The "Hail Mary Button" - Observations From the First Session

Gerry has a general understanding of what the home screen looks like.  I am grateful that we are using a 7 Plus because it still has the mechanical button that you can access no matter where you are. I started to describe the button as the "Hail Mary” button:  when Gerry got completely turned around and flustered, she could go back to the home screen and start again. When there was cognitive overload, the Hail Mary Button helped to reset and start over.

The photos app was a good place to start. Like all great-grandmothers, she can spend hours admiring her great grandchild as he pronounces his name for the first time or helps his parents vacuum. One stumbling block was her unfamiliarity with basic iOS iconography -- things the younger generation takes for granted. Once she understood that (x) meant close/cancel, that the magnifier meant search, and that the upper left arrow meant back, she was able to navigate relatively well through the app.

It was interesting to break down for her how the search bar interacted with the keyboard. Once she selected the search icon on the lower right, I brought her eye to the search input field. I let her know that tapping on it activates it and brings up the keyboard and the blinking blue line lets you know where you are typing. One thing I observed is that she is so consumed with her typing that she doesn't notice that autocomplete had already found what she was looking for and she could have stopped typing.

Next up - gestures!