Interaction design

INTERFACE FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE Abstract In this paper I highlight the importance of an interface design for elderly people. The design targets especially the elderly people above 70 years of age. The design is done on the basis of the problems faced by them and their needs for easy access to distant communication. It enables possibility for the users to communicate with their family and friends who are far apart. I propose a user-centred design since the entire usability of this design is meant for a particular group – elderly people. The design is made to solve their problems making the task of communicating easily along with satisfying their needs.

Design Brief CONTACT BOOK is a software application that allows users to easily communicate with their friends and family over the Internet.

The software application provides the user various

features. The user can do video or voice calls, send and receive emails, can do online chats, etc without any difficulty.

Icons needed for the application’s activities are: •

Voice Call

•

Video Call

•

Online Chat

•

Compose mail

•

Inbox

These icons are to be used in this interface design. So that the icons should also have the same properties as that of the interface design, complementing each other.

Need for Design and Designer In the context of computer and mobile phone applications an icon is a picture or symbol use to represent a tool or function that can be performed by the application. It may also indicate formatted data files that can be accessed from within the application. Icons are important visual cues which provide an intuitive understanding of the tools or functions associated with them. The icon may be a literal, conventional or metaphoric depiction of the tool or function. A good icon is self-explanatory; the text at the bottom only serves as a confirmation of what is already understood.

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To develop an icon requires an understanding of the implicit meanings of objects, and how users derive meaning from images. Icons need to be simple, scalable and non-verbal; they should be understandable across languages and cultures. Within an icon set, all the icons need to be stylistically similar but at the same time, each icon should be individually discernable, sans unnecessary elements. Often an icon may stand for two different things to two different people, and this needs to be avoided. Colour palette, size, scalability and future portability to mobile devices are also issues that need to be addressed.

In the case of CONTACT BOOK, the icons need to be sufficiently large to be seen easily and recognizable to a user group with poor eyesight who while able to operate a computer, open applications and connect to the internet if unhampered by technical snags, does not necessarily have any exposure to recognized conventions of internet communication that younger users may find self-evident. The user group will however be familiar with older devices such as cordless telephones, radios and television sets.

The rigors of the design process, involving an in-depth understanding of user and application, development, review and enhancement and the involvement of a designer(s) to balance out both the aesthetic and technical/system requirements is thus necessary for the creation of this set of icons.

Design Goals Creation of an icon set that enables Intuitive Understanding and is Consistent, Scalable and Portable Creation of an Interface that takes into account the presence of multiple service providers for email, chat, internet telephony and video calling as well as social networking and the need to manage accounts with each of these providers from a single window.

Design Constraints THE PROBLEMS FACED BY THEM WITH THE USE OF NEWLY EMERGED TECHNOLOGIES: 

Life expectancy of people

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Their health, common diseases, old age disabilities

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Their lack of familiarity with the new technologies

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Large number of details that must be remembered in order to accomplish tasks

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Difficulty in knowing how to move confidently from switching the computer on to making use of the wanted application

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Difficult at first is using the computer mouse

Life Expectancy of People: The life expectancy of people differs from place to place and their life style. So the target market is small. So the design should be more specific to that particular group. The features should be condensed. Check the below graph:

There are great variations in life expectancy between different parts of the world, mostly caused by differences in public health, medical care and diet. Much of the excess mortality (higher death rates) in poorer nations is due to war, starvation, and diseases (AIDS, Malaria, etc.). The impact of AIDS is particularly notable on life expectancy in many African countries.

According to the UN the life expectancy at birth for 2010–2015 would have been: 

70.7 years instead of 31.6 in Botswana

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69.9 years instead of 41.5 in South Africa

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70.5 years instead of 31.8 in Zimbabwe.

As a result, over the past 200 years, countries with African populations have generally not had the same improvements in mortality rates that have been enjoyed by populations of Asian, Latin American or European origin. Notably, even in countries with a majority of European people, such as the United States, Britain, or Ireland, African people still tend to have shorter life expectancies than their European counterparts. For example, in the United States, Euro-Americans are expected to live until age 78.2, but African Americans only until age 73.6.

