Reimagining Aging: Designing Digital Health Products for Aging Boomers

The number of adults aged 65 and older will double to nearly 90 million people by 2050. The baby boom generation — the largest in history — aren’t babies anymore. They are taking their unique perspective into their senior years, and that perspective will help shape healthcare for the next several decades.

While the Greatest Generation, the other major influential population group of the last 100 years, were builders in the classic sense, Baby Boomers have been shaped by technology and design: they are discerning curators who are visually sensitive and aesthetically oriented. Baby Boomers define themselves through good design, which is completely incongruous with the fact that most products designed for the “aging” make people look and feel even older than they are.

Healthcare companies—from medtech to digital health—must rethink this new consumer. Tuning in to users’ emotions and designing solutions that make older people feel better about themselves will be a key differentiator in the next several years.

In this HIT Consultant essay, Stuart Karten explains some of the key design elements product developers should consider when designing digital health solutions for seniors.