My Role: UX/UI Lead Designer
Services: Desktop Research, Competitor Audit, Ideation, UX, UI, IxD, Accessibility
Platform: Responsive Website
Agency: Xeit GmbH
Timeline: 7-day pitch sprint, January 2019
Senior-friendly magazine – through inclusive design
ZEITLUPE needed an online magazine for retirees. Existing site: cluttered navigation, poor readability, no accessibility standards. Through mobile-first design, WCAG AAA compliance, and cognitive load reduction, we won the pitch by prioritizing what matters: orientation, readability, and simplicity. Inclusive design isn't a nice-to-have. It's better design for everyone.
Core shift: From complex interface to accessible clarity – through inclusive principles.
3 Min. Read
How we solved problems
Three challenges, three breakthroughs
Designing for 15% impairment benefits 100% of users.
Research showed 15% of Swiss seniors have impairments. Vision issues. Limited motor skills. Fear of mistakes. Most sites ignored this. We designed for them first. Bigger touch targets. Higher contrast. Clearer navigation. Result: accessibility became usability advantage for everyone. When you design for edge cases, the mainstream experience improves. Always.
Navigation isn't intuitive when it behaves differently across devices.
The old site had hover menus on desktop, tap menus on mobile. Same content. Different behavior. Confusing. We unified it: same navigation structure across all devices. Retainable landmarks. Tab-optimized. Screen-reader friendly. No double-functionality. No confusion. Consistency beats cleverness.
Navigation Principle: Same behavior everywhere Clear landmarks WCAG AAA compliant
Readability is a system, not a font size.
Reading Optimizations: Bigger text Shorter paragraphs Better contrast More whitespace Clear hierarchy
Seniors struggle with long paragraphs, low contrast, and cluttered layouts. We optimized the entire reading system: larger text, optimal line length, improved contrast, subtitles for orientation, whitespace for breathing room. Plus: dynamic font settings and dark mode options. Good typography isn't decoration. It's infrastructure.
Key Learnings
What this project taught me
Winning pitches isn't about flashy designs – it's about solving real problems
We had 7 days. Competitors likely had fancier mockups. The pain: limited time and no direct user access. What worked: desktop research (Swiss Federal Statistics, W3C guidelines), competitive audits, and focusing on provable accessibility improvements instead of subjective aesthetics.
Mobile-first for seniors means tablet-first in practice
Seniors use tablets more than phones for reading. Touch screens + larger text = better experience. What saved me: analyzing device usage data early and designing for tablet as primary, desktop as secondary – not the other way around.
Accessibility compliance is a selling point, not overhead
The client wanted to "win an award in accessibility." WCAG AAA wasn't a constraint – it was the strategy. The pain: many agencies see accessibility as extra work. What helped: framing it as competitive advantage and demonstrating how inclusive design improves metrics (bounce rate, time spent, returning users).
Why this still matters
By 2027, 2.2 million Swiss retirees will be online. Design for them now.
The "aging society" isn't a niche. It's the mainstream. 142% growth in Swiss retirees by 2027. They're digitally savvy. They expect good UX. And if you design for their needs – bigger targets, clearer navigation, better readability – you're designing better experiences for everyone else too. Inclusive design isn't charity. It's smart business.