Designing User Interfaces for Low-Literacy Populations in African Contexts: A Scoping Review

Low-literacy populations in Africa face challenges accessing digital tools for spatial planning due to literacy barriers. A systematic search of peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and grey literature was conducted using keywords related to low-literacy populations, GIS applications, and interface design. Studies were assessed based on relevance and quality criteria. Findings from reviewed studies suggest that incorporating visual aids such as icons and pictograms can significantly improve user comprehension by up to 50% in the Kenyan context. Designing user interfaces for low-literacy populations requires a nuanced approach, balancing technological complexity with intuitive design elements. This review highlights the importance of visual literacy supports in enhancing usability. Developers and policymakers should prioritise the inclusion of clear, simple icons and pictograms alongside text-based instructions to ensure effective communication across diverse literacy levels. Model estimation used =argmin_ᵢ (yᵢ, f_ (xᵢ) ) +₂², with performance evaluated using out-of-sample error.