Different Generations Learn Differently

It all started when we observed a phenomenon of how the seniors among us often struggle to pick up technology while a child can pick up a tablet and start tapping away at it effortlessly. Curious about the difference, we started to investigate the reasons behind this and discovered that different generations learn differently. Through our research, we learnt about how and why each generation tend to learn things the way they do! 

Baby Boomers / 1946 – 1964

Baby boomers are used to being taught in a systematic and step-by-step manner. Repetitions are crucial at enforcing new knowledge and they seek guidance at every step. However when complexity of self-assembly increases, the tendency of baby boomers to misinterpret information increases, resulting in frequent backtracking to correct that mistake.

Generation X / 1965 – 1980

The Gen X education was all about efficiency. In Singapore, streaming was implemented to segregate and better cater to each group's differing needs. This pragmatism resulted in them learning only what was deemed relevant. As a result, they often overlook small but important details in the more complicated self-assembly processes.

Generation Y / 1981 - 1996

The shift in focus of education to encourage creativity and innovation resulted in Gen Ys developing an experiential learning model where they prefer to make sense of the world through trial and error. This resulted in the under-utilization of current instruction manuals that are often designed to guide users in a step-by-step manner.

Testing Our Hypothesis

To validate the research that different generations learn differently, we chose to use the IKEA assembly manual as a control. We chose IKEA for how it has a manual design that is known to be accessible to even ‘dummies’, and we wanted to see how different generations learnt to assemble furniture with it.

We invited people of different age groups to assemble an IKEA furniture and timed the process of them assembling it. Through the process of testing, we noticed that the current learning system (e.g user manuals or DIY instructions), simplified as they may be, still contained a considerable amount of text and graphics that required careful scrutiny. Due to the different learning models, such learning systems can be regarded as rigid since they command the use of it in a singular fashion, neglecting the needs of different learning models.

Designing the CMYK Learning System

The CMYK Learning System makes use of a colour coding system, a straightforward colour-matching process that allows all three generations to comfortably get to work, significantly reducing the room for error. Instead of the instructions being only on a separate piece of manual, they are incorporated directly as visual aids for assembly.

With colour being the common denominator, Baby Boomers can still follow the step by step guide in the instruction manual, Generation X can quickly identify the most efficient way of assembly without having to stick to the user manual (i.e simply match the colours) and Millennials are empowered as they can rely on their pattern-finding instincts to match the colours for assembly, without having to pick up the user manual.

CMYK unifies all three learning models while celebrating aesthetics at the same time.

Results

The average amount of time taken by each generation to assemble the IKEA footstool decreased significantly when using the CMYK learning system, with baby boomers experiencing the greatest improvement. By making use of a colour coding system, CMYK was able to unify all 3 learning models because it was a one-step process: That is, to match the colours!

This not only simplified the assembly instructions, but also significantly reduced room for error. Users were able to easily find the required screws for each part, and also fit the parts in the correct orientation.

We hope that this new learning system would universally bring together all the different learning models and empower each generation to learn at their own comfort. May this new distinction enable us to build one another up by helping each other to learn in a way that’s most intuitive to us!