Affordance and Intuitive Interface Design for Elder Users with Dementia

Abstract

Elderly users with dementia often forget how to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) because of declined cognitive ability. Affordance emphasises intuitive relationships and interaction and has potentials for product design for elderly users or users with dementia. This study investigated the intuitive interaction and affordance relationship between elderly users with dementia and the user-interface characteristics of ADLs. We used the user interfaces of microwave ovens as a research tool for recording participants’ initial reaction time for a specific operating task and the time for task completion. In addition, we observed and recorded the problems experienced by the participants during the tasks for examining the user-interface characteristics that possess superior usability and can induce the intuitive interaction of elderly users with dementia. The research results indicated that interface designs with simple layouts were optimal for elderly users with dementia in intuitive operation and usability; thus, complex arrangements and information presentations that require imaginative association should be avoided when designing interfaces. The results provide references for designing intuitive and humanised user interfaces for elderly users with dementia.