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In contrast, Asian-Americans live the longest of all ethnic groups in the United States, with a life expectancy of 87 years, almost ten years longer than Euro-Americans., which falls in line with the longer life expectancy among East Asian countries globally compared to European, Latin American or African countries. Surprisingly, Latino-Americans are second place among ethnic groups on life expectancy, living on average two years longer than Euro-Americans and seven years longer than African-Americans, with a life expectancy of 80.6 years, in contrast to the on average lower life expectancy of most Latin American countries. These variations among ethnic groups may be ascribed to differing economic circumstances of the groups, and in the United States, notably differing access to health care. It may also be ascribed to different cultural patterns of eating or diet that may cross international lines and explain the variation within ethnic groups in a multiethnic society such as the United States.

Climate may also have an effect, and the way data is collected may also influence the figures. Economic circumstances may also affect life expectancy. For example, in the United Kingdom, life expectancy in the wealthiest areas is several years longer than in the poorest areas. This may reflect factors such as diet and lifestyle as well as access to medical care. It may also reflect a selective effect: people with chronic life-threatening illnesses are less likely to become wealthy or to reside in affluent areas.

Life expectancy is also likely to be affected by exposure to high levels of highway air pollution or industrial air pollution. This is one way that occupation can have a major effect on life expectancy. Coal miners (and in prior generations, asbestos cutters) often have shorter than average life expectancies. Other factors affecting an individual's life expectancy are genetic disorders, obesity, access to health care, diet, exercise, tobacco smoking, drug use and excessive alcohol use.

Common Health Issues: Problems regarding: 

Vision

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Hearing

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Speaking

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Movements and co-ordination

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Memory

Adversely affects the usability of computers.

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There are so many difficulties faced by the old people. They might have problems regarding vision due to Cataract, by which eyes becomes clouded, and gets blurred or dim. It is difficult to see at night; Glaucoma, this is a kind of disease that is usually linked to an elevated kind of pressure that is inside the eyeball; Floaters, which results in the reduction in the sensitivity to light, decrease in visual capability, difficulty to read, and so on. These will cause difficulty for them in recognizing the small icons to reading the texts in the computer.

Some may be suffering from hearing or speaking problems. Hearing is the process by which a person is able to distinguish sounds. This he does by identifying vibrations from the ear. When a person ages, the cochlear cells of the hair in the ears start getting destroyed. So a high frequency loss of hearing is common during middle age. It is also common for ageing people to have an ageing middle ear. So, one of the common old age changes is lessening of ability to hear. They also face problems in movements, shivering of hands, etc.

Ageing is also with reduction in the thinking ability. This is common because the brain is constantly active till a person gets old, so it takes a sabbatical by way of reducing the thinking processes so that it can store energy for the future. So reduced thinking ability is a common feature of the elderly and it is another old age change as well. How many times has it happened that you have wanted to relate an incident and suddenly you forget the name of the person you met in the incident? How many times have we forgotten where we left our keys? How many times has it happened that we forget important telephone numbers? All this and more are incidents where the person loses his ability to recall events and incidents. This is a significant change as we get older and it could hit any of us, at any age after 40.

Diminished eye sight means inability to read and recognize small fonts and icons. Sensitivity to differences in colour may have reduced as will have motor skills. Possibility of hearing and speech problems must also be taken into account. User group may experience difficulty with memory, ability to put names to faces etc. Difficulty to remember the complicated steps, which should be followed to use the software. Complexity of the software due to large number of options, old people finds difficulty in handling it. Difficulty in knowing how to move confidently from switching the computer on to making use of the wanted application. Even handling the computer mouse. Their lack of familiarity with the new technologies is also a problem.

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Rate of internet usage by different groups of people: In the US the top internet activities of people over 55 are: 

Email with family and friends 72%

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Researching a particular topic or issue 59%

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Accessing news and current events 53%

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Vacation planning and travel arrangements 47%

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Getting local / regional weather information 43%

In the UK it is still the case that most users of the internet are younger.

