Design an elder-accessible product that mitigates the generation gap between younger and elders. Spectroos is kind of glasses that allows visually impaired elders who has lack of experience in using technology device could feel connected with their community.
It indicates that 9 percent of seniors at the age of 75 or over have severe visual impairments, and 18 percent have severe hearing limitations in the EU (Eurostat, 2017). Additionally, U.S statistics show that “23% of older adults indicate that they have a physical or health condition that makes reading difficult or challenging” (Pew Research Centre, 2014).
We first aimed our target users to elders :
The elders tell us that they use technology device to connect with younger generations (family/friends), but they often hit other buttons accidentally. On the other hand, they only use certain functions, however there are many features that they don't use and which makes the device much more complicated.
The product was designed for types of users: Elders who are willing to use tech to connect to their family/friends if needed. Three types of users are represented below: familiar with technology and has lots of grandchildren, apart from the family and use eyes a lot for reading/watching TV, and with some eye problems.
Originally We brainstormed 6 ideas and scoped it into three final ideas and we role-played to empathize with our users and then we held numerous testing sessions to ensure our product was usable and well-received. Some of these sessions evaluated proof of concept by walking users through various prototypes, while other sessions focused on specific features using a think-aloud cognitive walkthrough.
We received most positive feedback for this solution(Spectroos), and we merge it with the projector idea. The glasses can project the images onto the glasses in front of the user. Images can be shown to others and emails can be projected to be read.
We have three potential users tried out Spectroos and below are the highlights and feedbacks.
Portability was seen as a pro
User had problems finding/using the buttons
Glasses should include the functionality of calling since then they could replace the smartphone
Buttons should be big enough and it has to be perceptible when they are pressed
Based on their feedback, we make our changes to our prototype:
Core functions were designed to create an immersive story-telling experience.
A clearer picture of the navigational hierarchy.
Upon completion of the project, five of us present our solution in the RWTH stadium.
Less is more: After identifying our product's purpose and users we tried to put simplify and keep only the essential features onto the product to make it simple to use.
Accessible design: Older adults don’t need a ton of compensation to feel comfortable using an application. Keeping the flow structure simple and to a single function.
Thank you for reading this case study! If you’re interested, feel free to check out my other projects below
