Elizabeth Buie - Older Adults: Are We Really Designing for Our Future Selves?

Introduction

As it's too cold to venture outside, so for one month only, we're going virtual again! This month, we're super excited to have Elizabeth Buie with us. But this time, it's all happening online. No need to travel; just grab a cuppa, get comfy at your desk, and join us from wherever you are. It's going to be a bit different, but absolutely brilliant.

Elizabeth Buie - Older Adults: Are We Really Designing for Our Future Selves

Advice on designing for older people often urges us to consider this audience as our future selves. In one sense, this is helpful, as it fosters empathy with older users. But in another sense, it's misleading — it hints that all of the challenges we face in designing for more senior people now are ones we ourselves will face in 20, 30, or even 40 years.

Some design considerations are persistent because they relate to limitations that tend to come upon us as our bodies age. Eyesight dims, colour vision changes, hearing declines, joints lose flexibility, and memory and thinking speed aren't what they used to be. We will all experience some of these changes as we grow older, although at our own pace and in unique ways. And for the foreseeable future, bodies will continue to develop age-related limitations. Older people will always face these challenges simply because they are older, and our designs will always need to accommodate them.

Unfortunately, much of what we read and hear about designing for older adults mixes ageing-body limitations with issues such as comfort with technology, willingness to scroll, or typical online activities. Perhaps people will always become more hesitant to learn new technologies as they grow older and more frustrated when technology doesn't work as they expect. But the specific design considerations will change as technology evolves.

Agenda:
The agenda is for guidance at Umbraco Manchester we can be a bit fluid with times :-)
19:00 - Welcome
19:15 - Elizabeth Buie - Older Adults: Are We Really Designing for Our Future Selves
20:00 - informal chat

We will share a link to the event nearer the time, please keep an eye on your inbox