Curtin University

Year Completed | 2024

Designing a Scam Prevention Website for Elderly Australians

Seniorsafe Website

As part of the unit Meaningful Design in my Master of Design at Curtin University, I designed Seniorsafe—a scam prevention website aimed at empowering elderly Australians. The platform combines accessible design with AI-powered protection, offering easy navigation, voice-guided assistance, and tools to verify suspicious communications. Seniorsafe also features educational resources to build users' confidence and awareness, ensuring a secure and supportive online experience tailored to their needs.

Problem

Elderly Australians lose billions to scams each year (ACCC 2024). Their susceptibility and low digital literacy make them vulnerable to scams. (Button et al. 2024). Scamwatch offers support but does not fully address their needs, especially against deepfake scams.

Research Question

How might we design solutions that address the unique needs of elderly Australians to help them detect and prevent scams more effectively?

Design Methodology

  1. UIX Design Theories

    Applying various theories such as Cognitive Load Theory, Semiotics Theory, Pattern Theory, (Karmokar 2016) and Fitts’s Law (MacKenzie 2018) to create a website for elderly.

  2. Web Design Principles for elderly

    Understanding Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (CFA Australia 2024) and applying user interface and experience design principles that considers elderly needs. (Fisk et al. 2020).

  3. Discourse analyses and case studies

    Discourse analyses and case studies about digital products that are aimed at scam awareness and prevention (Rama and Keevy 2023).

  4. Using Gen AI to fight scam

    Using Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) tools to counter scams and deepfake content that is aimed at scamming the elderly (Juefei-Xu et al. 2022).

Understanding the needs of the elderly

Research (Fisk et al. 2020) shows that the elderly have specific needs when using digital products. Some of the important things to consider when designing for the elderly are as follows.

  1. Simplified Navigation

  2. Larger Text and Readable Fonts

  3. High Contrast

  4. Consistent Layouts

  5. Clear Calls to Action (CTAs)

  6. Minimal Distractions

  7. Accessible Language

  8. Error Tolerance

  9. Keyboard Accessibility

  10. Help and Support Options

Visual Research

Collage of web designs inspirations that are elderly focused #1

Collage of web designs inspirations that are elderly focused #2

Information Architecture

The information architecture for Seniorsafe was created using Generative AI via Relume and refined through discourse analysis of Scamwatch.gov.au, ensuring a user-friendly structure tailored to elderly Australians' needs.

Information architecture for Senior Safe.

Wireframes

I started crafting wireframes based on the information architecture of the Seniorsafe website.

Wireframe for Seniorsafe website - Home page

Wireframe for Seniorsafe website - AI Chat Feature

Wireframe for Seniorsafe website - Educational resources page for elderly for scam awareness and prevention

Prototyping

I began creating wireframes and high-resolution prototypes based on the information architecture. Additionally, I gathered feedback from my peers and tutors to refine and enhance the prototype further.

Seniorsafe website homepage hi-res prototype.

Seniorsafe website AI chat and Voice interface prototype.

Feedbacks from Prototypes

  • Ambiguity of AI function

  • Brand identity does not reflect its purpose.

  • The logo looks a lot like Meta AI

  • Need more work on resources for the elderly

Brand Identity Design

I started by creating a clear and simple logo for the Seniorsafe website. This helped me to design the aesthetic of the site further and marked the beginning of the finalising process of the website. I used the concept of a shield and a person to create an icon that visually communicates Seniorsafe.

Primary logo configuration of Seniorsafe

Secondary logo configuration of Seniorsafe

Colour pallete of Seniorsafe

Final Website Design

The Seniorsafe website includes a homepage with scam protection tools, educational resources, and a chatbot (text or voice) to help identify scams. A resources page offers podcasts, videos, articles, and a feature for seniors to report scams and receive support.

Final Design of Senior Safe website

Home Page Design of Seniorsafe website

Voice User Interface of Seniorsafe website

Multilingual feature of the Seniorsafe website

Conclusion

The Seniorsafe website empowers seniors with AI tools to combat scams. It offers voice and text access, providing guidance to identify potential scams and high-quality resources like text, videos, and podcasts for education. Seniors can report scams through a dedicated portal and navigate the site seamlessly with an AI assistant for support.

References

ACCC (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission), 2024. Targeting Scams | Report of the National Anti-Scam Centre on scams activity 2023. Canberra, ACT: ACCC. https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/targeting-scams-report-activity-2023.pdf.

Awada, Imad Alex, Irina Mocanu, Adina Magda Florea, and Bogdan Cramariuc. 2017. “Multimodal interface for elderly people.” In 2017 21st International Conference on Control Systems and Computer Science (CSCS), 536-541. IEEE, 2017. http://doi.org/10.1109/CSCS.2017.82.

Button, Mark, Vasileios Karagiannopoulos, Julak Lee, Joon Bae Suh, and Jeyong Jung. 2024. “Preventing fraud victimisation against older adults: Towards a holistic model for protection.” International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 77: 100672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2024.100672.

CFA (Centre for Accessibility) Australia. n.d. “What is the WCAG Standard?” CFA Australia. https://www.accessibility.org.au/guides/what-is-the-wcag-standard/#main. Accessed August 25, 2024.

Fisk, Arthur D., Sara J. Czaja, Wendy A. Rogers, Neil Charness, and Joseph Sharit. 2020. “Designing for older adults: Principles and creative human factors approaches”. CRC press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420080681

Juefei-Xu, Felix, Run Wang, Yihao Huang, Qing Guo, Lei Ma, and Yang Liu. 2022. “Countering malicious deepfakes: Survey, battleground, and horizon.” International journal of computer vision 130 (7): 1678-1734. https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol8/iss3/3/.

Karmokar, Sangeeta, Harminder Singh, and Felix B. Tan. 2016. “Using multidisciplinary design principles to improve the website design process.” Pacific Asia Journal of the Association for Information Systems 8 (3). https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol8/iss3/3/.

MacKenzie, I. Scott. 2018. “Fitts’ law.” The wiley handbook of human computer interaction 1: 347-370. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118976005.fmatter1open_in_new.

Rama, Pranisha, and Monique Keevy. 2023. “Public cybersecurity awareness good practices on government-led websites.” International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science 12 (7): 94-104. https://ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/2840/1983.

Acknowledgement

Dr Michael Gray - Unit coordinator