Designing User Interfaces for Literate Barriers in African Low-Literacy Populations

Low-literacy populations in Africa often face significant barriers when interacting with digital technologies. In South Africa, particularly among rural and urban low-literate groups, there is a need for user interface designs that accommodate their literacy levels while ensuring accessibility and usability. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining qualitative interviews with quantitative usability tests to gather data from participants in low-literacy groups. Usability testing involved the application of a Likert scale questionnaire designed to measure interface satisfaction and ease-of-use parameters. Data analysis utilised descriptive statistics for summarizing participant feedback. The pilot study revealed that approximately 70% of participants found the designed user interfaces intuitive, with an average usability score of 85 out of 100. Themes emerging from qualitative interviews indicated a preference for clear and simple language in interface elements. This research contributes to the field by providing empirical evidence on how to design effective user interfaces for low-literacy populations, thereby improving digital literacy outcomes in South Africa. Based on findings, recommendations include incorporating more visual aids alongside text instructions and ensuring that all interface components are large enough to be read without assistance. Future research should expand the study to a larger sample size to validate these initial results. Model estimation used $\hat{\theta}=argmin_{\theta}\sum_i\ell(y_i,f_\theta(x_i))+\lambda\lVert\theta\rVert_2^2$, with performance evaluated using out-of-sample error.