Designing Mobile-based Chat Application for Elderly

Technology development has been very rapid, and the users are diverse, ranging from small children to the elderly. The thing most often used today in technology is a smartphone for entertainment or productivity. However, not all people can follow the existing trends due to physical or cognitive conditions, especially for elder people. It is known that with increasing age, motor and cognitive functions begin to decrease, which can affect the use of applications/smartphones. In this study, several universal design principles will be tested to determine whether these principles can be applied to mobile applications specifically for the elderly. Quantitative and qualitative methods, based on task time and input from respondents on each task, will be used to conclude whether the above principles can help. From this study, it can be concluded that there are principles that can help the elderly use applications such as large button sizes, but some are not due to the habits of the elderly or other external factors.