ABSTRACT
This paper presents the results of a research project overlapping Ergonomics, Visual Communication Design, Printed Colour and Inclusive Design. The target group was older people, with the aim to develop of a set of research-based ageing-centered communication design recommendations for printed material. The project was divided in two phases: in the first one, we developed a literature review in the areas of color, older people issues and vision common diseases, and communication design; in the second phase we implemented an experiment to measure the different color experiences of the participants in sample groups (three in UK and other three in Portugal). For the work with the sample groups, we used printed material, to find out the colors one should use in analogical communication material, being aware of the color contrast importance (foreground versus background) and the difficulties experienced by older people in what concerns readability and legibility.
The experimental phase was composed of two parts: in the first part we didn’t measure de reactions of the participants, only using a video camera to report the sessions; in the second part we used eye-tracking, in a way to help us to understand the eyes movements and the efforts of each participant to read the cards.
The results of this research project were significant: we verified the outputs of the relevant literature in the different areas which were studied, as well as we identified constancy in the findings of the experiment, bringing new information for the knowledge in the area. This allowed us to develop a set of recommendations 598mainly for the graphic designers, when they have to design a new communicational project in a way this project can achieve vision comfort, readability and legibility, for everyone, including, this way, older people, among the different users.
