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challenge 2006
>how designers
respond to the
demands of
inclusion

challenge 2006
Challenge is an annual publication
that documents the DBA Inclusive Design
Challenge, a collaboration between the
Royal College of Art and the Design
Business Association (DBA).
The DBA Inclusive Design Challenge is
organised by Inclusive Business RCA.
This is a knowledge transfer programme
at the Royal College of Art that aims to
encourage innovation in products and
services that include the needs of
disabled people.
Inclusive Business RCA is based within
the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at
the Royal College of Art, a centre for
inclusive design, and forms part of
InnovationRCA, the College’s innovation
network for business.
Sponsored by Scope
The DBA Inclusive Design Challenge
is sponsored by Scope, the national
disability charity for cerebral palsy which
advocates and promotes equality and
independence for disabled people.
Sec1:2

Julia Cassim
Editor, Challenge 2006
Senior Research Fellow,
Helen Hamlyn Research Centre
>editorial
When the first DBA Inclusive Design Challenge
was held in 2000, little did we realise the
impact it would have. It was intended as a
simple, designer-friendly mechanism to transfer
knowledge to the design community about
the inclusive design process and show how
interaction with disabled people could be a
direct route to mainstream product and service
innovation.
Six years on, the Challenge has resulted in
33 beacon projects in inclusive design, involving
over 300 designers. Sponsored for the past
two years by the disability charity Scope, this
joint initiative between the Design Business
Association (DBA) and the Helen Hamlyn
Research Centre at the Royal College of Art has
also developed new and exciting iterations in
different contexts in the UK and abroad.
It all started with a request in January 2005
from the design firm Sieberthead for help in
devising a three-day innovation workshop for
staff of the multinational giant Reckitt Benkiser.
Sieberthead had taken part in the Challenge
twice and had been impressed by the creative
stimulus, rapid knowledge transfer and internal
teamwork that the experience engendered.
They felt that this was directly transferable
to other contexts and would benefit not only

designers but those who commission design and dream up new
products for the market. This proved to be the case.
The success of this workshop and of the 24 Hour Inclusive Design
Challenge, held as part of the Include 2005 conference at the Royal
College of Art, has seen requests come in thick and fast for initiatives
on the Inclusive Design Challenge model. Workshops of one to three
days in duration have been held in the UK, in collaboration with the
College of Occupational Therapists, as well as in Israel and Japan.
In October 2006, the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre will also
be organising a 48 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge for design teams
belonging to the 140 member firms of the International Association
of Universal Design (IAUD), the Japanese network organisation that
promotes the subject. This Challenge will be the centrepiece of their
2nd international conference on Universal Design to be held in Kyoto,
23-25 October. In the words of the classic Virginia Slims advertisement
“You’ve come a long way baby!” Or as Clive Grinyer, keynote speaker
at the DBA Inclusive Design Challenge award event, put it: “This is
what is so great about the DBA Challenge, it is the perfect example
of design thinking, building on new knowledge; placing designers in
unfamiliar situations and forcing them to understand the extremities of
ability creates a powerful force for innovation.”
Challenge 2006 describes in detail the six projects of the DBA
Inclusive Design Challenge 2006 and then looks at highlights of the
Challenge workshops to see how others in the UK and abroad have
tackled the task of designing inclusively with creative input of users
for whom design is crucial to their quality of life.

contents
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PART 1
DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2006
project 1: Infood
project 2: Chatterpack
project 3: www.work-able.org.uk
project 4: Houdini
project 5: Consider
project 6: Caddy
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PART 2
The Challenge Workshop
workshop 1: College of Occupational Therapists
workshop 2: Holon Academic Institute of Technology
workshop 3: Kyoto University
workshop 4: User Science Institute, Kyushu University

4
PART 1
>DBA Inclusive Design
Challenge 2006
Each summer the Helen Hamlyn Research
Centre (HHRC) joins forces with the Design
Business Association (DBA) to set a creative
challenge for the design community – design
for the mainstream market but include the
needs and aspirations of consumers with
disabilities. Five years of Inclusive Design
Challenges have shown that it can be a direct
route to product and service innovation, and
the design community has increasingly got
the message.
The DBA Inclusive Design Challenge
2006 was no exception. The response from
the design industry was a record number
of entries for this annual competition. Six
projects were shortlisted, split evenly between
communication and product design. The
teams had the summer to do background

