Dementia & Memory

Dementia is an umbrella term for conditions like Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, and Lewy body dementia. They affect memory, language, attention, and the ability to reason. The Alzheimer's Society estimates more than a million people in the UK are living with dementia, and many of them use digital technology to stay independent: banking, shopping, keeping in touch with family.

The design principles that help most are fairly consistent. Keep layouts and navigation the same across pages and over time. If the menu moves, or a familiar button disappears in an update, that's genuinely disorienting. Show options rather than expecting people to recall them from memory. Save addresses, payment details, and recent orders so routine tasks don't require starting from scratch. Timeouts, pop-ups, and sudden redesigns are particularly hard.

Plain language and clear headings go a long way. So does forgiving error handling: if someone makes a mistake, make it easy to correct without losing what they've already done.