Age-inclusive design

Everyday Object Design Cannot Exclude 1/4 of the Population.

Reduced mobility, fine motor skills, joint pain, muscle weakness, neurological degeneration, declining vision and hearing – the list of exclusion factors is long. Inclusive design is essential for creating products and environments that are accessible to everyone. Simply put, inclusive design benefits everyone, reaching a broader audience than its original target. Consider simple examples : the remote control, text messaging, or vibrate mode – none of these were initially designed for an able-bodied population. Yet today, these innovations are used daily by all. That’s inclusive design!

A good exercise during the design phase is to ask whether your design works for an elderly person, someone with reduced mobility, or someone with impaired vision. User-centered design thinking requires thinking through constraints, but this does not hinder creativity (in fact, it often enhances it, says Romain Troche from Spin Interactive). It’s also important to shift our mindset: just because we’re able-bodied today doesn’t mean we always will be. Many life situations demand designs that adapt to our circumstances: having a young child with you, being a child (and therefore shorter), sustaining a temporary injury, aging, or not speaking the language of the country you’re in. A term has emerged for this type of design that encompasses the entire population : care design.