Right: John Corcoran of
Wire Design with the design
team, holds the winners trophy
research and just four months to deliver their
inclusive responses to the needs and aspirations
of the disabled users with whom they
worked. A panel of experts judged the work
in December 2005. Then came an agonising
two-month wait for the result, which was
announced on 22 February 2006, before a
capacity audience drawn from the worlds of
design, disability, government and business
at the Royal College of Art.
The challenge to the teams was twofold:
design a mainstream product, service,
environment, print, on-line or other
communication which deliberately includes
the needs and aspirations of currently
excluded groups of people, or create
a design with young disabled people
specifically in mind, focused on their everyday
lives in the mainstream. In either case,
creating business opportunities for small and
medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and
larger companies would be an advantage.
Judging criteria
The judging panel considered how well
entries:
> promoted social inclusion through goods,

services, communication, environments
which have mainstream and/or niche
market potential
> showed insight into the needs and aspirations
of excluded groups of people
> demonstrated a creative approach
> communicated key ideas and messages.
The judging panel
> David Alcock, Scope
> Jim Dawton, Pearson Matthews
> Professor Roger Coleman, Helen Hamlyn
Research Centre
> Tim Fendley, AIG
> Hannah Paterson, DBA
> Lynda Relph Knight, Design Week
> Mike Woods, Tangerine
The projects
On behalf of the judges, Sean Lewis,
Director of the Design Business Association,
congratulated the teams for the sheer
diversity of the projects, the high standard of
their presentations and the amount of time
and consideration that had gone into them.
“It was especially pleasing,” he said, “to see
communication projects shortlisted, as it is
an area not always associated with inclusive
design. The bar is being raised further each
Judges
David Alcock
Scope
Prof Roger Coleman
Royal College of Art
Jim Dawton
Pearson Matthews

Judges
Tim Fendley
AIG
year and the number of patents generated
by the projects is a great indicator of the
quality within the shortlist. We really had
a tough job on our hands when it came
to the judging.”
What the judges said
Infood – Adecco
“A beautifully simple and thorough solution
to a major issue that is exceptionally
current in legislative terms but has yet to
be addressed by industry, nationally or
internationally. It presents a fantastic market
opportunity for innovation.”
Lynda Relph-Knight
Editor, Design Week
Chatterpack – Coley Porter Bell
“It can be tailored to individual needs yet
remains easy to use, inexpensive and is a
truly inclusive solution. It has huge potential
in marketing terms.”
Mike Woods
Tangerine
Felton Communication – www.work-able.
org.uk
“An important campaign that directly
addresses the issue of the under employment
of disabled people – the one million
disabled people in the UK who are not
working, who would like a job but can’t
get one.”

Houdini – Matter
“An easy-to-use object that is as desirable
as it is useful and is based on a thorough
understanding of the complexity of issues
and the culture of use.”
Designers
Consider – Wire Design
“A brilliant, intuitive tool with wide-ranging
scope that will change perceptions among
designers and their clients regarding
inclusive design and help them jointly
reach an effective, inclusive solution.”
Craig Kean
Adecco
Caddy – Wood&Wood Design
“A stylish and practical new-generation
product with clever inclusive features that
directly addresses the needs and aspirations
of the younger market – disabled or
otherwise. Caddy resolves one of the biggest
issues for disabled people – the social
acceptability of key items of equipment.”
Adam Ellis
Coley Porter Bell
The verdict
The jury commended Wood&Wood Design’s
Caddy for its stylish solution that cuts across
generations, but the clear winner was Wire
Design’s software package Consider which
targeted designers and clients simultaneously.
By making it easy to engage creatively with
Roger Felton
Felton Communications

