Designing Technology for an Aging Population
Towards Universal Design
- 2nd Edition - April 1, 2026
- Latest edition
- Authors: Jeff Johnson, Kate Finn
- Language: English
Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population: Towards Universal Design, Second Edition explores the unique needs of older adults in today’s digital landscape. The authors exam… Read more
Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population: Towards Universal Design, Second Edition explores the unique needs of older adults in today’s digital landscape. The authors examine this demographic’s wide-ranging sensory, cognitive, physical, and emotional characteristics, connecting each to the challenges and opportunities older users face with technology. Backed by hundreds of global research studies, the book provides actionable design guidelines to enhance satisfaction and usability for seniors. Updated to reflect the latest advances in AI, robotics, and speech recognition, it offers fresh examples and case studies to keep designers informed about emerging trends.
Beyond demographics and design principles, the book highlights common pitfalls in technology that can reduce accessibility for older adults. It discusses strategies for involving seniors directly in research and design, ensuring their voices shape digital innovation. The authors emphasize that older users remain underserved and often overlooked in technology studies, urging designers to broaden their approach. By addressing these gaps, the book helps professionals create more inclusive interfaces that better serve a rapidly growing segment of the technology-using population.
Beyond demographics and design principles, the book highlights common pitfalls in technology that can reduce accessibility for older adults. It discusses strategies for involving seniors directly in research and design, ensuring their voices shape digital innovation. The authors emphasize that older users remain underserved and often overlooked in technology studies, urging designers to broaden their approach. By addressing these gaps, the book helps professionals create more inclusive interfaces that better serve a rapidly growing segment of the technology-using population.
- Illustrates the process of conducting research on age-related technology
- Offers general guidelines/best practice of working with actual older adults
- Includes several real-world case studies presented by lead researchers or project developers of recent projects
Graduate students and other researchers in the fields of aging, accessibility, disability, HCI, and age-related differences in degree of technological acceptance/adoption
1. Introduction
2. Meet Some Older Adults
3. Vision
4. Motor Control
5. Hearing and Speech
6. Cognition
7. Knowledge
8. Search
9. Attitude
10. Working With Older Adults
11. Case Studies
12. Summary and Conclusions
2. Meet Some Older Adults
3. Vision
4. Motor Control
5. Hearing and Speech
6. Cognition
7. Knowledge
8. Search
9. Attitude
10. Working With Older Adults
11. Case Studies
12. Summary and Conclusions
- Edition: 2
- Latest edition
- Published: April 1, 2026
- Language: English
JJ
Jeff Johnson
Jeff Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of San Francisco. He is also a principal at Wiser Usability, a consultancy focused on elder usability. After earning B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale and Stanford, he worked as a UI designer, implementer, manager, usability tester, and researcher at Cromemco, Xerox, US West, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun. He has taught at Stanford, Mills, and the University of Canterbury. He is a member of the ACM SIGCHI Academy and a recipient of SIGCHI's Lifetime Achievement in Practice Award. He has authored articles on a variety of topics in HCI, as well as the books GUI Bloopers (1st and 2nd eds.), Web Bloopers, Designing with the Mind in Mind (1st and 2nd eds.), Conceptual Models: Core to Good Design (with Austin Henderson), and Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population (with Kate Finn).
Affiliations and expertise
President and Principal Consultant, UI Wizards, Inc., USAKF
Kate Finn
Kate Finn has worked on user interfaces and usability since 1983. After obtaining her Ph.D. in Computational Linguistics from Georgetown University, she conducted research on natural language understanding systems and automated speech recognition. She was at SRI International for 6 years, where she designed and developed prototypes of graphical user interfaces for sophisticated intelligence systems. Since SRI, she has worked as an independent usability consultant, primarily on websites. She organized several workshops on Video-Mediated Communication, and was the lead editor on the book Video-Mediated Communication. She obtained a Certificate in Gerontology to better understand the unique capabilities and needs of older users. Currently Kate is co-founder and CEO of Wiser Usability, Inc. (wiserusability.com). She also blogs about design, aging, and technology at kate-finn.com.
Affiliations and expertise
Co-founder and CEO, Wiser Usability, Inc., USA