The Influence of Ageing on User Experience

Abstract

The world population is ageing. At both the individual and collective levels, ageing causes several changes in people’s lives that influence their needs and the way in which they interact with products. This chapter aims first, to provide a literature review on different aspects of ageing in order to better understand how people will respond to products as they grow older. Second, it describes how the physical and cognitive decline of older users increases rather than decreases the need to focus on all aspects of their experience, including their physical, sensory, cognitive and affective responses. Having considered these issues, suggestions are made in order that designers might best focus their attention as they design for a population that is rapidly ageing, and where members of that population are encouraged to maintain full participation in society.