How Baidu’s ‘Big Font’ App Redefines Mobile Design for the Elderly

Background

China’s elderly population has reached 264 million and continues to grow, bringing challenges in vision, hearing, mobility, and cognition that limit equal access to information and services. Traditional mobile apps often only increase font size or simplify functions, failing to address deeper accessibility needs.

Solution: Baidu Big Font

Leveraging Baidu’s AI capabilities, the Big Font app provides a comprehensive, senior‑friendly design covering four key aspects: easy reading, easy listening, easy operation, and easy understanding.

1. Easy Reading

Increase font size to 60‑81 px (200 % of WCAG recommendation) based on eye‑tracking experiments.

Use warm, high‑contrast colors with a minimum contrast ratio of 3:1.

Extend transient UI prompts to 3‑7 seconds to accommodate slower visual processing.

2. Easy Listening

Boost audio volume to a comfortable 67.5‑75.3 dB range.

Offer three playback speeds (high, medium, low) to suit varying hearing abilities.

3. Easy Operation

Enlarge touch targets to at least 112 px × 120 px based on device resolution and thumb size.

Reduce finger travel distance by placing primary actions in the lower screen half.

Provide clear vibration feedback for critical interactions.

Make hidden gestures explicit (e.g., visible refresh icons).

Assist input through AI‑powered voice and image search, reducing reliance on small keyboards.

4. Easy Understanding

Simplify terminology with plain language.

Design clear, combined icon‑text symbols.

Add official trust badges and guarantees to enhance credibility.

Offer a “warm‑sun” hotline for real‑time human assistance.

AI‑Enabled Emotional Companion

The app uses AI voice synthesis to replay familiar family voices for global content narration, reducing loneliness and visual fatigue while freeing users’ hands.

Rich Content and Life Services

Through Baidu’s content ecosystem and personalized recommendation, the app delivers senior‑relevant articles, videos, and audio, with AI‑generated subtitles for videos. It also includes practical tools such as online government services, educational aids for grandchildren, pandemic maps, and waste‑sorting guides.

Conclusion

Big Font is an AI‑driven, all‑in‑one mobile solution that empowers seniors to access information and services equally, fostering digital inclusion and improving quality of life.