Vitaly Friedman’s Post

🏎️💨 How To Design For Older Adults. One billion people aged 60+ live today, and it’s growing faster than any other age group. Key points to consider to make your designs more inclusive for older adults ↓ 🚫 Don’t assume that older adults struggle to use digital. 🚫 You don’t need to strip the design to bare minimum. 🚫 Avoid stereotypes and assumptions about elderly. ✅ Most users are healthy, active and have a solid income. ✅ Older adults often read and analyze every word (Stroop effect). ✅ Shades of blue/purple and yellow/green are difficult to distinguish. ✅ Visuals with a similar contrast are harder to tell apart. ✅ Often struggle with text input and precise movements. ✅ Users are more likely to perform actions they didn’t mean to. ✅ They take more time and need more control over the process. ✅ They often view error messages as a personal failure. 🚫 Avoid disappearing messages: let users close them. 🚫 Avoid accessibility overlays; they are often inaccessible. 🚫 Avoid long, fine drag gestures and precision. 🚫 Avoid floating labels and use static field labels. 🚫 Don’t rely on icons alone: add descriptive labels. ✅ Ask for explicit confirmation for destructive actions. ✅ Add a "Back" link in addition to browser’s “Back” button. ✅ In forms, present one question or one topic per screen. Useful resources: Better Microcopy For Older Adults, by Michal Halperin Ben Zvi (PhD.) and Kinneret Yifrah https://lnkd.in/evWGFB6u What You Can Learn From Older Adults, by Becca Selah https://lnkd.in/eZdbgRyA A Guide to Interface Design For Older Adults, by Sergei P. https://lnkd.in/ervKdQBM Designing Age-Inclusive Products, by Michal Halperin Ben Zvi (PhD.) https://lnkd.in/eQZJwEgS Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population, by Jeff Johnson and Kate Finn https://lnkd.in/e_Ekw2pC A Guide To Age-Friendly Digital Design (PDF guide, email required) https://lnkd.in/e3neQs7d Usability Testing With Older Adults, by Megan Chan https://lnkd.in/e62hqPth We should be careful not to make our design decisions based on assumptions that are often not true at all. We don’t need a “barebones” version for older users. We need a reliable, inclusive product that helps people of all groups feel independent and competent. Bring older adults in your design process to find out what their specific needs are. It’s not just better for that specific target audience — good accessibility is better for everyone. And huge kudos to wonderful people contributing to a topic that is often forgotten and overlooked. 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾 #ux #design #accessibility