Most technology is not tailored for seniors and/or people with disabilities and their different needs, which creates several life-impacting challenges for this demographic.
On a physical level, touch screens can be hard to use, reduced mobility can mean difficulty trying to reach or handle a device, small screens might be hard to see and user interfaces can be overwhelming and hard to navigate.
From a mental perspective, what is second nature to those who grew up using smartphones, tablets and other tech remains a very hard-to-adopt concept to those who did not. Tech among the elderly is also frequently met with skepticism, frustration and a feeling of intimidation.
This gap in ability to utilize technology effectively can have enormous implications for one’s life. This often means decreased communication with family and friends. Everyday tasks like paying bills and accessing home services become foreign. The conveniences many enjoy like online shopping are not taken advantage of. This demographic can also begin to feel very out of touch without easy access to digital news sources or other media.
- Describe a specific pain point that the elderly and/or disabled people experience when it comes to technology. Feel free to reference someone in your life who may struggle with this pain point.
- Explain how this pain point negatively affects their daily lives
- How could a printer, scanner, or projector be used, augmented or modified to alleviate this pain point?
- Get creative! This could include a new user interface, a new service, a new hardware/device or upgrade to a current one, etc.
- How would the end user interact with your idea and what would be the ultimate output (ex. news displayed via a projector device, messages sent to a home printer from family, etc.)?
- (OPTIONAL) Feel free to include an artistic rendering (sketch, mockup, design, etc.) to demonstrate your idea and/or how a consumer would interact with it.
Challenge Prize:
$800
Deadline:
22 February 2023
