Abstract
The goal of my PhD is to research the relationship between creativity and age in the user centered design (UCD) process for user interfaces. To assess this, a comparative study will be conducted. First a UCD process with group of older people - future consumers (mainly 60+) will be run. Then the results from this group will be compared with sessions I will run with Human Computer Interaction (HCI) design students. Finally the same study will be conducted with mixed generation groups. The participants will be involved in two stages of the UCD process: in a contextual enquiry stage and in a prototyping stage. Throughout the process creativity, motivation and methodology adoption will be measured and compared across groups. As a result of this study new (or adapted) methodologies for encouraging creative participation of older people in the UCD process will be developed. This will be a valuable contribution to the HCI design field, as it will provide guidance on how to more effectively involve older people in the UCD process.
Highlights
From the completed work I identified that more work needs to be done to understand better how creativity could be facilitated and manifested with older people
I plan to explore the use of innovative methods, such us design probes [6], as an approach to helping older participants to make a shift from experience to creativity
The results from activities 1-3 will help me to identify how best to facilitate and measure the creative involvement of older people in the user centred design (UCD) process of designing user interfaces, by being identifying which creative methods best fit the way of thinking of older people
Summary
Interfaces and products are usually designed for a broad market and general use by younger users [5]. In the classic design process used by design agencies, older people are rarely involved, or if they are, they are brought in at the end of the design cycle as participants in usability tests. Others have looked at how to involve older people in the design process of Web sites and interfaces, healthcare systems, personal calendars, interactive organization of photos, assistive technology applications and computer games [7, 8, 9]. The Helen Hamlyn Research Centre regularly involves older people in their inclusive design projects [1] often in a participatory design setting [4].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
