Design? Meet Research.

Alice Toth, Wednesday, May 30, 2007 @ 4:14 pm

A running discussions I have with my mom revolves around a cellphone: I think she should have one; she disagrees. I say it makes sense to carry one in case of emergencies; she says her regular phone is good enough for her. I say her regular phone doesn’t work in the car; she states that you shouldn’t talk and drive. Her logic defies a response.

But what I think she really dislikes about cell phones is that they’re just too complicated to use. When my mom looks at my phone, her first question is, well how would I know how to use it?  A valid point. She is accustomed to a landline -- you pick up the handset and there’s a dial tone (no, don’t even start -- she has no cordless phones). Her phone has raised buttons, not a flat touchpad, and these buttons contain numbers, not icons. (I have to admit, I don’t blame her about the icons. I couldn’t even begin to describe the icon on my phone to pick up a call -- it has no name. You have to train yourself as to its meaning.) What she really needs is a phone designed just for her.

Which brings me to the Jitterbug phone. It is made for people who are
not comfortable using the current crop of cell phones. The company’s
focus was to develop a product that would deliver a better experience
to older users. To that end, the company researched their target
audience in order to understand what would make them comfortable enough
to use this technology. Working closely with Samsung's industrial
designers, they incorporated their research findings into the product’s
design.

For example, when you flip the phone open you hear a dial tone. Right
away, the users are hearing something they expect which instills a
level of trust. Continuing on, the keypad numbers are very large and
they’re displayed on the screen in a large font size as well. No
squinting or fumbling for reading glasses required. And, instead of
using icons or menus, the interface presents a series of simple questions
(e.g.,do you want to check your voicemail), which the user answers with
the bold YES and NO buttons on the handset. And if you presed YES, it’s easier to listen
to the voice mail because the designers incorporated a soft rubber cup
around the earpiece to make the phone better for the hearing-impaired
to use.

Naturally the iPhone will revolutionize everything, but until that
product is actually delivered to market, I think I may have just found
the perfect phone for my mom.

user experience design

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