Darcy Ummels

(Re)design of a user ‐ friendly interface andevaluation of experiences in daily life | 83 4 Discussion The aim of this study was twofold. The first aim was to (re)design a user ‐ friendly interface of an existing activity tracker so that it would meet the requirements of elderly individuals. Within the (re)design process of the MOX, three aspects were (re)designed: (1) the shape and clip of the activity tracker, (2) the feedback provided on the activity tracker itself, and (3) the additional feedback provided through the app. Furthermore, a list of general design requirements that facilitate the development of technology for the elderly was developed. The iterative character of the user ‐ centred approach enabled access to a deeper level of user understanding and thereby facilitated the development of a user ‐ friendly activity tracker, which in turn increases the likelihood that elderly individuals will have a meaningful experience with the tracker. The second aim of this study was to assess the use and experiences of the elderly regarding the adapted activity tracker (MISS activity) in their daily life. The results of this study show that participants found the MISS activity to be easy to use, needed limited help when installing the tracker, and thought that anyone should, in principle, be able to use it. The MISS activity was primarily used to gain insight into participants ’ physical activity levels, and the data it collected was checked multiple times each day through the app. The most important distinction between this tracker and others is that elderly individuals experienced the MISS activity as easy to use; they perceived practically no imbalance between their technical knowledge and the complexity of the MISS activity. In several other studies in which elderly individuals used commercially available activity trackers, participants experienced the trackers as technically complex and sensed that they were ill ‐ suited not fitted for them. 10 ‐ 16 Limitations and strengths This study contains several strengths and limitations that should be addressed. One strength of this study is its user ‐ centred design. The goal of user ‐ centred design is to create a usable system that contributes to meaningful user experience. To achieve this, (early) involvement of the end ‐ user is indispensable 47 , and offers several benefits, such as a swifter acceptance of the user ‐ interface, the capacity for users to identify problems specific to them, and the capacity for users to help define the scope of a project. 47 In this study, several methods have been used – interviews, observations, and usability testing 48 – to achieve a deeper understanding of the specific wishes and requirements of the elderly. Given that a plethora of commercially available activity trackers already exists, a further strength of this study is the fact that it improved an existing activity tracker for a specific