Texture Icons for Seniors’ Ease

Ecommerce via smartphones benefits sellers when options are presented which are easy for shoppers to understand and quick to choose among. We might think that a way to do this is to design icons on the screen as simple two-dimensional graphics, each icon clearly representative of the action a tap triggers.
     Studies at China’s Chongqing University do support this practice, but with a significant exception: As contrasted with those who are younger, older adults complete smartphone transactions better and are more comfortable when icons which represent options during the shopping are skeuomorphic, not flat. Skeuomorphic design uses textures, shadows, and highlights to portray depth, and this adds to the ease of recognition. The seniors want concrete rather than abstract representations. Younger adults learn to use the system faster with skeuomorphic than with flat representations. However, once they’ve learned, they prefer the simpler flat icons. This preference does not generally hold for older adults.
     Seniors seek simplicity. Flat icons are simpler than the three-dimensional skeuomorphic icons with all their textures, shadows, and highlights. But for seniors, the importance of simplicity in recognizing and remembering what each icon does outweighs the importance of simple icon design.

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