So I am mendacity in mattress, squinting at my novel, holding it at arm’s size like some kind of demented scarecrow. The textual content measurement that appeared completely readable two years in the past now seems to have been written by ants. Welcome to your fifties, they stated. It’s going to be enjoyable, they stated.I’ve to be sincere; this decline in my eyesight has been an actual wake-up name. Not simply because I have to put on my multifocals to mattress; making really feel like an owl in a Disney film. Extra deeply, it is pressured me to confront an uncomfortable reality. I’m changing into a “senior consumer”.Me. Not some distant, theoretical demographic that designers take into account in passing when discussing accessible fonts. However precise me. Proper right here, proper now.
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The gov.uk web site is a superb instance of accessible design (Picture credit score: Future)It is humorous how shortly your perspective shifts while you’re the one fumbling with tiny buttons on a distant management, or abandoning an internet site as a result of the gray textual content on a barely much less gray background has defeated you. Instantly, all these design selections that appeared affordable while you had the eyes of a hawk really feel like private assaults in your dignity.My listening to, too, is not what it was. My reminiscence, while nonetheless largely intact, has developed a bent to misplace essential info like the place I put my keys or why I walked right into a room. My knees are beginning to creak like outdated floorboards after I rise up. I might go on, however you get the thought.Shift in perspectiveDon’t get me fallacious: I am nonetheless a long time away from being packed off to the care residence. However forewarned is forearmed. So what accessible design selections, I’m wondering, will assist ‘future me’ navigate the net world extra simply?Bigger textual content, clearly; not comically massive, simply sensibly sized. Excessive distinction between textual content and background. Audio cues that do not depend on my ageing ears catching refined beeps. Buttons and contact targets which can be large enough for doubtlessly unsure palms. Clear, logical navigation that does not require a PhD in consumer expertise to determine.Day by day design information, evaluations, how-tos and extra, as picked by the editors.However here is the place it hits you: each single considered one of these “senior-friendly” options makes merchandise higher for everybody. Nonetheless younger or outdated. Nonetheless able-bodied or disabled.Everybody’s happyThat bigger textual content I crave? Excellent for anybody attempting to learn on a cellphone while strolling. Excellent for somebody with a migraine. Excellent, frankly, for anybody who would not fancy getting eye pressure after half an hour of studying.These greater buttons? Good for anybody carrying gloves, in a shifting automobile, or simply having a type of days the place your motor expertise have gone on vacation. Excessive distinction design? A godsend for anybody open air in vibrant daylight. Clear navigation? Helpful for actually anybody who’s ever struggled with a overly advanced web site menu. Which, let’s be sincere, has been all of us in some unspecified time in the future.The great thing about accessible design is that it strips away the pointless complexity that customers continuously get irritated by, however usually put up with all the identical. Adhering to those rules forces designers to consider the core performance of the product or providers, to prioritise what truly issues, and to create interfaces that work for people moderately than displaying off how intelligent the design crew is.Seems, designing for seniors means designing for people as a complete. What an completely radical idea.For a UI we like, see our piece on the Monzo app.
