“I have managed to get this coffee with a square lid. I preferred my old brand, but at least this means I can make my own drinks”
I was on fieldwork for a research project, and one of the respondents, Judy, was showing me what she considered to be the most important parts of her home. Judy suffers from arthritis, and as she showed me the jars in her fridge with lids balanced on top so she can open them again, and the lidless tubes of cosmetics in her bedroom, flattened and messy because she has to squeeze them against the dresser with her fist, I was annoyed. I was annoyed by the huge mistake businesses consistently make by not designing for usability for all ages and abilities. More than that, I wanted to start a new coffee brand right there and then, one that offered Judy the sustainably sourced, medium roast coffee she loves, and also let her open the jar herself.
It is estimated that between 2015 and 2030 the world’s population of over 60s will almost double from 12% to 22%, and the same age group is expected to generate half of all urban consumption growth in that same timeframe. There is no doubt that for businesses there is something interesting happening here. Yet so far brands still often fail people like Judy, forcing her to drink a coffee she doesn’t like and to use cosmetics in a way they weren’t intended, fuelling a sense of exclusion, because brands are either designing specifically for older people, or they’re excluding them altogether, and neither is good enough.
Businesses are rightly tentative about looking at 60+ consumers as an ‘older’ target group, as this is full of potentially hazardous backfires. The three key mistakes we have seen in our research when businesses try to create for older consumers are:
- Designing for people who aren’t like us. But in fact, almost nobody considers themselves old. As said by Bernard Baruch, “old age is always fifteen years older than I am”, and we have seen this to hold true time and again in our research at IIAB. If nobody considers themselves to be old, then your target market doesn’t exist.
- Designing as if for an inevitable decline. People want to be offered aspiration, not desperation. Products and services traditionally targeting older people have often directly targeted fears like failing health – these are likely to be loaded with stigma and our research sees them being rejected whenever possible, no matter how functional. Worse still, such messaging can feed into a negative feedback loop that actually contributes to failing health.
- Thinking of a homogenous group. The older we grow to be, the more refined and individual we become as people. The idea of trying to understand a single truth about people because they are over 60 becomes ridiculous, especially when you compare it to an attempt to understand 20-60-year olds as one group.
A clear first step is for businesses to design positively with and for older people. One way to do this is to take an age-neutral approach that includes and celebrates people of all ages and rejects the idea of youth being the only age worth aspiring to. This means including a wider scope of ages and abilities when researching and designing to ensure relevance and usability for people of all ages, and thereby ensuring Judy can drink her coffee of choice. An alternative is to confront negative age-based narratives and turn them on their heads, targeting older people directly and with a positive communication around older age; like the wisdom, confidence and sense of self we can all aspire to. This works for some brands like Tena, but businesses should beware of reinforcing outdated stereotypes. Both of these approaches, if done well, ensure older people are able to relate to and use your brand, product, service, or building. But they still don’t offer Judy the coffee she really wants.
Relevance and usability are basic aspects of successful design. To really succeed in targeting older people, businesses would do better to acknowledge that age does not, and never has, helped us to understand the most important and interesting parts of other people – our values, our interests, our loves. You simply don’t gain any meaningful insight about someone by knowing their age. The real opportunity for businesses lies in transcending age, understanding people and connecting with them on a deeper level, and enabling them to be their aspirational version of themselves. Ensure you have an age-inclusive strategy and then focus on finding out what it is that people aspire to – give Judy the option of drinking her favourite Fairtrade, medium roast coffee as a life-long customer.
Businesses designing ‘for older people’ not only miss an opportunity to connect with people on a more meaningful level, but they reinforce a concept that distances us from one another. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could all depend on being surrounded by products and services that align with our values and identity as we age, and allow us to be the powerful, individual, independent people we all want to be throughout our lives?
If you're interested in finding out what this means for your business, reach out to katey@isitabird.dk.
