From life hack to Universal Design

The project will be run by Designer Signe Mårbjerg Severin and aims to explore the challenges older people with arthritis face in the interaction with industrially designed everyday products, and on this basis point towards new ways of developing inclusive products for this group of people, allowing them to stay in their own home for as long as possible.

The project will be based on research-through-design with a series of co-design experiments that will involve elderly with arthritis, occupational therapists and other relevant health professionals.

- Product designers have much to learn about Universal Design from occupational therapists, who work in close contact with people with physical disabilities. Part of the occupational therapists’ work consist of hacking everyday objects, so they can be handled by people with physical disabilities. Their hacks visualize the designers’ blind spots and point towards solutions, that can help create inclusive design, says Signe Mårbjerg Severin.

The project will commence 1 January 2022 within the Lab for Social Design at Design School Kolding. It will be supervised by Associate Professor Richard Herriott.

About Universal Design
Universal Design is a general term for accommodating different levels of cognitive and physical ability in the development of new products, services and habitable structures. Universal design is a value-based design approach intended to make use of the power of design methods and specialist knowledge on disability and ageing. This results in design solutions that are of value to all, from a functional, social and aesthetic perspective. It aligns with the UN Development goal of Leave No One Behind, which means a society where there is the best possible chance for all to participate in a fulfilling and meaningful way.