ICT Design

It is a basic requirement of the Design for All principle that ICT products and services must be designed to meet the needs of all users. This includes young child users.

Young children must not be treated as ‘little adults’. In designing products and services for use by young children, designers must be aware that young children do not have the motor skills, or physical strength of adults. The vision of young, developing eyes can be severely damaged by inappropriate text and font sizes and colours, and young ears can be damaged by use of the wrong kinds of sounds. It is an inappropriate use of technology to allow young children, between 4 and 12 years of age, to use products and services that have been designed for use by adults.

To better meet the needs of young child users, ETSI conducted two special projects, supported by the telecommunications industry and by the European Commission. The first project studied the specific requirements of young children in relation to ICT products and services – such as terminals, mobile devices, and internet services. The second project developed specific guidelines for ICT designers. ChildAware is based on the results of these projects.

The results of the first project, TR 102 133, on young children’s requirements can be found here.

The ETSI Guide “Guidelines for designers of ICT products and services for use by young children”, EG 202 423, can be found here.