We are very fortunate on campus to have developed the disability and relevant design course, which brings the industrial
designer and students with different experiences into the same working space. And what we're
doing there is looking at new product development opportunities for people with disabilities
from their different diverse life experiences. Empathy is very critical to this process because
we are not only designing for people like ourselves and as we're growing older we are
expecting higher quality of life and disability is not perceived as ending that quality of life.
The disability and relevant design project
focuses on a material landscape of the user. The products that we surround ourselves with
really have an impact very significantly on our quality of life. So if we have problems
opening food packaging, we have problems getting dressed then our palette of choices began to
be diminished. With industrial designers they tend to be young, well educated and so by
engaging with the user, on the user's level and really focusing on valid experience the
products that we developed are more appropriate. And this developed empathy leads to products
that are far more intuitive to use. This slide is showing that any product that is
developed you have to have a team of people. We have a wonderful team that is helping with
the course, we have phenomenal students. Industrial design students and we are also opening the class
engineers as well. The designing process is one that always involves users but towards
the end of the process traditionally. Then 15 years ago we thought it would be great
to talk to users to see what their needs were so we rediscovered the user. Where empathy and
emphatic design research strategy comes in, is that the user is a co-designer, the co-creator
of knowledge. So, the designer comes to the table with the target user and
we respect the experience of the user and we begin to design more intuitive products.
This is the some insight into design research. Designers are not only focused on the aesthetics,
designers really consider the material's level of innovation, and how the products will be psychologically
received by the user. So sometimes we have to take the designers outside of their comfort zone.
With the increase of people developing disabilities and growing older and again, expecting high
quality of life, our young designers limiting their mobility really impairing the vision,
will give them an immediate awareness of how long everyday tasks can take for certain
target users. This leads them into a dialog about products, about the designing process that
has more depth, and also deals with much more authentic needs of the user.
This is a case study where we took the class, were they had their glasses and we limited
their vision to simulate retinitis pigmentosa which is like tunnel vision. We also have a
student, Sheila with a seeing dog. This is a condition that she has, and so the class
went downstairs, then we went back upstairs again. For once, these students experienced
what it's like to only have tunnel vision. That had a high impact on these students.
When we went back to class, the lecture, the seminar continued to the point where students
were not looking directly at the paper or pencils, they were knocking things.
Then following on from Sheila with retinitis pigmentosa, one of the industrial design students, they
developed a concept where they are looking at the environment; they are looking at something
at the university that can actually have discrete navigation system for people with sensorial
impairment, for vision and hearing. You can actually come to an unfamiliar location like
the university and feel comfortable because you know you can get from A to B
with your dignity, with a sense of control in a very discrete way. This will benefit
the wider population, here on campus. And finally this is a way which designers present
the designing process; it is very visual, lots of photographs. We look at existing products,
we consider what the future could be and along the way we begin to integrate the engineering,
the lived experience and the voice of the user. For me that is empathic design research.
We are working with the Dallas Lighthouse for the Blind and so my industrial design
students are designing something that not only will benefit people in the Texas state
but these products will be manufactured by people with visual impairments and for me
long term this course, Disability Relevant Design, is opening up careers for individuals,
for students with disabilities or students that have an interest in disabilities that
have never existed before.