The iPad. It’s new. It’s great. And it’s a great design experience that is likely to thrill and delight your grandmother … and you. It’s a stellar example of what designers need to consider when creating systems for older users, not really everyone, from fun-giving systems to medical devices. Designing for discerning baby boomers is about more than ease of use, more than function, it’s delivering it all in one package with a promise and a bow.
Observers will dispute the pros and cons of the iPad against Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Nobles’ Nook, and Sony’s Reader. Let them face a duel over which is the best tablet-like device in the coming months. Instead of discussing what could be best in its class, take a moment to see what the iPad includes in a package. As with most innovations, it is not necessarily “new” that sets a product apart from the competition, but how well it integrates a variety of factors that are fresh, familiar and functional to the user. Elegantly, Apple’s iPad is truly a combination of “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue” that provides a design and functionality experience that is likely to please both older and younger users.
Something ancient: the bride’s poem begins with something ancient: the promise of continuity. Many expect the innovation to be a clear break from the past. The challenge of a company is to innovate without leaving the consumer behind. Moving too fast than the consumer understands can result in a user impact that slows down product adoption. Older users are more experienced than younger buyers and use that experience to frame expectations, determine what makes sense, and decide what the true value is.
The iPad uses the familiar to deliver news. An example is the iBooks app on the iPad. iBooks cleverly uses the touch screen interface, while linking to the familiar: the turning of the page. Whether dragging a finger from the middle or a virtual pull from the corner, the user can experience something new while anchoring the experience to a mental model in the past: the paper page. More than a nice feature, it offers the familiar, guiding the user without leaving it.
Something New: ‘New’ in both marriage and technology is a promise of optimism and hope. The iPad certainly offers a new design and high technology that fits comfortably in the hands of users. Unlike the models offered by the competition, the iPad offers full color and the ability to customize fonts and focus, making it easy to age boom eyes from any angle, from sitting on the couch to lying comfortably under the summer sun.
Something Borrowed: The bride borrows something from another happily married couple in the hope that her good luck will come to her marriage. Which family is better to borrow than Apple? Apple’s iPod has set the standard, and now the expectation, for unlimited access to entertainment and applications that fill the imagination. In addition, the Apple family can promise that a global community of ‘programming creatives’ will continue to develop something new by making the purchase more than a device, but a dynamic service experience.
Something Blue: Blue has been a traditional color associated with weddings for centuries. Blue symbolizes fidelity and true love. More than a design element than a promise, Apple brings a halo to any product it launches. Apple has become more than just a brand, but a brand of love: a company that regularly delivers beyond the buyer’s highest expectations.
The Apple iPad is a good device. The observations here are not to predict how it will compete with other tablet-like devices, but to highlight it as an example of excellence in integrating design form, functionality, and promise, making it a lesson in technology and design. for product developers of all consumers. -In front of companies.