Silver Bell

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.

Aging is concentrated

236.8%

Aging index, Hongyeon-gil (2021)

168.03%

Aging index, Seoul average

Becoming a cultural hub

13

Galleries

250

Artists (Yeonhui Art Fair, 2022)

The area is changing rapidly

49,745m²

Public redevelopment area

1,094

Planned housing units (Public Redevelopment Plan)

Seoul Open Data Plaza (Seoul Statistics), Dependency Ratio and Aging Index (by dong), 2021.

Redevelopment site and surrounding cultural infrastructure

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. The survey ran through Instagram, in collaboration with the Hongyeon-gil influencer @hongyeongil_seoul, and captured local knowledge and how younger residents perceive older adults.

Survey Results

34 participants

1

Older adults were rarely mentioned in how people described Hongyeon-gil.

2

Hongyeon-gil is remembered through commercial leisure venues.

We conducted in-person interviews with 42 participants 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.

An older resident explaining how he uses a smartphone

A steep uphill street in Hongyeon-gil

Key question

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

What makes starting hard?

1. In Hongyeon-gil, steep hills make it difficult for older adults to reach exercise programs at senior centers or swimming pools.
2. Many older residents have limited mobility, which makes leaving home and moving around physically demanding.
3. 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.

Step 1

Reducing the threshold of participation

Participation can begin at the scale of the body, without leaving home.

Home-based participation

Step 2

Finding the most safe and familiar movement of the body

Among bodily practices, repetitive, familiar movements minimize cognitive and physical load.

Familiar movements

Step 3

Finding the medium where bodily practice begins

For participation to occur, initiation must not rely on intention, but be triggered externally.

Send notifications

Interviews indicate that notifications are a primary entry point for older adults' smartphone use. We designed a morning exercise experience that starts the moment they tap a notification. By combining familiar routines with instant video playback, we reduce browsing and decision-making before exercise.

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Morning exercise

Familiar routine recommended by the pharmacist and doctor in Hongyeon-gil.

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Alerts

Older adults tend to open notifications they receive, rather than browse for apps.

Video content

Video media that older adults of Hongyeon Senior Center watch frequently on a daily basis.

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

Director of Saecheonnyeon Clinic at Hongyeon Market

Age: 53

No residence record in Hongyeon-gil

Insights

1. 1

   High proportion of elderly patients

   70% of patients are aged 60+.

2. 2

   Some exercise outdoors doing national calisthenics, and movements synchronized with familiar commands and rhythms work well.

3. 3

   Large health variations among elderly individuals (significant individual differences).

Pharmacist at Hong Yeon Pharmacy

Age: 55

Has lived here since 1985, for approximately 38 years

Insights

1. 1

   I see elderly patients regularly, mostly in the afternoon hours.

2. 2

   The most common complaints are musculoskeletal pain.

   Treated with analgesics and muscle relaxants

3. 3

   National calisthenics* would be the best option if they were to exercise.

   *A standardized exercise routine broadcast on Korean radio and TV

Collaborated with a dancer, Eunjeong Lim

Morning exercise

Neck Rotations

▪Turn your head to the left twice, then to the right twice, slowly and gently.

Tap Tap

▪Lightly tap across your chest from left to right.

Lunch exercise

Chest Thumps

▪Alternate left and right, lightly tapping your chest, belly, and knees with a soft fist.

Wrist Bends

▪Bend your wrists, then release and straighten them.

Evening exercise

Arm Circles

▪Circle your left arm twice, then your right arm twice, then both arms twice.

Balance

▪Keep both feet on the floor, slightly bend your knees, and find a stable balance.

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

Director of Hongyeon senior center

Age 70

Has lived here for more than 50 years

Insights

1

Morning exercise: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

2

Lunch exercise: 2:00 PM

Senior center lunch typically ends around 1:00 PM

3

Evening exercise: 8:00 PM

Dinner is usually around 7:30 PM, and many go to bed soon after, so a reminder near the end of the evening routine works best

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

Interaction design: user flow

Color of accessibility for seniors

First design

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

Used colors

Black#000000

Bluish green#009E73

Yellow#F0E442

Vermillion#D55E00

White#FFFFFF

Design iteration

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 colors elsewhere, significantly improving readability.

Used colors

Black#000000

Bluish green#009E73

Vermillion#D55E00

White#FFFFFF

After the launch of Silver Bell, we hosted a QA session to observe how older adults use mobile interfaces in real-world settings.

The Silver Bell Challenge: Hongyeon-gil project showcase, tentothen, 2024

Key insight 01

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.

Key insight 02

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.