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Designing for the Life Span Segment 3

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Slide 40 of 74

[D]

Slide 40 Content

The opacity of the cornea alone...will defuse the figure/ground relationship of text. Contrast, color saturation and the sharpness of text are affected adversely in this comparison set of photos of a typical newspaper.

• Note that the figure ground relationship is more legible when the letters are larger. Text can fall off in legibility when in falls below the 12 point size.
• The stroke to width ratio is critical and should be maintained at a relationship of 6 to 1.
• Avoid unusual and hard-to-read typefaces. Serif type faces are easier to read in blocs of text, san-serif faces in block letter instructional or signage form.

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To perform tasks such as reading text, the human eye at 70 years of age requires three times as much light as the human eye at 25. Unfortunately, boosting the necessary illumination levels may also boost glare levels if appropriate lighting sources are not selected - along with the illumination sources as well. Fluorescent lighting has an imperceptible pulse and for some older adults, this lighting will wash out blue text.

Phone book type is a particular problem. Some phone books have used larger and bold type for names... an improvement. For computer users, getting a phone book on CD-ROM can be very helpful. However, while the digital divide is closing, the majority of older adults still do not possess computers.

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