Abstract
When designing innovations for the silver age, it is not sufficient to discover old people’s needs only. In addition, one also has to discover old peoples’ new roles as consumers, citizens and innovators. Since these are people who until recently have been given few opportunities to make their voices heard, there is a need for methods that identify their needs and demands. More importantly, we need to study and use methods that reveal the sources of innovations behind their expressed problems and lifelong habits as users of technology. Three attempts to identify old people’s needs and demands by involving them in the design process are presented, drawn from design projects implemented in Sweden from 2005 to 2009. One project explores how the furniture market can be opened to new segments of older consumers. Another project concerns the development of services. The third project links older people's lifelong habit of watching TV to the development of communication via the television medium. The results were analyzed from two points of view: How do we recognise a need that can be explored in design? When discovered, how do we know that this is a worthwhile need to explore? The first attempt shows that older people can present needs as active users with expressed and specific demands; the second attempt shows that older users can have a need to support the solution to problems which are not yet expressed and activated; and the third attempt shows them as users with latent needs that originate from their lifelong experiences, and needs to keep up with daily routines.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
B. Östlund, Design Paradigms and Misunderstood Technology: The Case of Older Users, in Young Technologies in Old Hands – An International View on Senior Citizen’s Utilization of ICT, ed. by B. Jeager (DJØF Publishing, Copenhagen, 2005)
C. Raasch, C. Herstatt, P. Lock, The dynamics of user innovation: Drivers and impediments of innovation activities. Int. J. Innovat. Manage. 12(3), 377–398 (2008)
C. Herstatt, E. von Hippel, From experience: Developing new product concepts via the lead user method. J. Product Innov. Manage. 9(3), 213–222 (1992)
M.E. Porter, The Competitive Advantage of Nations (Free Press, New York, USA, 1998)
E. von Hippel, Democratizing Innovation (MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA, 2005)
B.S. Turner, Ageing and Generational Conflicts: a reply to Sarah Erwin. Br. J. Sociol. 49(2), 299–304 (1998). London School of Economics, London
P. Laslett, A Fresh Map of Life. The Emergence of the Third Age (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, 1991)
O. Jonsson, Hur kan personer i “den tredje åldern” involveras i projektet PLUS-produkter för att skapa ny kunskap och bättre design av möbler? [How to involve people in “the third age” in the project PLUS-products to improve knowledge and design of furnitures?] Examination paper, Karlstad University Sweden, 2009
O. Jonsson, E. Dahlbom, L. Sperling, Användares upplevelser av Plusvärden hos sittmöbler. [Users’ experiences of plus values implemented into furniture]. Project Report (Department of Design Sciences, Lund University, Sweden, 2010)
B. Östlund, The revival of research circles: to meet the needs of modern ageing and the third age. Educ. Gerontol. 34(4), 255–266 (2008)
K.H. Pitkala, L. Blomquist, P. Routasalo, M. Saarenheimo, E. Karvinen, U. Oikarinen, T. Mantyranta, Leading groups of older people: A description and evaluation of the education of professionals. Educ. Gerontol. 30, 821–833 (2004)
J.D. Robinson, T. Skill, Media usage patterns and portrayals of the elderly, in Handbook of Communication and Aging Research, ed. by J.F. Nussbaum, J. Coupland (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey, USA, 1995), pp. 359–91
G. Häggblom-Kronlöf, U. Sonn, Interests that occupy 86-year-old persons living at home: associations with functional ability, self-rated health and sociodemographic characteristics. Aust. Occup. Ther. J53, 196–204 (2005)
Nordicom (2005) www.nordicom.gu.se/common/stat_xls/690_5520_daily_reach_sex_age_2004.xls. Accessed 22 Jan 2009
B. Östlund, Watching television in later life: a deeper understanding of TV viewing in the homes of old people and in geriatric care contexts. Scand. J. Caring Sci. 23(4), 623–825 (2009)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Östlund, B. (2011). Silver Age Innovators: A New Approach to Old Users. In: Kohlbacher, F., Herstatt, C. (eds) The Silver Market Phenomenon. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14338-0_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14338-0_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-14337-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-14338-0
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)