Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
of familiarity or proficiency. When designing for seniors it may be necessary to use
simple technology that requires a minimum of concentration to use. Think about the
mobile phones presented earlier in this chapter (pp. 29-30): for the older market a
larger keypad with simple functions was employed, which made the equipment easy
to use and the audience less fearful of the technology. Conversely, a younger gener-
ation often embrace new forms of technology and equipment and are happy to learn
different techniques to retrieve information; they have less fear of the equipment.
One Laptop Per Child project
A good example of designing an interface appropriate for a specific audience is
design agency Pentagram's work with the One Laptop Per Child project. This initiat-
ive aims to provide durable, low-power $100 laptops to children all over the world.
The goal is for children in developing countries to learn about new technology. The
laptop's interface has to be universal and so uses an icon-based 'zoom' system to
communicate. This interface, called Sugar, was developed by Lisa Strausfeld, Chris-
tian Marc Schmidt and Takaaki Okada. It is easy for children to use and has four main
categories to navigate: Home, Friends, Neighbourhood and Activity. All the functions
are contained within these categories. The laptop is not as complicated as a standard
PC, but allows many of the same functions and networking capabilities. Friends and
Neighbourhood show which other users the laptop is connected to and arranges them
around their current activities. Home shows the user's activities, such as drawings,
texts and photographs. The challenge of the project was to develop an interface that
multiple users could relate to and understand. It also needed some degree of freedom,
such as assigning colours to Friends. The resulting software uses simplified icons to
signify features and so does not rely heavily on the use of written text to navigate.
The project has been running since 2007, and so far 2 million children have received
laptops.
