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Designing for our future selves
Applied Ergonomics 46 (2015) 233e234
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Applied Ergonomics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apergo
Editorial
Designing for our future selves
“To consider ageing requires examination of demography, sociology, gerontology, and the whole range of human factors. Understanding the design implications of ageing cannot be complete without further consideration of economic and commercial factors. Ergonomists have a long-standing interest in this subject, especially since increased life expectation will require an extensive ergonomic reassessment of products and environments if they are to match the needs and aspirations of their users. This interest is shared by a growing number of practitioners and researchers across a wide range of design disciplines.” Thus began the guest editorial of the 1993 Special Issue of Applied Ergonomics, entitled Designing for our future selves, which was edited by Roger Coleman and David J Pullinger. Twenty years on, the sentiment remains the same. The global population is older than it was and business and service providers are ever more aware of the needs of their older customers. Yet there is still a need to promote Inclusive Design as something different and new, or at least as a topic that is not mature enough yet to be considered an integral, expertly practiced and anonymous part of design. Contributors to the 1993 Special Issue came from the fields of ergonomics, design, industry and education; providing introductory articles, illustrated examples of good and bad design, guidance on design methodologies and papers written from a more personal viewpoint. Twenty years on, contributions to this issue have been selected to provide: an overview of progress in inclusive design across three continents; stories of design strategies successfully deployed in industry; examples of good practice in knowledge transfer; and descriptions of tools and evaluation methods to assist inclusive designers. Designers and thought leaders from the UK (Clarkson and Coleman), Sweden (Bendixen and Benktzon), Japan (Kawahara and Narikawa) and the US (Fletcher et al.) describe advances made in Design for all and Inclusive/Universal design across the globe, with many references to real success stories, enabled by enlightened designers and design commissioners. The Alloy (Warburton and Desbarats), Sagentia (Hosking) and BT (Chamberlain et al.), who have all been champions of inclusive design in the UK, describe their experiences of challenging previous product development conventions to deliver commercially winning inclusive designs. A sign of the maturing research in inclusive design has been an increase in efforts to transfer academic research into practice. Teams from Brunel University (Dong et al.), the Royal College of Art in London (Cassim and Dong) and the University of Cambridge (Waller et al.) describe novel and successful approaches to knowledge transfer, creating real impact across the globe. Finally, good design arises not only from well-placed creativity, but also from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2014.10.015 0003-6870/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.
effective evaluation at all stages of the design process. The latest ideas to support such evaluation are described by researchers from Loughborough University (Marshall et al.) and the University of Cambridge (Clarkson et al. and Langdon et al.). This special issue has been a long time in the making. It was first conceived some time before the INCLUDE conference in 2009, with the view that it should provide an updated snapshot in time of research, education and practice in inclusive design. Outline papers were invited on four topics relating to progress, strategies, knowledge transfer and tools. These were reviewed by the guest editors and by Professor Alastair Macdonald (Glasgow School of Art) and Colette Nicolle (Loughborough University), who both did an extraordinary job, not only reviewing each paper, but also providing feedback on the emerging shape of the whole Special Issue. The guest editors are particularly grateful for their efforts. Full papers were subsequently sent out for double-blind review, and revisions requested from all the authors. In the time taken to bring this complete issue to publication, some of the design examples are not as fresh as intended. Nonetheless, the story of progress since 1993 remains intact and remarkably positive. Significant progress has been made in 20 years across the globe to move towards a more inclusive society. There is better understanding of people, their needs, aspirations and capabilities; better design solutions; and improving policies influencing design commissioning. Yet there is much research, education and practice to be done. It is therefore fitting to finish this guest editorial in the same way that it began, with a quote from the 1993 Special Issue: “We hope that you will find this special issue of Applied Ergonomics both a stimulus and a catalyst towards meeting the needs of older people now and the needs of ʻour future selvesʼ.” 1. Guest editors John Clarkson is Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Cambridge and has been director of the Cambridge Engineering Design Centre since 1997. John trained at Cambridge in Engineering and Electrical Sciences and received his PhD in Electrical Machines in 1988. He subsequently spent seven years with PA Consulting Group's Technology Division where he was responsible for the delivery of advanced automation equipment and products for the healthcare and defence sectors. John's research interests are in the general area of engineering design, particularly the development of design methodologies to address specific design issues, for example, process management, change management, healthcare design and inclusive design. As well as publishing over 500 papers, he has written and edited a number of books on medical equipment design, inclusive design and process management. In
234
Editorial / Applied Ergonomics 46 (2015) 233e234
2003 he co-edited, with Roger, Inclusive Design: design for the whole population, a major textbook on the subject, and co-authored, with Simeon Keates, Countering design exclusion: an introduction to inclusive design. Roger Coleman is Professor Emeritus of the Royal College of Art. He co-founded and co-directed the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre from 1999 to 2006 and was Professor of Inclusive Design at the Royal College of Art until July 2008. Roger trained at Edinburgh University and College of Art, and later developed a longstanding interest in the implications for design of population ageing, and in the theory and practice of inclusive design, with a first publication on the subject at the International Ergonomics Association conference in Toronto entitled, The Case for Inclusive Design in 1994. In 2001 he established the Include conference series at the RCA, and authored a Design Council Policy Paper Living Longer: the new context for design, which makes recommendations to government and indus-
try on design responses to population ageing. In 2003 he co-edited, with John, Inclusive Design: design for the whole population, a major textbook on the subject, and took a leading role in drafting BS70006 on inclusive design management, published in February 2005. P. John Clarkson* Cambridge Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge, UK Roger Coleman Helen Hamlyn Centre, Royal College of Art, UK * Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (P.J. Clarkson).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Applied Ergonomics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apergo
