Usability in designing a mobile application for elderly users - Case study: Dairo application
Vo, Anh (2019)
Vo, Anh
2019
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201904296707
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201904296707
Tiivistelmä
As the population is getting older, technologies are developed to assist people’s life, particularly in terms of healthcare. With advancing age, elderly people suffer from cognitive, perceptive and sensory impairments. Designing an application for elderly users requires basic understandings of these characteristics as they affect the way elderly users interact with touchscreen devices. Therefore, the thesis studies tech-niques in designing a user-friendly application for elderly users by taking aging related issues into consideration.
The first part of the thesis is a literature review. This part mainly focus on user inter-face design elements. Regarding visual design, the studies cover methods on how to design colour, contrast, typography, buttons as well as the use of language to ensure readability and learnability of a design. The studies also suggest guidelines on using audio as an information delivery method for elderly users with visual or hearing im-pairments. Interactive elements such as data entry and feedback are mentioned as well.
The case study of this thesis is usability testing of the Dairo application. The application is designed to assist elderly people with their memory problems. In addition to testing the usability of the application, the purpose is to see how well the methods studied in the first section are applied in a practical case. Moreover, the findings from the case study together with literature review are considered to enhance the usability of the Dai-ro application.
The first part of the thesis is a literature review. This part mainly focus on user inter-face design elements. Regarding visual design, the studies cover methods on how to design colour, contrast, typography, buttons as well as the use of language to ensure readability and learnability of a design. The studies also suggest guidelines on using audio as an information delivery method for elderly users with visual or hearing im-pairments. Interactive elements such as data entry and feedback are mentioned as well.
The case study of this thesis is usability testing of the Dairo application. The application is designed to assist elderly people with their memory problems. In addition to testing the usability of the application, the purpose is to see how well the methods studied in the first section are applied in a practical case. Moreover, the findings from the case study together with literature review are considered to enhance the usability of the Dai-ro application.