2000 was the launch year of the DBA Design Challenge. The theme was ‘care for our future selves’. The results of the Challenge were presented to a capacity audience of representatives from the design, disability, academic and business communities at the Royal
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College of Art, London, on 6 December 2000. The judging panel viewed and debated presentations by four of the UK's leading design consultancies: The Renfrew Group; Priestman Goode; Factory Design Ltd and Designhouse. Speakers at the event included Dr Kim Howells, the Consumer Affairs Minister; Ray Hodgkinson, President of the Healthcare Trades Association, and Graham Corbett, Chair of RICAbility (Research Institute for Consumer Affairs).
Factory Design ‘milkman’
Factory developed the idea of a milk carton that was easy to use for all, including people with arthritis, to whom the words push, pull, twist or grip represent pain and frustration.
How does it work?
Factory’s solution was inspired in part by the idea that a kink in a garden hose will cut off the water flow. Its prototype is a familiar folded card carton whose tamper-proof seal has maximum grip. When released, the spout can pour, but also seal the contents in the container when folded back. The carton has a grip detail using rubberised ink on its sides, while the pack is folded to chamfer off the corners. This aids grip and eliminates the spillage caused by the usual tendency to over-grip standard packs.
‘We needed to come up with a product that was not only easy to open but easy to handle and to use again and again and again throughout the day. But it also had to remain commercially viable for potential manufacturers to even be interested. We didn’t want a niche product.’
Adrian Berry, Creative Director, Factory Design
Designhouse ‘broadband internet site’
Designhouse wanted to develop a website for a sports-based web channel that appeals to all and includes the needs of visually impaired users, in a world where the majority of websites, with unreadable graphics and difficult navigation, remain inaccessible to visually impaired users.
How does it work?
Information buttons were zoned to allow screen-reading software to read the screen in a set order and content was zoned for primary and secondary navigation. The liquid design compensated in real time for the movement of the screen and a variety of colour combinations was geared to colour blindness syndromes. A printable version was offered to users requiring hard copy and a settings button was introduced to allow for customisation of the screen.
The Renfrew Group ‘personalised driver interface’
The Renfrew Group wanted to create an adaptable and configurable driver control for a car which aims to increase mobility for disabled drivers. Personal mobility has been one of the great themes of the past 100 years for both the able-bodied and disabled population. Yet the standardisation of vehicle design and production has militated against the needs of older and disabled consumers who may require costly adaptations to enable the use of existing vehicles. By harnessing a user-based design process to new technology, Renfrew‘s solution signals an inclusive future.
How does it work?
The personalised interface envisaged by the Renfrew Group can be programmed to the specific needs of each user via a smart card inserted into a modified steering ‘wheel.’ With an inbuilt airbag, the unit consists of two pressure-sensitive and speed-related handles used for steering and speed control with separate levers for braking. By eliminating the orthodox steering wheel, the drive-by-wire technology allows for intuitive control of the interface for drivers with limited upper body movement or strength. The wide-screen display console of the vehicle can also be programmed for ease of reading and offers a panoramic view of the driving environment. This would eliminate blind spots and enable drivers to view the proximity of other cars and hazards behind and to each side of the car.
Priestman Goode 'sensory web'
Priestman Goode came up with the concept of a computer interface for Internet shopping which downloads images as 3D objects so that people of different abilities can make more informed choices about products, instead of having to rely on the most basic verbal or visual information.
How does it work?
Priestman Goode’s Sensory Web cleverly harnesses stereolithography, the rapid prototyping and manufacturing technique most widely-used by industry in conjunction with CAD (computer-aided design). Stereolithography enables the building of complex three-dimensional models by ‘laser forming’ cross-sections of liquid resin, using data from surface or solid modelling CAD systems. By delivering a three dimensional copy of an object, it would allow a visually impaired person to make an informed choice about a product they cannot see. The final product is a domestic 3-D printer with a rotating disc that moves from left to right and is gradually lowered as the surface of the object is constructed layer by layer.
