Loughborough University
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

Reason: This item is currently closed access.

Universal design: empathy and affinity

chapter
posted on 2014-09-02, 13:55 authored by George TorrensGeorge Torrens
Why is it important for a designer to realise products and services for people who are elderly and or disabled? The answer to this question may be provided by the author’s own decision to work in this field. As a young designer in the 80s’, he wanted to make a difference to the quality of life of those in his society. On review of areas within which one could work it was clear that medical or rehabilitation technology/assistive technology (RT/AT) product design would make the greatest impact on the target user’s quality of life. Papanek (1974) advocated these areas as ones in which designers should aspire to work; he was many years ahead of the design establishment. From a societal viewpoint, using technology to enable people to be more independent and engage with society increases the potential help that finite resources can provide within a provision of care. It also facilitates the empowerment of an individual; enhancing their personal esteem; and, supporting well-being. Over the last twenty years the author has designed enabling products for people who are elderly and those who have some form of impairment.

History

Published in

Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Consumer Products

Pages

233 - 248 (15)

Citation

TORRENS, G., 2011. Universal design: empathy and affinity. IN: Karwowski, W., Soares, M.M. and Stanton, N.A. (eds). Human Factors and Ergonomics in Consumer Product Design: Methods and Techniques. Boca Raton, Fl: CRC Press, pp. 233 - 248.

Publisher

© Taylor and Francis

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2011

Notes

This book chapter is closed access.

ISBN

9781420046281

Language

  • en

Editor(s)

Waldemar Karwowski; Marcelo Soares; Neville Stanton

Usage metrics

    Loughborough Publications

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC