Keywords

1 Background

1.1 Social Background: Ageing and Urbanization

1.1.1 Ageing

According to statistics, when the global population reached 7 billion in 2012,562 million (or 8.0%) were aged 65 and over. In 2015, 3 years later, the older population rose by 55 million and the proportion of the older population reached 8.5% of the total population [3]. Ageing is a global challenge we face together. Asia stands out as the population giant. Take China as an example, the population aged 60 and above reached 222 million in 2015, accounting for 16.15% of the total population. By 2020, the elderly population is expected to reach 248 million, with an aging population of 17.17% [4]. These findings indicate the importance of developing the pension industry and designing relevant products and services.

1.1.2 Urbanization

China’s urbanization is fast, from 1979 to 1992, the urbanization rate increased from 18.96% to 27.46%. From 1993 to 1992, the figure increased from 27.9% to 39.09%. In 2015, the total population of China (mainland) is 1374.62 million. Among them, the permanent urban resident population is 771.6 million (or 56.10%) [5]. In all types of cities, it can be roughly divided into three categories: big cities, small cities and new urban areas. The birth of new urban areas dates back to The Garden City Theory (Howard, 1898) and The Satellite City Theory (Ewen, 1922), is the result of the expansion of big cities, refers to those small new cities that has just developed along with relatively complete public infrastructure along with modern lifestyle. However, the speed and quality of urbanization in China is lack of coordination. The speed of urbanization lags behind the demand of rural residents to integrate into modern urban civilization [6]. As more and more people become residents of new urban areas, among which old people become a big part of it. And in this case, it is a huge challenge for modern industry and social development.

1.2 Seniors and Intelligent Products

1.2.1 Physiological Features of Seniors

The elderly were slow in movement and learning, and their operating ability and reaction speed were reduced, combined with impaired memory and loss of cognitive function, their self-care ability of daily living gradual declines. Dimming eyesight and failing hearing can reduce physical, functional, emotional, and social well-being. Visual and hearing impairments decrease independence in performing the activities of daily living, getting from place to place, or communicating with others [7]. Besides, memory loss plays an important part in the process of ageing. Luckily, the memory decline of the elderly is not a total recession, but a partial decline, mainly in the long term memory, mechanical memory and reappearance of memory decline faster. What’s more, some old people have poor coordination in motor coordination, which has made it difficult for them to operate sophisticated products. Therefore, in the product design for the elderly, the function partition should be obvious, and the size of the button should be larger, so as to reduce the probability of misoperation.

1.2.2 Psychological Features of Seniors

Loneliness and dependence are the two main characteristics of senior citizens. Loneliness means that the elderly cannot consciously adapt to the surrounding environment, lacking or unable to carry out meaningful thoughts and emotional exchanges. Loneliness can be easily turned to depression and anxiety. Dependence refers to the elderly’s lack of confidence, passive obedience, emotional vulnerability, hesitancy, shrinking, etc., they tend to rely on others to do everything, including making their own decisions. Long-term dependence on the mind can lead to emotional instability and sensory degeneration. Luckily, research found that emotional support between the elderly and their children is an important factor in the mental health study of the elderly, which is more likely to inhibit the growth of depression in the elderly than economic support and household chores [8].

1.2.3 The Penetration of Intelligent Televisions

With the development of information and technology, lots of intellectualized and interactive products continue to emerge. However, people who used to live in countryside cannot fit the modern products very well in a short time, especially among old people. This is embodied in their daily life, such as usage of intelligent products, experience of modern services and so on. A significant number of senior citizens worldwide watch televisions for daily entertainment. There are around 423 million TV users in China, among which, the penetration rate of intelligent TV users is close to 60%, mainly distributed in the urban areas and towns covered by network [9]. Old people are loyal users of watching television, however, older people who live in new urban areas are more or less trapped in the use of intelligent television. Most of the intelligent televisions on the market do not meet the ergonomic requirements, especially for the most target group–the elderly. The buttons are numerous and the interface layers are nested. It is difficult for ordinary people to use them, not to mention old people. Thus this subject is worthy to be studied carefully.

2 Methods

2.1 Aim

In this project, based on the combination of ‘5W2H analysis’ and ‘participatory design’, in the form of ‘questionnaire survey’ and ‘in-depth survey’, developed a rough ‘3E’(Easy and Efficient for the Elderly) Model for the elderly (≥60 years) in new urban areas, in order to help them (better) interact with intelligent television. The model was also designed to support television business and manufacturing in preparing their products with elderly patients. An overarching aim of the project was to develop ‘3E’ model in a participatory way to increase usability and satisfaction. This paper describes the basic framework and usage process of this model, how to apply this method into the product designing and interface optimizing and the lessons learned during this process.