Editorial
Designing for our future selves
“To consider ageing requires examination of demography, sociology, gerontology, and the whole range of human factors. Understanding the design implications of ageing cannot be complete without further consideration of economic and commercial factors. Ergonomists have a long-standing interest in this subject, especially since increased life expectation will require an extensive ergonomic reassessment of products and environments if they are to match the needs and aspirations of their users. This interest is shared by a growing number of practitioners and researchers across a wide range of design disciplines.” Thus began the guest editorial of the 1993 Special Issue of Applied Ergonomics, entitled Designing for our future selves, which was edited by Roger Coleman and David J Pullinger. Twenty years on, the sentiment remains the same. The global population is older than it was and business and service providers are ever more aware of the needs of their older customers. Yet there is still a need to promote Inclusive Design as something different and new, or at least as a topic that is not mature enough yet to be considered an integral, expertly practiced and anonymous part of design. Contributors to the 1993 Special Issue came from the fields of ergonomics, design, industry and education; providing introductory articles, illustrated examples of good and bad design, guidance on design methodologies and papers written from a more personal viewpoint. Twenty years on, contributions to this issue have been selected to provide: an overview of progress in inclusive design across three continents; stories of design strategies successfully deployed in industry; examples of good practice in knowledge transfer; and descriptions of tools and evaluation methods to assist inclusive designers. Designers and thought leaders from the UK (Clarkson and Coleman), Sweden (Bendixen and Benktzon), Japan (Kawahara and Narikawa) and the US (Fletcher et al.) describe advances made in Design for all and Inclusive/Universal design across the globe, with many references to real success stories, enabled by enlightened designers and design commissioners. The Alloy (Warburton and Desbarats), Sagentia (Hosking) and BT (Chamberlain et al.), who have all been champions of inclusive design in the UK, describe their experiences of challenging previous product development conventions to deliver commercially winning inclusive designs. A sign of the maturing research in inclusive design has been an increase in efforts to transfer academic research into practice. Teams from Brunel University (Dong et al.), the Royal College of Art in London (Cassim and Dong) and the University of Cambridge (Waller et al.) describe novel and successful approaches to knowledge transfer, creating real impact across the globe. Finally, good design arises not only from well-placed creativity, but also from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2014.10.015 0003-6870/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.
effective evaluation at all stages of the design process. The latest ideas to support such evaluation are described by researchers from Loughborough University (Marshall et al.) and the University of Cambridge (Clarkson et al. and Langdon et al.). This special issue has been a long time in the making. It was first conceived some time before the INCLUDE conference in 2009, with the view that it should provide an updated snapshot in time of research, education and practice in inclusive design. Outline papers were invited on four topics relating to progress, strategies, knowledge transfer and tools. These were reviewed by the guest editors and by Professor Alastair Macdonald (Glasgow School of Art) and Colette Nicolle (Loughborough University), who both did an extraordinary job, not only reviewing each paper, but also providing feedback on the emerging shape of the whole Special Issue. The guest editors are particularly grateful for their efforts. Full papers were subsequently sent out for double-blind review, and revisions requested from all the authors. In the time taken to bring this complete issue to publication, some of the design examples are not as fresh as intended. Nonetheless, the story of progress since 1993 remains intact and remarkably positive. Significant progress has been made in 20 years across the globe to move towards a more inclusive society. There is better understanding of people, their needs, aspirations and capabilities; better design solutions; and improving policies influencing design commissioning. Yet there is much research, education and practice to be done. It is therefore fitting to finish this guest editorial in the same way that it began, with a quote from the 1993 Special Issue: “We hope that you will find this special issue of Applied Ergonomics both a stimulus and a catalyst towards meeting the needs of older people now and the needs of ʻour future selvesʼ.” 1. Guest editors John Clarkson is Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Cambridge and has been director of the Cambridge Engineering Design Centre since 1997. John trained at Cambridge in Engineering and Electrical Sciences and received his PhD in Electrical Machines in 1988. He subsequently spent seven years with PA Consulting Group's Technology Division where he was responsible for the delivery of advanced automation equipment and products for the healthcare and defence sectors. John's research interests are in the general area of engineering design, particularly the development of design methodologies to address specific design issues, for example, process management, change management, healthcare design and inclusive design. As well as publishing over 500 papers, he has written and edited a number of books on medical equipment design, inclusive design and process management. In
234
Editorial / Applied Ergonomics 46 (2015) 233e234
2003 he co-edited, with Roger, Inclusive Design: design for the whole population, a major textbook on the subject, and co-authored, with Simeon Keates, Countering design exclusion: an introduction to inclusive design. Roger Coleman is Professor Emeritus of the Royal College of Art. He co-founded and co-directed the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre from 1999 to 2006 and was Professor of Inclusive Design at the Royal College of Art until July 2008. Roger trained at Edinburgh University and College of Art, and later developed a longstanding interest in the implications for design of population ageing, and in the theory and practice of inclusive design, with a first publication on the subject at the International Ergonomics Association conference in Toronto entitled, The Case for Inclusive Design in 1994. In 2001 he established the Include conference series at the RCA, and authored a Design Council Policy Paper Living Longer: the new context for design, which makes recommendations to government and indus-
try on design responses to population ageing. In 2003 he co-edited, with John, Inclusive Design: design for the whole population, a major textbook on the subject, and took a leading role in drafting BS70006 on inclusive design management, published in February 2005. P. John Clarkson* Cambridge Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge, UK Roger Coleman Helen Hamlyn Centre, Royal College of Art, UK * Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (P.J. Clarkson).