Inclusive Design Considerations for User Experience Designers
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Designing Mobile Applications for Older Adults with Cognitive Decline: Inclusive Design Considerations for User Experience Designers by Tomasz Pokinko Submitted to OCAD University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design in Inclusive Design Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 2015 Tomasz Pokinko, 2015 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ or write to Creative Commons, 171, Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California 94105, USA. i ii Copyright Notice This document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial Works 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ca/ You are free to: • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material Under the following conditions: • Attribution—You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. • Non-Commercial—You may not use this work for commercial purposes. Notice: • You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation. • No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material. iii iv Author's Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this MRP. This is a true copy of the MRP, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize OCAD University to lend this MRP to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my MRP may be made electronically available to the public. I further authorize OCAD University to reproduce this MRP by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. Tomasz Pokinko v vi Abstract Older adults with cognitive decline vary in their needs, abilities and attitudes to technology. They also increasingly use mobile technologies such as tablets. Most UX designers, however, lack knowledge about cognitive accessibility and design for seniors, especially in mobile. This MRP targeted UX designers and argued that seniors with cognitive decline represent a vital ‘edge case’ that leads to better designs for everybody. Guided by a model of ‘Inclusive UX’ as more than usability for average users, it assembled a comprehensive set of research-based inclusive design considerations for the wide range of UX designers working in mobile. The main methodology was content analysis based on design, psychology and human-computer interaction literature as well as an ‘inclusive survey’ with thirteen professionals including designers, inclusive design experts, academics and doctors. This MRP will be of interest to UX designers as well as students and academics in design, computer science and human- computer interaction. vii viii Acknowledgments I wish to thank my Supervisory Committee for their guidance in the development of my Major Research Project: • Principal Advisor: Jutta Treviranus, Professor at OCAD University and Director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre • Secondary Advisor: Sambhavi Chandrashekar, Adjunct Professor at OCAD University I also wish to thank David Berman, my external advisor, and Jim Tobias of Inclusive Technologies for their detailed input and edits to the list of inclusive UX design considerations in Part 6. Thanks also to my classmates and professors at OCAD University, especially Professor Peter Coppin, Doaa Khattab, Julie Buelow and John Willis, with whom I shared many conversations related to my research, as well as past alumni of the Masters of Inclusive Design Program. I am particularly indebted to Sarah Crosskey, Lester Leung and Angela Punshon, whose Major Research Projects inspired my own. Finally, thanks to my wife Parul, my parents and brothers, and my extended family (on both sides). ix x Dedication To Parul xi xii Table of Contents List of Tables ...................................................................................................... xvii List of Figures .................................................................................................... xviii 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Primary Audience: UX Designers .......................................................................... 3 1.2 Target User Group: Older Adults with Cognitive Decline ...................................... 3 1.3 Design Challenge .................................................................................................. 4 1.4 Design Approach & Methods ................................................................................. 5 1.5 Sections of the MRP .............................................................................................. 6 2 Concepts .......................................................................................................... 9 2.1 User Experience Design ........................................................................................ 9 2.1.1 More Than Usability ............................................................................................. 9 2.1.2 The UX Design ‘Process’ ................................................................................... 10 2.2 UX Designers ...................................................................................................... 10 2.2.1 Three Models of UX ........................................................................................... 11 2.3 Inclusive Design .................................................................................................. 14 2.3.1 The Value of Edge Cases and the “Curb Cut” effect .......................................... 14 2.3.2 Reframing Disability & Accessibility ................................................................... 15 2.3.3 “One Size Fits One” Experiences ....................................................................... 16 2.3.4 The Core Aspects of Inclusive Design ............................................................... 17 2.4 Inclusive User Experience Design ....................................................................... 19 2.4.1 Same Goals ....................................................................................................... 21 2.4.2 Value of Edge Cases ......................................................................................... 21 2.5 Accessible UX ..................................................................................................... 23 2.6 Mobile: The Next Inclusive UX Frontier ............................................................... 24 2.7 Older Adults with Cognitive Decline – A Vital Edge Case ................................... 25 2.7.1 Who are Older Adults with Cognitive Decline? .................................................. 26 2.7.2 A Vital Edge Case .............................................................................................. 27 2.7.3 Older Adults are Interested in New Technology ................................................. 28 2.7.4 The Rise of Mobile Use Among Older Adults ..................................................... 28 2.7.5 The Business Case ............................................................................................ 29 2.7.6 Older Adults Can Handle Complexity and Value UX as Much as Anyone ......... 30 2.7.7 Focus: What is MCI? .......................................................................................... 31 2.7.8 MCI as an Edge Case Triggering the Curb Cut Effect ....................................... 33 2.7.9 Usability Issues: Symptoms of MCI .................................................................... 33 2.7.10 Lifestyle Factors and ‘Embodied’ Cognition ..................................................... 34 2.8 Conceptual Framework ....................................................................................... 35 3 Developing the Preliminary List ...................................................................... 37 xiii 3.1 Note on the Method (Content Analysis) .............................................................. 37 3.2 Literature Review: Establishing the Initial Criteria ............................................... 37 3.2.1 Gaps in Design Considerations for Older Adults with Cognitive Decline ........... 38 3.2.2 Broader Inclusive Design Guidelines for Cognitive Disabilities .......................... 41 3.2.3 Graphics/ Visualizations ..................................................................................... 44 3.2.4 Mobile ................................................................................................................. 45 3.2.5 UX Friction Linked to Cognitive Load ................................................................. 47 3.3 Towards a Preliminary List of Design Considerations ......................................... 49 4 Refining the Preliminary List .......................................................................... 55 4.1 Survey with Experts (2 Rounds) .........................................................................