Design For All Ages

Technical Communicators frequently account for many factors in their work, but I don’t recall hearing the user’s age being a variable that gets a lot of discussion at the water cooler. Yes, in isolated instances, perhaps . . . let’s say you are writing for Social Security recipients . . . then the needs of the elderly might come into clearer focus.

Perhaps age comes up more than we think in today’s design world. What if you had to design a website to tell Seniors how to use their cell phone? How would that be different than providing the same info to children? Many children today pickup homework on a web-based platform used by their school, just as adults now go to college online . . . surely, the site designs in each instance differ, and for tangible reasons.

Now let’s take this to another level. Think about how children and seniors differ in their behavior, disposition, interests and intellect. Think about how they learn. Even within those groups do they all learn the same way? There’s plenty of information on variations in individual learning styles. For example, some folks learn best by seeing – visual learners – and some by doing – kinesthetic learners. Think this through far enough as you design your next website, and you can see that you may need to have something to satisfy everyone.

To explore these concepts further, I decided look over two websites targeted to different ages and compare their differences. For the younger folks, 8 to 10 years old to be specific, I selected The Stacks at Scholastic.com. You might know this company as the one that hosted those annual book fairs in your grade school, at least here in the Eastern U.S. Scholastic has been publishing to children for many years and should know a thing or two about presenting information to them.

I decided to also look at Elderhostel, an organization that promotes travel with an educational twist to retired folks, who could range in age from 55 to 80+. If you are getting seniors on a fixed income to spend money on your service, you need to have a site that effectively gets your message across.

A DESIGN FOR AN OLDER CROWD

Let’s start with Elderhostel. Here’s their homepage:



The layout is orderly, with a four column format and lots of white space. A photograph near the top center of the page is the element that draws my eyes fist – it’s the most colorful thing here. Its motion also gets my attention, as do the moving letters that change to suggest a relationship between Elderhostel and its sister organization, Exploritas. The header type there is a semi-elegant serif style, with the balance of the page text using sans serif type. I was surprised that the font size wasn’t larger, but then again, these are ACTIVE SENIORS. Perhaps issues of poor vision and dexterity have not affected our viewers.

Looking over this site, my initial impression was that there wasn’t anything too new here, meaning the visual elements were pleasing in a subdued kind of way – predictable, with a concentration on the content. It’s simple, effective, and orderly, qualities you’d want to see in an organization to which you might trust your money and time. The design seems appropriate for the types of end users here, who are primarily older folks looking for information about travel they might like to plan. Secondary users might be someone else that’s trying to convince Mom she ought to go on a trip.

Two things strike me about our primary user: (1) if they are like my 70-year old mother, they may not be all the comfortable with using a computer. This may cause some emotional angst about using the site, which could be heightened if they are also anxious about the travel logistics. A predictable, easy-to-read site is what is needed. Research indicates that adults learn best when they build on something they already know. If you are 67, you probably have a lifetime of familiarity with text, people, and images of world destinations, three visual elements that figure prominently in this site’s design.

My simpleton view of the site soon changed a bit when I further examined the features included here. I found that there is something for everyone. For the visual and verbal learners, there is a lot of text to go through – page after page of itineraries, programs and prices, which can be gone through sequentially for those so inclined. But kinesthetic learners (active learners) are not left out – there is a lot to do on this site. Just take a look at across the home page and note the sidebar below:



Email a travel idea to a friend, sign up for an e-newsletter, review or even enter the photo contest (nice shots!), communicate with other Elderhostelers on the Community Board or the Social Network, or become part of the Alumni Association . . . Who says Seniors don't do Web 2.0? There is enough to make anyone feel like there is something valuable to see and do here, and learn about travel in the process. The sidebar is not just for the active learner, however. It gives a number of links that essentially layout the whole site, something global learners may also be inclined to use as they assess the breadth of features here.

In the end, while this site isn’t flashy, it’s the kind of site I could spend hours on as an armchair traveler. I’ll keep Elderhostel in mind for my interests 20 years from now.

A DESIGN FOR YOUNG (AND YOUNG-AT-HEART)

Now for The Stacks, the children’s section at Scholastic’s website. Here’s the main page:



My eyes were drawn first to the graphic near the top of the page. Like the Elderhostel site, the image changes, and both the images and the movement draw my attention. This site seems to draw the eye to points of interest, although in a less orderly manner. I noticed this even more on the Opinions page of the site:



Note the banners that draw the eye to titles that identify the element, as well as lead one to the point of action (check out “Join the Conversation” or “Pick a Profile Widget”). Graphics and photos are often combined in the same image, something kids can grasp in thoughts that change between reality and make-believe. This site is all about color and jagged linear structures, and it creates a rather eclectic dissonance, an intentional lack of unity, that seems to mirror the active nature and short attention span of children in this age range.

As for design, the type is in warmer, friendlier, casual fonts that are mostly sans serif. The wording is simpler, consistent with the language skills of the intended viewers, and more slang is used. Perhaps the human factors such as the vision and dexterity issues I discussed for seniors are not an issue here; rather this site is all about the language skills ad interests of our primary viewers. (Secondary viewers here are parents, likely Moms, as evidenced by the meal ideas I saw in an advertising header – adults use the site to by the books and other materials their children are interested in.)

Thinking about those language skills, I reflected on how the learning styles of children must be functionally different than those of adults. Without fully developed reading and language skills, children are by necessity more likely to be kinesthetic learners, and more likely, I think, to have a “show-me-don’t-tell-me” disposition that requires emphasis on non-text elements. It also has me wondering if children learn more sequentially, preferring something a bit more structured. After all, unlike adults, children have less knowledge, conventions, and practices of habit to guide their learning. While they are more likely to experiment in the navigation and comprehension of the site, their lack of intellectual experience could be well served by a more structured approach. That seems to be borne out in the lack of the side bar global navigation we saw in the Elderhostel site. The Stacks only has links to other parts of the site occurring in the horizontal header.

My impression of this site is, as it should be, nearly opposite of the Elderhostel site. The design is as eclectic as an 8-year old’s imagination, but the structure that is here is more subliminal. As expected, it does seem like a more “fun” site. For a momentary pleasant diversion, do note that the site presents the animated movie trailer for a movie based on my favorite children’s book, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”, which can be viewed at the bottom of the Main Page, or in at a larger scale on YouTube.

OK, so I am a big kid . . .

CLOSING THOUGHTS

One thing that surprised me was the amount of text used . . . or not . . . on the sites. I only have four data points for this, so I am not sure if further research would bear this out. But I started this evaluation thinking Elderhostel would use more text, and The Stacks less. On their main pages, I counted the words in the longest text element I could find. Elderhostel – 59 words. And Scholastic - 59 words. So I clicked on an itinerary for an Elderhostel trip – 411 words were in the body of this trip description. I jumped on a blog at The Stacks, and found 545 words in a blog entry about design in graphics for video games. Who says children don’t do text?

THE ULTIMATE TEST

While writing this, my 9-year old daughter, Mary, started peering over my shoulder.



I explained to her what I was doing and asked for her opinion on these sites. She looked at them both, and then I asked her what she thought of the Elderhostel site. “Hmmm . . . . Could be interesting, but I’m not into reading as much.” When I showed her The Stacks, she said, “Fun . . . Lots of Activity . . . Interesting . . . . Colors really get me.” For the record, I’d prefer to look at the Elderhostel site.

So our impromptu test subjects fell right in line with the intent of the sites and the body of design knowledge I discussed here. So much for Dad’s theories!