Designing digital
Learning through our ages
In the creation of digital tactics, we’re often faced with the question of usability. Designing so the user can actually use what we design — or the consideration of UX. Over time the concept has become gradually more popular, and whilst it is worrying it took us so long to consider who might actually use the digital pieces we develop, it is still a cracking way of considering how to simplify digital interactions in our lives.
Each age group has such a unique take on digital, based on their adoption and usage, which along with sweeping generalisations (sorry!), allows us to consider aspects of UX and digital design to learn from. Starting from the newborn, unaware of a time before smartphones and wearables/peripherals, the way we innately behave with technology can give us much more understanding than simply through a focus group.
“If you want to understand how a lion hunts don’t go to the zoo. Go to the jungle.” −Jim Stengel
For this article, I want to deliberately step away from the target customer because what I want to look at is wider technology. I am talking about the internet rather than a specific website or mobile technology rather than an app. Each of the below groups give us some learning about how technology should work and this is what I would like to delve into throughout this piece.
The Young Ones (0-8)
True digital natives and the most technology-intuitive of us all. They have been immersed in digital from the day they were born. This group has grown up to understand the fundamentals of life through digital. Communication, education, relationships, entertainment are all formed and maintained through digital. From their very earliest days they have got to grips with smartphones and tablets — to them, technology is child’s play.
For me, this group holds the most potential for understanding where we are going wrong. So in-tune with digital, they become frustrated and confused when the non-digital world fails to meet their expectations — why don’t the pictures in magazines change when swiped? Identifying these mismatches let’s us see where technology should expand.
The Talkers (9-22)
Born without the iPhone (just) but have had social media and smartphones for the majority of their lives. Much to their parents concern, they speak freely online about everything — trust me, I have carried out enough social media landscapes to know this age group will speak very candidly online.
Data protection is of little to no concern to them and because of this they will happily speak about anything, to anyone. We probably could have predicted the rise of IM and the likes of SnapChat or ChatRoulette, if we studied the patterns and style of communication held dear within this group.
The beauty of ephemeral messaging is not just that they are short-lived, but that they are fast-paced. They keep up with the speed of conversation. What we have left to learn also lies in this conversational communication and particularly, communication without barriers — instant conversation from between languages, countries and even formats (audio, text, video).
The Almost Natives (23-34)
Most likely discovered digital in the form of the Britannica Encyclopedia CD-ROM (used predominantly for the game) at the age of 9, after dabbling with some form of Vtech computer to learn algebra at the age of 6. They remember floppy discs to boot up computers and the dreaded dialing tone, but are by no means left dumbfounded by technology. Although didn't pick up an iPhone until late teens or early twenties, new technology can be easily elucidated within minutes of starting it up.
As a consequence of being one of the most widely involved audiences in digital design, they are the quickest to speak and be heard about inconvenience. Or perhaps that is the other way round — they are so involved in digital design as they are the quickest to speak up. Either way, they are an age obsessed by simplification and will prune ideas to perfection and sometimes to death.
They are also a group tirelessly spreading digital to the rest of our lives. They use digital for the sake of innovation and creativity. Start-ups and Kickstarter ideas dwell comfortably within this age group and as a consequence, it is this group that should listen most intently to the others.
The Digital Adopters (35-47)
By no means a digital native, but have adopted it relatively effortlessly. They watched avidly as digital became mainstream and witnessed the addition of the word ‘digital’ in front of entire departments and industries.
These were the people who were the first to contradict their bosses and say, “actually I think digital will become rather important”. Even though they missed out on the beauty of Wikipedia and Google in dissertation writing, they were part of the rise of emails — and as a consequence can’t stand them now!
From this group we learn how to improve the efficiency of digital, particularly in working applications. They know how the working world functioned before digital and understand how technology can be applied to make things easier and improve productivity.
The Dividers (48-65)
This is the group that is most difficult to categorise, because throughout there are two distinct forms. Some have adapted to digital easily and are probably most akin to ‘The Digital Adopter’. Others — like my mum — still require a step-by-step phone call on how to copy and paste a URL. She will work using Excel, but insist on completing the calculations with a calculator (despite setting the commands up for her). Although she owns an iPad, she refuses to cluster apps into folders making the whole experience more difficult to navigate. It makes no sense and you partially wonder whether she is doing it on purpose.
What we learn from this group is where comfort is more important than convenience. We are so wonderfully habitual that we can take some serious convincing to change even when it could save us time, effort and money. By focusing on these habitual activities we learn how digital can mirror how we behave already. Why shouldn't my mum use a calculator if she wants, as long as the result is automatically populated into the required cell?
The Less Young Ones (65+)
Within this group we have the gifted ‘silver surfer’ who is quite capable of online shopping and banking and enjoys the internet for the freedom of communication and connection it brings them. What we learn from them is really covered already by the other groups mentioned.
But then you also have people, like my quite fantastic Grandma, who will ring you, turn off her mobile and wonder why you didn't call back. This is a woman who was bought a mobile in circa 2002 with £20 credit on, and still has £16 left. Emoticons just aren't a thing, the internet barely exists and iPads and iPhones are completely magical.
We learn a very important lesson here — connection to the real world. If avatars allow younger groups to have a digital presence in a digital world, this group teaches us how to retain the essence of humanity in an era that is increasingly digital. We learn when we should step away from our technology and just let our world, and ourselves, be naturally phenomenal.
Learning through our ages
Throughout all of these ages we can learn so much and it is by combining this knowledge that we learn the most. It does not come down to one single group, but the collaboration of all. The brilliance of digital is that if it is created smartly and logically, it can be something to everyone. We shouldn't need to design in elements of accessibility for any one specific group because if there are groups that can’t use a piece of digital then it simply isn't built properly. By designing in this way, we push digital to keep up with human developments and demands — and not the other way round.
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