Circle

When you load the website, the user is able to choose their language. If user prefers hearing the options, they can press the speaker icon.
Asking the user for microphone access, if they are more comfortable with speaking instead of typing to search.
Homepage to introduce Circle.
Scroll down from home screen to find different communities with different filters.
More "circles"
An example of a "circle" page.
If you scroll down, you can see the details for each circle.

Inspiration

We often find our grandparents looking for people with similar interests as them, but have a hard time finding these communities. We wanted to create a platform for senior citizens and elderly that helps them explore hobbies and activities while meeting new people. Websites usually have small steps to navigate through, making them complicated to use. To combat this problem we created a website that is easy to operate and saves time.

Purpose

Given the prompt "design a website experience for seniors and elderly", our goal was to design a website experience that allows senior citizens and the elderly to find their circle around their neighborhoods by exploring various interests.

Process

We built the website thinking about accessibility and user experience for senior citizens and elderly. The complicated steps, small text, and bright colors tend to overwhelm users and leave them feeling defeated. We focused on including features such as larger text, speech recognition, and text to speech, making it more approachable for the elderly.

Challenges

When considering the technological abilities of senior citizens, we had to avoid certain design choices to create a less complicated and easy user experience.

Accomplishments

We were able to effectively use our time to gather data on our target audience and platforms available within senior communities. After designing our website, we were also able to complete user research and receive positive feedback from 8 of our grandparents. Our grandparents collectively told us that they wished they were able to use our platform. We learned so much from designing Circle this weekend and are very proud of what we were able to create in a short time span.

Takeaways

Focus on user experience and accessibility when building solutions!
Communication is key while working as a team.
Learning how to collaborate with team members will allow space for more creativity and successful solutions.

What's Next For Circle?

We would love to be able to continue developing Circle and have it be accessible to users on the web! In the future, we wish to implement more features that offer extended activities and improve the user experience after receiving real-time feedback.

Thank you for providing a space for us to be creative thinkers!!