Designing poker time: Older people as fixpartners in a co-design process

Abstract

An effective way to involve older people in design is to include them as equally important partners in co-design practices. This paper illustrates how students applied design knowledge and interaction skills to collaborate with older people to fix their real life problem. It was found that many older people have specific needs of communication, which depend heavily on their lifestyle and preferences. The design solution tackled the entertainment and communication issues for an old couple, through creating a better experience of their everyday poker time. Older people played an active role in the project and contributed positively to the final solution. It concludes that working with older people as design partners could lead to better products that are more appropriate for them.