DBA Inclusive Design Challenge

Wire Design has won the 2005/06 DBA Design Challenge with a proposal for 'Consider'. A software package that can be used by designers and clients alike, Consider will give them an immediate feel for how their design will affect audiences with conditions such as cataracts, short sight and dyslexia. By opening artwork in this software it will be possible to view design through the eyes of someone with that condition.

With this knowledge, designers and clients will be empowered to design inclusively without losing their creative edge. The judges called it a "brilliant, intuitive tool, with wide-ranging scope that will change perceptions among designers and their clients regarding inclusive design and help them to jointly reach an effective inclusive solution".

View the full Consider presentation at www.wiredesign.com

The DBA would like to thanks sponsors Scope for their support of this year's Challenge. www.scope.org.uk

For details on each of the shortlisted projects click here

2004/2005

DBA Inclusive Design Challenge

Designers get plastered

An ingenious reinterpretation of the traditional sticking plaster has won the DBA Design Challenge 2004/05 in association with the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre.The challenge invited DBA member companies to integrate the principles of inclusive design into their work.

Clevername™, designed by healthcare specialists Pearson Matthews, reassesses how a sticking plaster is used and the problems encountered by disabled users. Plasters are the first thing we turn to when we cut our finger but when the accident involves ourselves, we revert instantly to the status of a one-handed individual doing a job that requires two. Clevername™ is a plaster that is intended for one-handed use from the start.

Read more on how to enter

DBA Design Challenge Shortlist 2004/2005

Corporate Edge - Stik
"STIK because it prods you into action, gets you working, stops you getting stuck and ultimately helps things stick to memory." The team at Corporate Edge came up with this ingenious concept of a communications toolkit to help everybody working within the creative industries, particularly people with dyslexia, following the realisation that a disproportionately large number of creatives have this hidden disability. (Indeed, more than one in four of the RCA¹s students are dyslexic.)

Lacock Gullam - Is that my bus?
The recent redesign of London buses has unfortunately not been matched by a
redesign of London bus shelters. For many users they remain woefully inadequate. The team at Lacock Gullam have come up with a radical redesign
that uses smart-card technology and a reconfiguration of physical space to make the shelters safer for visually impaired travelers, mothers with pushchairs and many more.

EnterpriseIG - OOP
Another communications concept, this time aimed at creating a brand and
communications initiative around the idea of inclusivity. It has been described as a kite mark for design-for-all products and services. A serious issue delivered with a fully a ccessible and humorous approach, this submission promotes inclusivity and highlights the benefits to us all.

Rodd Industrial Design Housemate
The team at Rodd Industrial Design were interested in making a common domestic chore more enjoyable, efficient and inclusive. Being unable to do away with cleaning altogether, they¹ve gone for the next best thing, a redesign of the vacuum cleaner. This clever gadget includes a host of innovative features, based on issues identified as a result of research with consumers of all abilities.

February 2006