To be specific, the application ‘5W2H analysis’ involve 7 aspects (who-the elderly who live in new urban areas, in small cities and in big cities; what-behavior of using intelligent television, such as the use habit of remote control and understanding of the various functions of TV screens; when-when they use intelligent television; where-their own house; why-current products and relevant services are not good enough to satisfy their needs; how-analyze and figure out their true needs and propose practical suggestions; how much-make sure they can use intelligent televisions easily and enhance their sense of happiness), ‘5W2H analysis’ was invented by the U.S. Army Ordnance Repair Division in World War II, it is simple and convenient to use, easy to understand, and full of rich enlightenment, now been widely used in enterprise management, technical activities and decision-making. In this study, it was used not only to complete investigation and analysis, but to make up for the consideration of design activities. Secondly, the concept of ‘participatory design’ originated in the Nordic countries in the 1960s. Nowadays, it refers to, at the different stages of the innovation process, all interested parties are invited to work with designers, researchers, developers, to define problems, products, solutions, and the positioning of the assessment [10]. In this study, 5 specific interviewees from three different cities were asked to be observed and interviewed thoroughly in the process of using intelligent television. In addition to the accurate, in-depth investigation, extensive questionnaire survey also provided data support for the establishment of the model.

2.2 Participants and Requirement

In this project, 150 questionnaires were distributed equally in three groups, old people (≥60 years) who live in new urban areas (e.g. partial areas in Maanshan), in small cities (e.g. Wuhu) and in big cities (e.g. Guangzhou). 5 specific interviewees were from 3 different areas, 3 in Maanshan, 1 in Wuhu and 1in Guangzhou. Maanshan is a typical case of urbanization development, many places have experienced a shift from rural to urban areas. In these new urban areas, many older people just have intelligent television in their homes. Wuhu, as a third-tier city with less population, is a small city for investigate. The penetration rate of smart TV is general. While Guangzhou, is a typical big city, its intelligent television penetration rate ranked first with 97.3% [11]. These 5 specific interviewees in three different cities were deeply analyzed in the aspect of usage behavior characteristics and specific needs.

3 Case Study

3.1 Basic Questionnaire Survey Description

150 questionnaires were distributed equally in three groups, the recovered valid questionnaire was 117 copies, effectiveness is 78.00%. The results of behavior of personal information and watching TV are shown in the Tables 1 and 2 below.

Table 1. Personal information among the three groups.
Full size table
Table 2. Behavior of personal information and watching TV among the three groups.
Full size table

The result shows that: (1) There are little differences among the elderly in new urban areas, in small cities and in big cities both physically and mentally. (2) There is an obvious tendency of the elderly to use intelligent televisions. (3) There is no obvious regional difference among all the groups, they are all willing to use intelligent TV. (4) A positive correlation exists between using smart devices like smart phone and using of intelligent function of TV. (5) Watching TV longer does not increase the frequency of using intelligent functions of TV.

If the questionnaire was used independently to test the user satisfaction, the results may not be comprehensive enough, and there may be large or small errors. Thus five examples are selected for deeper investigation, in this part, ‘5W2H analysis’ was introduced to the comprehensive description of the whole process of watching intelligent television (Table 3).

Table 3. Basic personal information about 5 specific interviewees.
Full size table

3.2 Existing Problem Analysis

As the most important home entertainment equipment of the past, television’s position is being threatened by the Internet gradually. But as an important part of domestic life, television will not disappear, at least not soon. In this field, there are some phenomena worth exploring.

Despite the rapid development of intelligent television, due to the lack of unified intelligent television standards and different TV interfaces [12], it is hard to get old people to learn and use them well. If a unified and universal operation system was adopted, the learning time and difficulty of intelligent television will be reduced.

In the use of intelligent television, there is one particular phenomenon need to pay attention to. In China, many families are lived in the type of young people and old people, young people accept the new knowledge and learn new things quickly. Almost everyone is equipped with a mobile phone, some even have two or three mobile phones. It’s easy for them to use intelligent television, however, they tend to watch TV shows on mobile phones or on the Internet, so they seldom watch TV. On the other hand, some old people tend to have strong desires to use intelligent television, but due to their own and external factors, TVs intelligence function are not being used properly and thoroughly.

