My grandmother, in her later years, would spend her days sitting in her living room chair either reading or watching TV.
But she had a difficult time using the TV’s remote control. The buttons were tiny, were mushy (she didn’t really know if she was pressing it with sufficient force), the writing was tiny and often of low contrast (in other words, tiny grey letters on a black background is difficult to read). The worst part was that she didn’t understand the concept of line-of-sight when using the infrared remote control: She would hold the remote close to her face to read the legend, and then press the button. But in that position the remote was pointing toward the ceiling, where the TV couldn’t see it. So she’d struggle to find the right button and then not understand why pressing it didn’t work. Frustration ensued.
What did I do? I made her this remote control. It didn’t have a gazillion buttons; it had six: On/Off, Channel Up/Down, Volume Up/Down, and Mute. (No NETFLIX button. Netflix wasn’t around then.) The buttons were big, colorful, and would make a clicking sound so she knew when they were pressed. They were well-labeled, with large black letters on a white background. Best of all, I place an Infrared Expander on the end of it which would spread the IR signal in all directions – the TV would see it no matter what direction the remote was pointing! On the inside was the original remote control, taken out of its case and the wires from the buttons were soldered onto the printed circuit board.
Since then there have been a lot of remote controls marketed at seniors. But none were as perfect as this one!