Study on the Usability of Social Media Interface Design Based on the Needs of Seniors : Focusing on the kakaotalk social media app

Social media apps have become an essential communication tool, and it is important to ensure accessibility and usability for a wide range of age groups. In particular, designing social media app interfaces that reflect the needs of older users has become an important research topic. This study aims to identify the needs of older adults and apply them to interface design to improve usability and a better user experience. The research methodology is a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis using cognitive walkthroughs, heuristic evaluation, and usability testing. The characteristics and behaviors of the elderly and problems in KakaoTalk app interface were analyzed. We proposed improvement factors to minimize the inconvenience of elderly users, and refined the direction of interface design. The results of this study contributed to confirming that improving social media app interfaces that consider the cognitive and physical characteristics plays an important role in improving usability and accessibility.