By digging deeper, it is not difficult to find television users have been used to their own habits for years. It takes time to adapt to the transition from ordinary TV to intelligent TV. The use of intelligent TV can be very tricky than ordinary TV sets. For example, there are several key issues affecting the user experience such as shifting delay and playing buffer. These are caused by the defects of existing technical levels. However, we can reduce the user’s dissatisfaction by other means. Borrow another example from a high-tech restaurant in Ginza, Japan, an animation of AR synthesis is played in the process of waiting. The anxiety of waiting has been greatly reduced, and it completely changed the traditional restaurant business model.

Back to the current situation of intelligent TV usage in China, an awkward situation can be concluded, that is, ‘Young people don’t watch intelligent TV, old people can’t watch intelligent TV’. To find out what exactly hinder older people from using intelligent television, ‘5W2H analysis’ was used to depict existing situations and problems (Table 4).

Table 4. The ‘5W2H analysis’ about 5 specific interviewees.
Full size table

3.3 Design Points Analysis

Through the above investigation and research, the whole process of watching intelligent television is generally described. It helped to find out design problems existing in contemporary intelligent televisions and consumers’ expectations of them. It can be demonstrated by the following design points list, so that the foundation for the later models can be laid (Table 5).

Table 5. Design problems and consumers’ expectations of intelligent television.
Full size table

4 ‘3E’Model

4.1 Build Model

4.1.1 First Iteration

‘3E’, known as Easy and Efficient for the Elderly, is a model built to better study the behavior of using intelligent television among the elderly. It aims at not only providing practical advice on improving user’s satisfaction but constructing a theoretical framework for iterative innovation design method. In the first place, the model was based on the social background of aging and intelligence, along with physiological features and psychological features of seniors, behavior of using intelligent television. Then select the appropriate model for reference on this project. A theoretical model of special product design for the elderly has great reference value in the development of ‘3E’Model. The model includes the ‘Influencing affecting factors—design theory induction—inspection & evaluation’ mode, which shows inducing process and key content of theory of special product design for the elderly [13]. In this article, more attention was paid to the actual users’ experience and enterprises’ production reference, so that it can carry out more succinctly and efficiently. First, the model was built in the form of ‘Affecting factors—Design theories—Evaluation’.

The first part is background analysis, which has been divided into social background, industry background and user’s personal background. They can provide strategic support and motivation for the development of products and industries.

The second part is theoretical part, as for the elderly product design and intelligent product design, a lot of design methods and principles can be found, and the design processes are varied. It is difficult to design a theory that can take all the details that need to be considered at the same time. But building a basic framework that has more flexible space to adapt the change of different situations is feasible.

The third and final part is the evaluation section, including design methods and design realization.

According to the research information from charts before, the first version of ‘3E’Model was been established (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
figure 1

First version of ‘3E’Model

Full size image

The first version of ‘3E’Model basically expounds three aspects of product design for the elderly, but for this article, it needs to make appropriate adjustment, in the hope of giving more theoretical guidance meaning and providing more suggestions on practical usage and manufacture.

4.1.2 Second Iteration

After the collision of various design propositions and absorb the experts’ opinions in this field. Combined with the target group’s real needs, more specific details were raised. The idea to involve their users into this iterative designing process, can also provide a new perspective for design thinking among the elderly and saving the awkward situation of current behavior of using TV.

In addition, when it comes to the related design of intelligent product design, this model further refined the framework, and implanted the requirement points concluded of the previous paper, in order to form a more substantial and more effective framework (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
figure 2

Second version of ‘3E’Model

Full size image

4.2 Discussion

The ‘3E’Model now includes the ‘Background—Theory—Execute’ mode, combining with the methods of participatory research, it is not just a matter of principle-making framework, it is more of a question-inspirational guidebook. Along with the actual demand points proposed in the case study part, a more objective and perfect description of the behavior of the elderly using intelligent television.

5 Conclusion

Based on social ground of ageing, intelligence and urbanization, this paper researched the behavior of using intelligent television among the elderly in new urban areas, in small cities and in big cities. Through the application 5W2H design method and in-depth research, combined with participatory design, a rough model –‘3E Model’ was built. It can help find out existing problems and users’ real needs and their wishes when using intelligent televisions. Also, it aims at providing meaningful references and theoretical foundations for entrepreneurs, markets and relevant departments in this field.

However, the defect is still evident, more research need to be done. For example, differences among the elderly in new urban areas, in small cities and in big cities are easily can be seen through the chart, differences among the elderly who live alone, who live with their spouses and who live with their children should be analyzed too. While in the building process of ‘3E Model’, more details and practical tests could be added.

From a perspective of business, this study provides an open framework to meet the requirements of product design and industry development. While from a perspective of academic, it built a theoretic foundation to tackle the challenge of intelligent product design among elderly users.