Designers
Matt Wright
Matter
John Corcoran
Wire Design
Don Wilson
Wood&Wood Design
inclusive design at the experiential level, the
panel felt that Consider would have a profound
impact on both sides of a design brief
and industry-wide.
The speakers
Professor Roger Coleman of the Helen Hamlyn
Research Centre welcomed the capacity
audience to the RCA on 22 February 2006
to this “nice collaboration between inventive
users and creative designers” and spoke of
two new developments – sponsorship of the
event by the disability organisation Scope,
and the record number of entries which
resulted in six shortlisted projects in two categories
– visual communications and product
design. This, he said, underscored the
relevance of inclusive design to every sector
and reflected a growing understanding of its
importance by the design community.
Coleman then introduced the keynote
speaker, Clive Grinyer, Head of Design and
Usability at Orange. Grinyer reminded the
audience that: “We get the world we want,
it’s all been designed, just not always with
much thought.” He went on to detail the
importance of inclusive design for technology
service providers such as Orange:
“Inclusive design isn’t nice to have as a

‘There are many definitions of design but
the important one for me is that design is
a human-focused process... When you start
with a human understanding, see problems,
make new solutions and try again, you find
a number of pleasant outcomes. You find
people like what you have made and use
it more. You find new ways of solving
old problems.
This is not designing for specific
disability. It’s about design for inclusion of
all abilities. From the remote control to the
mobile phone, the hands-free agenda, driven
through the needs of those with different
requirements to the majority, creates benefit
for all. The world is easier to see, hear and
interact with thanks to the innovations
developed by responding to disability first.’
Clive Grinyer, Head of Design and Usability, Orange
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luxury,” he said. “It’s a baseline for the
future, and a tool for competitive advantage
and innovation. To get the world we want,
making it usable and designing for all are at
the core of future success or failure.”
The six teams presented their prototypes
and were grilled by the audience in the
question-and-answer session that followed.
Their presentations were enhanced by an
exhibition of the prototypes developed for
the DBA Design Challenge that detailed the
design outputs.
The next speaker was retired teacher,
Peter Burgess representing the many
disabled users who worked with the teams
to develop their projects. With great humour,

‘Design should be non-stigmatising and
even aspirational. The ramp at the front
steps of the Victoria and Albert Museum
curves elegantly next to the building without
disturbing the stepped approach. It is
an access used by both the abled and disabled.
It does not accentuate the differences
between them and it looks good.’
Peter Burgess, retired teacher
he outlined his daily misadventures as a
disabled person with the designed world
– such as his ugly electric armchair which
reclines and helps him get up but has no
safety system for power cuts. When one
happened recently, he became stuck in the
reclining position and had to wait until power
was restored.
“When I look at my pink Draylon armchair
it makes me yearn for a Corbusier Chair
for the disabled,” said Burgess. He thanked
the design teams for “designing products
that are practical, easy-to-use and good to
look at. It is with your help that our independence
is maintained in an inclusive way.”
David Alcock of Scope read the judges’
verdicts on each project and then passed the
baton to Sean Lewis, Director of the DBA,
to announce the winner – Wire Design, with
a highly commended prize going to Wood
& Wood. Lewis praised the teams for their
dedication to the inclusive ideal and the
quality of their work. He announced that the
2007 DBA Inclusive Design Challenge would
have a new slant with a patient safety brief
put forward by the National Patient Safety
Agency, who will be sponsoring the event.
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>project 1:
Infood
Adecco Edge
A standardised and accessible graphic
system based on symbols for food packaging
to enable consumers to quickly and easily
determine the ingredients of any product.

Background
Twenty per cent of the UK population is
affected by food intolerance allergies, a
number that is estimated to rise by five per
cent each year. Reactions range from minor
skin rashes to major life-threatening
anaphylaxis. On 25 November 2005, a
new EU directive stipulated that all prepackaged
food should show clearly on the
label whether it contains any of 12 ingredients
that commonly cause reactions. As yet,
however, no standardised graphic system
exists to alert consumers to the presence
of common allergens in food.
How does it work?
Infood is a set of 12 simple allergen icons,
consisting of a bold graphic symbol and
accompanying descriptor based on
Makaton, RNIB and Mencap guidelines.
They are intended to replace the long,
space-consuming and confusing lists
currently used on packaging. Each icon
enables interpretation on three levels
– through recognition of a specific image
representing the allergen, through
abbreviated text describing it and
through colour to differentiate each
allergen.
13

