Designing for Elderly People-Ergonomics of Vision

When designers need to develop communication, interior, signage or urban environment design projects for elderly people, their skills are enhanced with studies about normal aging process and anatomic changes. The same way, knowledge about vision, colour vision, vision loss and deficient colour perception of older people, must be taken into account, in order to improve design practice. These aspects of projectual practice are the key aspects to be addressed in this paper. In order to prevent dependency and exclusion, designers have to understand and account for the reduced functional capabilities of older adults in their designs. Achieving project goals for this target group will ensure better solutions for all users. We hope that this work will support design professionals in their goal for 'design for all'. Bringing knowledge about colour vision deficits, and applying principles of visual ergonomics to projectual practice, will help people moving safely in urban environments, living comfortably in interior spaces, and reading all the visual printed information with minimum effort, which will improve their quality of life.