User experience for the elderly at Coop grocery stores’ self check-out
This is a short summary of my thesis. The full version is available in Estonian.
Overview
For my Bachelor's thesis, I researched how to create a user experience that meets the needs of the elderly. The motive for writing this Bachelor’s thesis was personal. I witnessed my grandmother’s experiences when trying to learn how to use the grocery store’s self-service technologies. The goal was to map out the self-service experience at Coop grocery stores, identify pain points from the elderly point of view, and propose how to improve the user experience.
First, I created design principles informed by a literature review. The design principles are universal when designing for digital interactive screens. Yet, they are also specific to creating better user experiences when designing digital solutions for the elderly, including increasing accessible self-service.
The principles address the four categories of changes that may occur when getting older:
1. Vision
2. Hearing
3. Motor
4. Cognitive changes
After analysing pain points, I created four proposals related to the aim of the thesis—to create a better self-service user experience for the elderly. Most of the proposals address the interfaces of self-service technologies and integrate multi-sensory cues, for example vision and hearing, to ensure the message is understood and received by the
user. For those with various impairments, multiple forms of input can support their comprehension, and this was also a consideration in the proposals.
First, I created design principles informed by a literature review. The design principles are universal when designing for digital interactive screens. Yet, they are also specific to creating better user experiences when designing digital solutions for the elderly, including increasing accessible self-service.
The principles address the four categories of changes that may occur when getting older:
1. Vision
2. Hearing
3. Motor
4. Cognitive changes
After analysing pain points, I created four proposals related to the aim of the thesis—to create a better self-service user experience for the elderly. Most of the proposals address the interfaces of self-service technologies and integrate multi-sensory cues, for example vision and hearing, to ensure the message is understood and received by the
user. For those with various impairments, multiple forms of input can support their comprehension, and this was also a consideration in the proposals.
Design Process
My design process was inspired by The Design Council's evolved double diamond method. In this project, my focus was on the first part of the diamond - thorough research and finding the problem.
By going through the design process I wanted to answer the following research questions:
- What main aspects of the process of ageing play a role in the elderly’s interaction with self checkout technology?
- Which design principles should be followed when designing for the elderly?
- What are the pain points of Coop self checkout services for the focus group?
- Which solutions could nudge the elderly to choose self checkout instead of a regular?
- Which design principles should be followed when designing for the elderly?
- What are the pain points of Coop self checkout services for the focus group?
- Which solutions could nudge the elderly to choose self checkout instead of a regular?
Desktop Research
Ageing
I started the process of writing my dissertation by doing desktop research on ageing. This step was necessary to have an overview of various physical and cognitive aspects affecting the elderly when using the self checkout services in stores.
As a result of the research, I pointed out four main changes accompanying aging. The four main effects of ageing are changes in vision, hearing, motor and cognitive abilities. Vision might start decreasing around the age of 40. The ciliary muscles in the eye start getting weaker and the lens becomes harder. These factors affect the ability to focus and are the main cause for hyperopia (farsightedness). Hearing is something that worsens as people age - by the age of 65 third of the population has some kind of hearing loss. In addition to all the above, ageing also affects motor abilities caused by muscle mass loss and cognitive abilities related to attention span and thinking processes.
As a result of the research, I pointed out four main changes accompanying aging. The four main effects of ageing are changes in vision, hearing, motor and cognitive abilities. Vision might start decreasing around the age of 40. The ciliary muscles in the eye start getting weaker and the lens becomes harder. These factors affect the ability to focus and are the main cause for hyperopia (farsightedness). Hearing is something that worsens as people age - by the age of 65 third of the population has some kind of hearing loss. In addition to all the above, ageing also affects motor abilities caused by muscle mass loss and cognitive abilities related to attention span and thinking processes.
Design principles for designing for the elderly
To convert the research on ageing into my thesis, I created design principles to follow when designing a service that takes into account the needs of the elderly. The principles were presented in the same four categories - vision, hearing, motor and cognitive changes. The principles were also an input for the further proposals for bettering the customer experience of the self checkout service.