A bold typeface, vivid colours and
simple, easily-recognised shapes have been
used and the text kept separate to enable
translation into other EU languages. This
ensures maximum accessibility and legibility
in its smallest manifestation and allows the
icons to be used globally to meet the needs
of the widest range of consumers.
The icons are intended for download as
a font set or as coloured artwork. Use would
be encouraged on food labels, shop shelves,
home-shopping websites, restaurant menus
and more. Other plans include their incorporation
into emerging technologies such
as RFID scanners and handsets to be used
in conjunction with personalised smart cards
detailing an individual’s needs.
User input
The personal experience of team members
with food allergies gave impetus to the
idea. This was enhanced by a brainstorming
session with a user group consisting of
consumers of different cultural background
with food allergies, visual impairments and
dexterity problems. Users were asked to rate
a set of prototype icons on their clarity, ease
of recognition, visual appeal and personal
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preference. These were refined and checked
throughout the development process in
consultation with the users.
Judges’ comments
“A beautifully simple and thorough solution
to a major issue that is exceptionally
current in legislative terms but has yet to
be addressed by industry, nationally or
internationally. It presents a fantastic market
opportunity for innovation.” The panel was
impressed by the fact that the team had
anticipated the impact of this legislation and
provided the answer in an elegant and farreaching
way. “How can this not exist?”
they asked.
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project 2:
Chatterpack
Coley Porter Bell
A pack that can talk to you, warn you,
inform you, help you learn a language
or just make you laugh. Chatterpack is
activated when moved so that a message
is delivered bringing benefits to
consumers of all ages and abilities.
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Background
Identifying the contents of a pack in
the home or in the supermarket can be
a problem for consumers with visual
impairments, those who suffer from memory
loss, have reading difficulties or just cannot
decipher small print. Talking tins and labels
are available on the special-needs market
but the devices are cumbersome, expensive
and not easy to adapt.
How does it work?
Chatterpack uses the commonly available,
inexpensive microchip technology similar to
that used in talking greetings cards. It can
be stuck to the bottom of packs, bottles and
other objects. The action of moving or lifting
them activates the voice and, importantly, no
buttons need to be pressed.
This concept allows Chatterpacks to be
tailored to many different types of people, all
with different needs – some functional, some
cognitive, others emotional. The idea of a pack
that can talk offers a flexible and accessible
solution in particular for consumers for whom
packaging presents a cognitive challenge. The
design team explored some scenarios that
exploited Chatterpack’s potential:
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> a voice could warn a child that the contents
of a bottle are toxic or dangerous
> a carer’s voice could remind their client
with memory loss of the exact dosage of
their daily medicine
> people with short-term memory loss could
be reminded of how to do things. The repetition
of key words and phrases would be
a lifeline and help restore their dignity
> a grandchild’s voice could ease loneliness
by saying ‘hello’ when a jar of coffee is
picked up or when their photograph is
viewed
> a person on a diet could be reminded of
the calorie count of forbidden foods
> a foreign language learner could learn the
names of common items in the home
> visually impaired people would be able to
navigate their way around jars and bottles
in cupboards and be alerted to sell-bydates
in the fridge.
Chatterpacks would be available in bespoke
and standard versions and sold in blister
packs singly or in bulk in stores, on the
internet or over the phone. The highcontrast
logo used is semiotic with a
speech bubble to indicate that it would
speak to you. A sans serif type has been
used for maximum clarity.

