Towards Designing Intuitive Mobile UIs Considering Tapping Behaviour of Elderly Users

Abstract

AbstractA mobile user interface (UI) is a graphical and usually touch-sensitive display on a mobile device that allows the user to interact with the device’s apps, features, contents, and functions. Since people of the elderly age group were not as exposed to technology as much as the people of the present generation, they face hurdles while using mobile apps. Furthermore, designers also face difficulties while designing user interfaces for elderly users. It is difficult for them to determine whether a designed UI component will be perceived by the elderly users as per its purpose. An elderly user may perceive a tappable UI component as not tappable and vice versa. Therefore, the objective of this research is to propose a conceptual framework for developing an efficient system to evaluate whether an UI is usable to the elderly people or not considering the tappability of its (UI) components. As outcomes, a deep learning-based conceptual framework for such a system is proposed based on the identified user-requirements through semi-structured interviews. An initial UI prototype of the system is also developed and evaluated by the real end-users. It is expected that the conceptual framework will be able to pave the way for developing a system to help the elderly user by increasing the usability of the UIs and to aid the designers in designing intuitive UIs considering the limitations of the elderly user. KeywordsUsabilityMobile user interfaceTappabilityDeep learningElderly users