Designing For Seniors: Beyond 12-Point Fonts

Seniors will be an increasingly important group of Web users as Baby Boomers swell their ranks over the next decade. Does the influx of users in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s necessitate a whole new approach to design? No. Seniors need the same fundamental Web site elements that younger users do: They need sites that are useful, usable, and enjoyable. However, seniors do have some unique preferences, abilities, and emotional needs that designers need to understand to penetrate this growing market. To understand these needs, customer experience professionals should conduct ethnographic studies with seniors, build empathy among designers through sensitivity training, and provide options that allow seniors to customize sites to meet their needs.