce manufacturing costs.
The panelists will discuss these generational issues in user
interface design, based on practical experience and
fundamental research. Key issues to start the discussion are: User interface concepts are needed that support
designs which can evolve with the user. Designers need to adopt a developmental view of user interface
design. Transfer of system knowledge across products and over time needs to be supported. People have
learned to rely on technology, which should not suddenly become obsolete or inaccessible because either
they or the technology has changed. Motivational and cost-benefit aspects are usually taken for granted.
They might, however, dramatically vary across different generations of users and provide the determinant
factors in a take-it or leave-it approach to purchasing.
PANELISTS' STATEMENTS
Jane Fulton Suri, is responsible for human factors design
at IDEO Product Development in California.
As adult designers for children we face a double bind: we
want to engage and stimulate our users, giving them access
to the richness computers can bring; at the same time we
want to protect them, avoid their alienation or corruption,
and prevent uneven or arrested development. The CHI
community, with its focus on the development of tools for
work, has begun to examine the social impact of computing
on work environments, and made progress in techniques to
develop human- and community-centered solutions. With
the rapid growth of computer systems in home
environments we need to expand our focus to ensure that
interactions with computers have a positive impact on child
development too. Every product developer must dream of
the product that is fun, educates, and helps children build
rewarding relationships with peers and parents!
Drawing on IDEO's experience in product development for
people from the very old to the very young, I shall take the
optimistic view that access through interaction is a way
forward for us all. And drawing on parallels with
'traditional' toys and tools I shall illustrate some challenges
and opportunities for interaction designers developing
products that children will use:
- Designing for the vast range in capacity and experience -
cognitive, physical and emotional - covered by the umbrella term 'children'.
-
Developing interactivity for all the senses - vision,
hearing, touch.
- Making interaction active, social, and reflective.
Recognizing that these challenges and opportunities
represent an adult perspective, I shall discuss how we
observe and evaluate children's wants and needs, and how
their input can be reflected in the design of products.
Sandra Edwards, is president of CHILDESIGN, New
York, USA and a designer and design journalist.
Children are the technologically-literate consumers of our
age. Technology has irrevocably changed the way that
children perceive, process and respond to their world. The
best designs do not mimic technology, with 'look-alike'
product, but rely on it. Children are ready for the real thing.
Nowhere is this more evident than with computers. With
them, we have forever altered the landscape of learning and
of childhood, opening educational possibilities never before
imagined. Unquestionable, computers offer a rare
opportunity to integrate children's interests with an adult
world. Yet, with no ergonomic standards available regarding
children's specific user-interface needs, those interests are
too often overlooked. Moreover, children, in general the
"forgotten clients", are in the case of technology, also the
invisible market. Today, children are often the important
link between sophisticated product and the adult consumer,
instructing a technophobic adult world on technology's
usage, demystifying it in the process -- a fact most
designers and manufacturers continue to ignore. It is the 2-
year-old that operates the CD-player with ease, the 8-year-
old who is often the only one in the house capable of
programming the timer on the VCR. These are the children
of the information age and the design professionals of
tomorrow.
David V. Keyson is a Research Scientist at the Philips
Research Laboratories - IPO, Eindhoven, NL.
Literature on general HCI design typically mentions the
importance of considering age related factors in the design
of user interfaces with the notion that accommodating the
needs of the elderly in design typically facilitates the
performance of all users. However, concepts and tools for
creating flexible and custom designs from both the designer
and user perspectives are lacking. Tools which can enable
the user to rapidly customize an interface so as to maximize
their current level of motoric and cognitive skills are
needed. Such tools should be easy to use and built in a
modular way using object oriented desing concepts.
Roger Coleman is Senior Research Fellow at the Royal
College of Art, London, UK and director of DesignAge.
Designing for Our Future Selves: considering the needs
of older people leads to innovation and better design of
consumer products. While world attention is focused on the
desirability of population control and how best to achieve
it, one inevitable consequence is rarely addressed - as
populations approach stability they grow old. In europe the
average adult will be 50+ by 2020. Adjusting to this change
requires a fundamental reappraisal of how we design
consumer products and, as products become increasingly
intelligent and services information based, how we design
interfaces. Considering the needs of older people not only
improves the design of consumer products it can act as an
important spur to innovation and the development of new
products and services. Priority must be given to
understanding and responding to the needs, aptitudes and
aspirations of older people in the domestic and public
environment, including transportation. The changing patterns
of work, leisure and life-style which are emerging under the
impact of the dramatic social changes brought about by
population ageing need specific consideration. Background
data and recent examples of new concepts and designs will
be presented to demonstrate methods and strategies that can
be deployed to address this issue.
James L. Fozard is the Associate Scientific director of the
National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, USA
The rapid aging of the world's population at the present
high rate is occurring for the first time in recorded history.
At the same time the density and complexity of newly
devised technologically based products for special and
general consumer use is increasing faster than at any time
in history. The net result is a much greater heterogeneity in
the population or potential users of technologically based
products than ever before.
The approach of young adults and children to new
technology experienced by them for the first time will most
likely be different from that of older adults of various ages
who will be interpreting the technology in terms of their
previous experience with what they perceive as similar
technology. Unlearning may be as important to them as the
new learning required for the new product. Previous
experience, both good and bad, with technology will color
their interest and confidence in new products.
These facts have implications for designers and producers.
First, they need to use feedback from consumers to improve
the usability of existing products. Second, they need to use
a 'feed-forward' approach to consumers of various ages and
backgrounds to determine the potential for new
technologically based products. In the case of the elderly
consumers, for example, there is a vast opportunity to
develop products and services that accommodate the
potential for new learning, social interaction, self fulfilling
leisure activities, and work that go with older age and
retirement. Third, the potential for adaptability of
technology for changing needs over the lifespan should be
considered where appropriate, e.g., flexibility in the design
of housing and products for home and work.
