UXPA Boston Conference 2015

Seniors are cited as one of the fastest growing users of digital and online services.  As a segment, they have a unique set of needs.  Designing for and testing with seniors requires knowledge of the segment and how best to meet their needs.  This presentation will cover some of the findings and strategies we have used in our work with this important audience segment.

Seniors require many unique considerations both in terms of design and in user research.  This presentation will address those needs and provide designers and researchers with specific strategies to use to meet those needs. 

We will share the learnings we have acquired through our experience with both in-person and online user tests with seniors (see outline for some specific examples).  We have conducted approximately 50 user tests with seniors in multiple environments and have learned many tactics and strategies for ensuring success with this valuable market segment.

We will share stories of our experiences with in-person testing.  What barriers we encountered with recruiting, task and discussion guide development, and moderating.  We will share our mistakes so that attendees can avoid making the same, and share our successes so that attendees can benefit.  Designing for the healthcare segment requires meeting specific requirements.  Many of which are useful for design as a whole for this segment.  We will share those as suggestions for guidelines when designing with the senior audience in mind.

While sharing our own stories, we welcome questions and participation about any experience the audience has had with seniors.  We hope to have an interactive and discussion oriented presentation.  We will be prepared to go through 45 minutes of our own material, but also welcome any discussion that helps broaden the discussion so that everyone can share their own thoughts and questions.

 

Researchers and designers are key audiences who will benefit from this discussion.  We have worked with companies who came to our business as vendors for website design and completely missed the mark because they did not recognize the unique needs of this market segment.  We want to prepare all UXPA professionals for work with this segment in order to allow them to grow their businesses through their understanding and recognition of the value of this underserved user segment.