The Guardian Article on the Ageing Population

According to the Lords committee 50% of people born after 2007 will live beyond 100 years of age. They also predicted that from 2010 to 2030 there will be a 51% increase in people older than  65 and a 100% increase in the number of people over 85. 

We can also expect to see a 32% rise in moderate to severe disability in people over 65 which includes conditions such as arthritis and dementia - this would put a huge strain on the NHS budget and resources.

In the project context, this means significantly more people in the ageing population demographic and significantly more people within the demographic with conditions that would affect their ability to use technology such as an energy monitor to reduce costs and environmental impact.

Click link to read the full article. 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/24/britain-ageing-population-lords-inquiry

Dexterity & Visual Impairment Research

Research shows that dexterity and visual impairments would significantly affect energy monitor use and that these conditions are common in the user group for this product. An overview of the key findings from the disability research are summarised below: 

The visual impairments that could affect energy monitor use are: 

Visual acuity - the ability to see fine details e.g. fine text on an energy monitor display.

Design solution - thick letters and increased letter spacing can improve sufferers ability to read fine details or small print.

Colour perception disability - reduced ability to distinguish between different colours; red to green is most common.

Design solution - avoiding colour combinations that clash will reduce occurrence of this problem.

Contrast sensitivity - limits a persons ability to detect the difference between foreground and background colours.

Design solution - using black on white or red on white for example and avoiding bright contrasting colour combinations will reduces the effects caused by this impairment.

Dexterity conditions affect a persons ability to lift, reach, carry and manipulate objects; use fingers, hands and arms; reduce touch sensation and therefore precision. Dexterity impairments that may affect energy monitor use: 

Parkinson’s disease - affects accuracy of movement, especially precision tasks.

Design solution - large buttons well positioned can improve usability for users.

Arthritis - around 16% of the UK population have arthritis. This will increase over time due to longer life expectancies and a higher mean age.

There are many types of arthritis but the most common are osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis.

Osteoarthritis affects 8.5 million people in the UK and mainly affects people over 50 - the user group. Worn cartilage leads to contact between bones causing severe pain.

Rheumatoid is more severe. This reduces movement and can lead to deformity in affected regions.


Arthritis symptoms are:
Joint pain, soreness and stiffness
Inflammation of joints
Reduced movement and reduced strength

A summary of the design consideration for designing products for people with dexterity conditions are:

Large chunky handles with grippy materials or textured surfaces.
Large buttons, well spaced and positioned.
Non slip mats.
Suitable form and maximum contact area for gripping surfaces
Products that allow left, right and 2 handed use
Avoiding products that require actions needing both vision and dexterity.
Adding controls that require low forces and low precision to operate
Wrists position should be straight and neutral

In the extreme case eye tracking and voice recognition may be required but that is out of scope for this project for costs reasons and because people with this level of disability are a separate demographic.

Analysing the Product 2: Feedback, Visibility & Mappings

Monitor Buttons

Feedback

When a button is pressed there is no feedback to inform the user that the device has received their command. For example, a small section of the display representing the recent energy consumption changes between the previous 1, 7 or 30 days when said button is pressed, see image 10. Someone above 60 with poor eye sight might not notice this happen (I will be doing some empathic research over the coming weeks so will test this out for myself).

Image 10

If the buttons survive my product re-design I may chose to add feedback to their operation. A bleep, vibrate and, possibly, visual feedback such as the part of the display that is changing (due to a button press) flashing for several seconds. This would cover all bases assuming that some users could have poor eye sight whilst others could have poor hearing or a dexterity condition or (hopefully not) a combination of these problems.  

Visibility & Mappings

The physical buttons themselves are also not particularly well designed for the elderly. The three small buttons are positioned close together and are labelled with an upward arrow, downward arrow and 'OK' (Image 11). The designer could argue that he has used natural mappings as the upward arrow increases the hours or minutes when changing time or the tariff when adjusting the electricity cost. The OK button increases the number of days on the recent energy consumption display, I wouldn't say that is very intuitive.  

Image 11

The actual purpose or intention of a button press is not particularly visible, you have to try pressing them to find out what they do. 

To be fair to the designer the device isn't aimed at the ageing population and the instructions are OK (although not great!). But this doesn't mean a younger demographic should have to get used to the device using trial and error. 

Analysing Customer Reviews

There are plenty of online customer reviews for the EnviR energy monitor. I would guess that the users who left feedback will be outside of the ageing demographic that I'm designing for but any problems, concerns, positive comments or suggestions for improvement would be very useful and could provide valuable user insights.

Positive Feedback

"The unit is easy to install."

This echoes what Peter said during his user test (see previous blog post - User Test 1). Apart from the problem I had with the wire clamp (also mentioned in the negative feedback section below), all feedback on the instructions and setting up the equipment has been positive. I'm still not convinced that an older demographic will find it so easy! 

"...gave some great information on the display."

Again Peter also commented that some of the information on the display monitor was very useful. I'll take this with a pinch of salt until I know what information the target demographic actually want in this type of product.

Negative Feedback

"The jaw [wire clamp] is so big, you can't really put them inside a domestic dist board. A set of small individual clamps or rings, which could be strung on individual circuit wires, would allow much great control of usage." 

I had the same problem when I was setting up the equipment in my flat. The wires were fastened tightly to the wall and could not be safely pulled back. A more carefully designed clamp could be easily designed. This seems to be a recurring theme.

"Basically what was a good product is now complete rubbish due to a lack of good software. Current Cost seem to have no interest in fixing it. There are cheaper and better alternatives."

Comments about this came up frequently. Said software is installed on the users computer and detailed information can be downloaded via a supplied lead. The information can then be viewed on the computer. 

I think there are several issues here:-

1. Although my research is at an early stage, it suggests that an aging user would not want this additional information as it would be confusing (or meaningless as Peter suggested).

2. An aging user may not have a computer and would not be able to access the information if he/she wanted to.

3. If the software was desirable to the target user, it would need a full re-design if it is as unusable as the reviewers suggest - that is out of the project scope. 

After re-design, if possible, all of the important information will be visible on the display monitor. Determining what information aging users want to see will be established during the focus groups.

"The hardware works but the data on screen is of very limited use, you see the temperature (wow) and instant watts and cost (but allows only a single tariff)."

" I find the display poor, after the simplicity of the Owl where you could instantly see how much electricity you were using at that moment, I have to peer at it to interpret the figures."

Two of many negative comments about the information displayed; this is definitely one area I will be looking at improving. Rather than speculating on what information people want to see, I'll get to know the user and hopefully establish this through interviewing and user testing.

Average Customer Review

Which? (which.co.uk): 2.7/5

Amazon: 3.5/5