The current figures for internet usage by age group are: Internet usage in UK by age: 

16-24

87%

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25-44

69%

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45-54

58%

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55-64

37%

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65+

11%

Internet Users in India

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Proposed Solution: a) Icons: A computer icon is a pictogram displayed on a computer screen and used to navigate a computer system or mobile device. The icon itself is a small picture or symbol serving as a quick, intuitive representation of a software tool, function or a data file accessible on the system. It functions as an electronic hyperlink or file shortcut to access the program or data.

Computer icons, in conjunction with computer windows, menus and a pointing device, form the graphical user interface (GUI) of the computer system, and enable the user to easily and intuitively navigate the system. Computer icons belong to the much larger topic of the history of the graphical user interface.

The icons displayed on the screen represent data files or tools accessible on the system. In activating (clicking on) an icon, the user can move directly into and out of the identified function without knowing anything further about the location or requirements of the file. On most systems, standard computer icons can be created and deleted, replicated, selected, clicked or double-clicked, and dragged to a new position on the screen to create a customized user environment.

128 x 128 px

32 x 32 px

The usual icon size on a Windows XP system is 32 x 32px which can be scaled up. Windows Vista and Mac OSX display much larger default icons. The largest possible is 512 x 512px. On mobile devices, the lowest size is 24 x 24px for a low density display. For the present application a 128 x 128px size has been used keeping in mind the simplicity of the icons designed, the special needs of the user group and the space requirements of the interface.

Icons Designed for CONTACT BOOK: The major features of the contact books are voice call, chat, compose mail, inbox, and video call. Different Icons are designed for all these features. And icon for the application CONTACT BOOK is also done.

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1. Voice call 2. Chat 3. Compose mail 4. Contact book 5. Inbox 6. Video call

The icons used in CONTACT BOOK:

VOICE CALL

CHAT

COMPOSE MAIL

CONTACT BOOK

INBOX

VIDEO CALL

Advantages of the design made: 

Direct illustrations to make it more understandable

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Illustrations of old objects to create familiarity (eg: old model land phone)

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Contrasting colors for better visibility

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Illustration accompanied with name of the icon at the bottom

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Simple font for better readability (Arial)

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Comparatively bigger font size for better readability

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Different color combinations for each icon to make it distinctive from each other

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Illustrations with black strokes to separate the illustration from that of background color, to make it more understandable for people with color blindness.

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Lower brightness, to make it more pleasing and comfortable for eyes.

b) Interface: There are several existing internet services such as GMail, Yahoo, Meebo, Skype and Facebook that provide a range of internet based communication services to registered users. These services are geared towards a wide market segment. But CONTACT BOOK serves for a particular group. This software recommends a touch screen desktop since it is more user friendly. And to enter the application only single clicks are needed. So it becomes more convenient for the users.

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The main window has black and grey shades for the background and only limited number of options which gives more simplicity to the interface – avoids discomfort and confusion (MAIN WINDOW)

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The light green writing on the dark background is more eye catchy since it is contrasting and it is pleasing to the eye. (MAIN WINDOW)

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There is a search area for the user to find his contact person easily. And gives all the information about a particular person without logging in. (figure 2)

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The friend list option leads the user to his contact group from where he can get details about whom ever he wants.(figure 2)

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Login options are set aside in a box with red indications to make it notable. To avoid confusion. By entering the user id and password the user enters to another window.

For convenience the user can save his password.(figure 3)

MAIN WINDOW

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The inner pages has a background color in blue shades, since blue is a cool color it won’t create strain of the user’s eyes.

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The icons are relatively larger in size – gives better visibility (Contact Book icon: set apart from other icons and of comparatively larger in size)

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Icons have animation to make it more interactive.

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Limited number of options – decreases complexity

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Arranged in sections – better accessibility

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Only three windows and navigation from each window to the other is possible.

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The icons are arranged on a white platform for easy access.

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Automatic logoff by closing the program.

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CONTACT DETAILS:

INTERACTIVE WINDOW

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