The world population is ageing. At both the individual and collective levels, ageing causes several changes in people's lives that influence their needs and the way in which they interact with products. This chapter aims first, to provide a literature review on different aspects of ageing in order to better understand how people will respond to products as they grow older. Second, it describes how the physical and cognitive decline of older users increases rather than decreases the need to focus on all aspects of their experience, including their physical, sensory, cognitive and affective responses. Having considered these issues, suggestions are made in order that designers might best focus their attention as they design for a population that is rapidly ageing, and where members of that population are encouraged to maintain full participation in society.@en

People are living longer and the world population is ageing. At the individual level, ageing leads to functional losses and causes behavioural changes. These phenomena affect product experience on its four levels of response - physical, sensory, cognitive and affective. Unless design takes account of these changes, the quality of experience is compromised. To explore the influence of ageing on product experience a study was carried out with younger and older adults. The findings indicate that older adults had more difficulty understanding how to use products such as computers and mobile telephones. The older adults also tended to develop a less positive relationship with such products and consequently technology was less integrated into their lives. Overall, the study suggests that, with respect to product functionality, the two groups have different needs and expectations. This influences not only their product experiences, but also the extent to which technology is accepted and adopted.@en