During the Hwayeon: Hongyeon-gil residency (Sep 2023 to Jan 2024), we observed rapid gentrification and the growth of cultural infrastructure. However, older residents were largely absent from these emerging cultural routes.

Cultural growth is accelerating, but older residents remain largely excluded from participation.

We mapped how younger residents describe Hongyeon-gil—and whether older adults appear in that narrative.

01. Research Process - Online Survey

Online Survey through Instagram

(Collaborated with Hongyeon-gil influencer, @hongyeongil_seoul)

We used an online survey to capture local knowledge and how younger residents perceive older adults in Hongyeon-gil.

Survey Results

Participants : 34

02. Research Process - Interviews

Survey Results

Participants : 42

We conducted in-person interviews to gather information about older adults who are not visible in online surveys.

By combining the online survey (how people describe Hongyeon-gil) and offline interviews (how older adults live day-to-day), we identified three barriers that prevent older residents from participating—even when cultural infrastructure grows.

Interviews suggest barriers are less about motivation and more about effort, risk, and decision-making at the moment of starting.

Key Question

How can mobile interfaces reduce exercise initiation costs for older adults with limited mobility in everyday life?

What makes starting hard?

01. In Hongyeon-gil, steep hills make it difficult for older adults to reach exercise programs at senior centers or swimming pools.

02. Many older residents have limited mobility, which makes leaving home and moving around physically demanding.

03. Many older adults were unsure when to exercise or what kind of exercises to do.

Based on field research, we reframed participation to reduce effort, risk, and decision-making.

To inform the exercise design, we consulted the pharmacist and the physician in Hongyeon-gil again.

Design low-intensity exercises based on familiar routines like national calisthenics, accounting for individual differences rather than introducing new movements.

Interviews indicate that notifications are a primary entry point for older adults’ smartphone use.

Make the interface instantly recognizable and readable for Hongyeon-gil older adults.

01. Interaction Design

Create a familiar, safe routine older adults can follow without learning new moves.

02. Collaborated with a dance specialist

Send notifications at times when older adults are most likely to notice and act.

Make the interface instantly recognizable and readable for Hongyeon-gil older adults.

03. Color of accessibility for seniors

Following the guidelines of the <Color Universal Design Organization research> by Okabe Masataka and Ito Kei, we initially developed our color palette based on the color chart below, which ensures that people with color vision deficiency can clearly distinguish the colors.

This color chart represents the colors used in the UI.

This is the result of testing the actual screen shown to color-blind people through color-blind simulation.

04. Design Iteraction

After applying color-blind friendly colors and conducting QA sessions with actual elderly users, we discovered that emphasizing the importance of buttons to be pressed was more critical than color alone. As a result, we retained color only for the most frequently used button and removed confusing colors elsewhere, significantly improving readability.

This color chart represents the colors used in the UI.

This is the result of testing the actual screen shown to color-blind people through color-blind simulation.

01. Notification-first start

Notifications are sent at scheduled times, and exercise begins immediately when the user taps the notification.

02. Time-based routine planning (3 sessions)

Notifications scheduled at morning (10 AM), lunch (2 PM), and evening (8 PM) to match users' daily routines.

03. Familiar, low-intensity exercise routines

Composed of familiar, low-intensity movements to reduce the burden of learning new exercises.

04. Barrier-free UI

Color palette adjusted for color blindness accessibility (red shifted to orange, green to teal).

Interaction Is Notification-Driven, Not Exploratory

Older adults primarily used their phones to respond to alerts and notifications rather than browsing menus or exploring features. Interfaces felt most comfortable when important information was immediately visible, supported by bold typography and high-contrast primary actions. As a result, designs that surfaced critical actions upfront reduced hesitation and the need for navigation or discovery.

Setup and Onboarding Are the Real Barriers

Initial installation and setup—not feature complexity—emerged as the largest obstacle to adoption. Many participants struggled to download and configure the app independently, even before engaging with its core functionality. This showed that onboarding and access, more than feature depth, determined whether the system could be used at all in real-world contexts.