Product Physical Interface Design Characteristics for Older Adults with Hand Use Limitations

Abstract

This study is part of a larger research project addressing the problem of physical interface design for older populations with hand use limitations. Taking jar lids as the example of a product interface design problem provided a focus for the study; the research goal is to systematically evaluate jar lid design ideas that were collected from the prior phase of the study, by means of controlled laboratory testing. Eighteen older females with hand problems participated in the study. A subjective evaluation process was applied to quantitatively examine how different lid design characteristics affected each user’s perception of effort and discomfort. The main effect of each lid design characteristic and the interactions between them were explored. The result showed that the medium lid designs (42 mm in diameter) that were perceived as the best were the ones with a tall height, a hexagonal top shape, and a convex side shape; the best small lids (28 mm in diameter) were the designs with a tall height and a hexagonal top shape. There was no significant difference in perceived ratings between the texture conditions.