What the New iPad Says About Design For Older Boomers

The iPad. It's new. It's cool. And, it's a terrific design experience that is likely to excite and delight your grandmother...and you. It is a stellar example of what designers should consider when creating systems for older, no actually, all users - from systems that deliver fun to medical devices. Designing for discriminating baby boomer consumers is more than usability, more than function, it is delivering it all in package with a promise and a bow.

Observers will be jousting over the pros and cons of the iPad versus Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Nobles' Nook and Sony's Reader. Let them duel about what makes the best tablet-like device in the coming months. Instead of discussing what might be best in class, take a moment to look at what the iPad puts into one package. As with most innovations, it is not necessarily the 'new' that stands a product apart from the competition, but how well it integrates a variety of factors that are fresh, familiar, and functional to the user. With elegance, Apple's iPad is truly a marriage of 'something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue' providing a design and functionality experience that is likely to please older and younger users alike.

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Something Old - The bride's poem begins with something old - the promise of continuity. Many expect innovation to be a clean break with the past. The challenge for a company is to innovate without leaving the consumer behind. Moving too far too fast from what the consumer understands can result in user shock slowing product adoption. Older users have more experience than younger buyers and they use that experience to frame expectations, determine what makes sense and decide what is real value.

The iPad uses the familiar to deliver new. One example is the iPad's iBooks Application. iBooks deftly uses the touch screen interface, while linking to the familiar - the turn of the page. Whether a finger drag from the middle or a virtual dog-eared 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 cute feature, it offers the familiar, leading the user without leaving the user.

Something New - 'New' both in marriage and technology is a promise of optimism and hope. The iPad certainly delivers new - high design and high-tech comfortably fitting into the users hands. Unlike models offered by competitors, the iPad offers full color and the capacity to personalize fonts and focus making it easy on aging boomer eyes at any angle - from sitting on the sofa to lying down comfortably in the summer sun.

Something Borrowed - The bride borrows something from another happily married couple with the hope that their good luck will come to her marriage. What family better to borrow from than Apple. Apple's iPod has set the standard, and now the expectation, of unlimited access to entertainment and apps that fill the imagination. Moreover, the Apple family can promise that a world community of 'programming creatives' will continue to develop something new 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. Less a design element than a promise, Apple provides a halo to any product it releases. Apple has become more than a brand but a lovemark - a company that regularly delivers beyond even the greatest of buyer expectations.

The Apple iPad is a fine device. The observations here are not to forecast how it will compete with other tablet-like devices, but to highlight it as an example of excellence in integration of design form, functionality and promise - making it a technology and design lesson for product developers across all consumer-facing businesses.

What the New iPad Says About Design For Older Boomers