Taking into account the changes in vision the design principles encourage the use of sans serif fonts, bring out the importance of white space and contrast. For the decreased hearing all sound notifications should have a definite purpose, volume should be adjustable and speech should not be too fast. Changes in motors affect movements.Therefore, all buttons need to have a big enough touch area and they need to give immediate feedback to the user. To support the cognitive changes, the navigation of the interface should be intuitive, the user should be given one task at a time and as little unnecessary information as possible. These are some of the main design principles described in the dissertation.
Taking into account the changes in vision the design principles encourage the use of sans serif fonts, bring out the importance of white space and contrast. For the decreased hearing all sound notifications should have a definite purpose, volume should be adjustable and speech should not be too fast. Changes in motors affect movements.Therefore, all buttons need to have a big enough touch area and they need to give immediate feedback to the user. To support the cognitive changes, the navigation of the interface should be intuitive, the user should be given one task at a time and as little unnecessary information as possible. These are some of the main design principles described in the dissertation.
Shadowing and Interviews
The shadowing and interviews were done together - during the shadowing I interviewed the employees working in the self service area as well as the elderly using the self-checkout area. When I saw elderly queueing for the regular till I approached them with the proposal of supporting them in the self-checkout. Most people appreciated it and tried it out with me. After the shopping the customers commented: “Now I have courage to try it out by myself when I come again,” and that “It [self-checkout] is foolproof. I just have to get used to it.”
The shadowing and interviews showed that the elderly lack the courage and support in order to cross the learning curve of transitioning to the self-checkout.
The shadowing and interviews showed that the elderly lack the courage and support in order to cross the learning curve of transitioning to the self-checkout.
Proposals
From the research it was clear that the main reason the elderly did not use the self-checkout was not because they were struggling with the interface of it. Rather, they were afraid of taking the first step by themselves. Therefore, my main proposal relied on supporting the elderly by designing a service that supports them in taking that first step and trying out the self-checkout.
The backbone of the self-checkout is the employee managing the area. Hence, the employee ought to create the security and support for the customers. First-time customers might need to be supported and in case of any problems the help needs to come fast and in a helpful manner. To ensure the latter, employees need to be thoroughly trained. In addition, events focused to elderly could be held to help them learn about the usage of the service.
Some changes were proposed to the user interface as well. The main problem was in the non-intuitive paying process. Buttons were with different styles and the navigation was not intuitive. In addition, the elderly tended to have a hard time checking their scanned items (they were keen on making sure the discounts are correct). I shortened the navigation by activating the paying process as soon as the method is chosen because the “Next” button went unnoticed 75% of the time.
The backbone of the self-checkout is the employee managing the area. Hence, the employee ought to create the security and support for the customers. First-time customers might need to be supported and in case of any problems the help needs to come fast and in a helpful manner. To ensure the latter, employees need to be thoroughly trained. In addition, events focused to elderly could be held to help them learn about the usage of the service.
Some changes were proposed to the user interface as well. The main problem was in the non-intuitive paying process. Buttons were with different styles and the navigation was not intuitive. In addition, the elderly tended to have a hard time checking their scanned items (they were keen on making sure the discounts are correct). I shortened the navigation by activating the paying process as soon as the method is chosen because the “Next” button went unnoticed 75% of the time.
Learnings
The biggest learning for me was making the shift from expecting the problem to be in the user interface rather than in the emotional side of needing support. Even though, the design principles and research was based on on changes like hearing and vision in relation to human-computer interaction, the whole process of ageing and the feeling of needing constant help or being a nuisance had a stronger impact on the decision making.
Secondly, working with a big corporate and covering all the touch points of a service that at first might seem straightforward taught me how to communicate and visualise my ideas and findings making my thoughts understandable to everyone.
Secondly, working with a big corporate and covering all the touch points of a service that at first might seem straightforward taught me how to communicate and visualise my ideas and findings making my thoughts understandable to everyone.
