Designers and manufacturers' perspectives on inclusive/universal design

Dong, H.; Keates, S.; Clarkson, P. J.

Abstract

Inclusive design in the U.K. and its U.S. counterpart, universal design, present opportunities and challenges to industry. In order to encourage manufacturers and design companies to adopt more inclusive design practices, the research has been carried out to gain an understanding of why and how companies adopt inclusive design practices, what are the barriers when implementing them and what are the key strategies for facilitating inclusive/universal design in an industrial context. Based on interviews with a number of U.K. design consultancies and an investigation among manufacturers in the U.S., a comparison between U.K. consultant designers and U.S. consumer product manufacturers? perspectives on inclusive/universal design was made. It was found that designers are reluctant to sacrifice the aesthetics of the brand to design for inclusion, but nevertheless would like to have practical tools to help them develop more inclusive solutions. For manufacturers, the key motivation for such practices is that of government regulation and legislation requiring the accessibility of products and services.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (Published)
• Conference Name: International conference on engineering design ICED 03
• Start Date: Aug 19, 2003
• End Date: Aug 21, 2003
• Publication Date: 2003
• Deposit Date: Feb 4, 2019
• Publisher: The Design Society
• Pages: 511-512
• Book Title: DS 31: Proceedings of ICED 03, the 14th International Conference on Engineering Design, Stockholm: Design in industry - methods and technology transfer
• ISBN: 1904670008
• Keywords: designers and manufacturers perspectives inclusive/universal design, Reflective practice, survey, design philosophy
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1497373