The magnetic or adhesive backing allows
each Chatterpack to be applied anywhere
– on a photo frame to identify the person in
the picture or on appliances to indicate the on
button. A sensor or button option would also
be available. The cheapness, flexibility of use
and wide potential applications mean
that Chatterpack has great mainstream
market potential.
User input
Users with mobility, dexterity and visual
impairments and carers of those suffering
memory loss.
Judge’s comments
The judges loved the simplicity of the idea
and the fact that it can be tailored to
individual needs yet remains easy to use,
inexpensive and is a truly inclusive solution.
They felt it would work well with specific
groups of people; short-term disability is
also addressed and, above all, it has huge
potential in marketing terms. The judges
loved the way the team had looked at serious
issues but had not neglected the important
element of fun implicit in the idea of
products that can talk back.
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project 3:
www.work-able.org.uk
Felton Communication
A central online resource for disabled
people looking for training or employment,
backed by a national integrated
communications campaign that will
empower and inform all parties.
20

Background
Equal access to employment is a key issue
for many disabled people and a determinant
of their quality of life. Official statistics
reveal the depressing reality that is a moral
and economic scandal. Disabled people
are at least five times more likely to be
unemployed. In the UK, only 49.6% of those
of working age are in work with over three
million in the UK economically inactive.
Of this latter number, one million say they
would like to work.
Numerous existing websites attempt
to address this problem but they are either
disability or location specific or simply serve
as a link to mainstream recruitment sites.
None match employers’ needs with disabled
job seekers’ abilities but focus instead on
disability.
How does it work?
The website www.work-able.org.uk will
be a central resource combining the
best specific advice and information on
employment and training opportunities
for all disabled people from existing UK
independent and government organisations.
This pan-disability site would be a more
accessible and effective way for disabled
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people to search and achieve desirable
employment. The site would act as a portal
providing links to all relevant existing
sites. The key feature is a confidential jobmatching
system based on job-seekers’
abilities. The site would also:
> list all UK training courses and sort by
location and profession
> provide advice to employers including
latest legislation updates
> provide a forum for debate on related
issues
> act as a noticeboard for job opportunities
available
> answer FAQs (frequently asked questions)
> publish employer league tables.
In order for such a resource to be effective,
the target audience has to know of its existence.
To this end, Felton Communication
proposes developing a national integrated
communications campaign for both print and
broadcast media. The campaign is based on
the “dis-abled but work-able” concept and
would be both impactful and empowering.
The benefit of such a communications
strategy is that it highlights the plight of
disabled people to the able-bodied population,
particularly potential employers or work
colleagues. This fully integrated campaign

would focus on disabled people’s ordinary
rather than extraordinary ‘heroic’ abilities,
would shift negative perceptions, dispel
myths and encourage take-up by employers
not as a statutory obligation but because it
can result in a better workforce.
As Roger Felton explained: “We realised
targeting the one million disabled job seekers
was irrelevant if we couldn’t change the
hearts and minds of the employers. So our
efforts to promote the site focused on them.”
User input
Potential employers, recruitment specialists
and people with disabilities of varying ages,
who are in employment or unemployed.
Judge’s comments
“An important campaign that directly
addresses the serious issue of the underemployment
of disabled people – the one
million disabled people in the UK who are
not working, who would like to get a job but
can’t.” The judges felt that it would change
hearts and minds, overcome resistance
among employers and motivate many to
think again about an issue that has an impact
on so many people.”
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>project 4:
Houdini
Matter
A lightweight, inclusive fire extinguisher
for the mainstream market that will
allow consumers of all ages and abilities
to retain their independence as long
as possible and bring peace of mind.

Background
Safety in the home is a major issue for
consumers of all ages but particularly for
those with sight, mobility or dexterity
problems. On average, more than 50 per
cent of all fatalities in accidental household
fires each year occur among the over 60s.
Statistics suggest that this will increase when
over half of Europe’s adult population in 2020
will be classified as old, and will desire to
maintain independence in their own home.
How does it work?
The design team sought to combine elegance
and simplicity with the ergonomic imperative
of portability and an effortless operating
stance. Houdini’s characteristic hose-like
horizontal orientation is a simple but radical
departure from existing extinguishers and
allows for instinctive use and greater control.
When the extinguisher is aimed at the fire
source, it can be squeezed, pressed by hands
or feet or in the armpit and even stepped on
or hit. It is tapered to allow those with poor
grip to clasp it easily and the large tactile
activation button and ringed funnel exit
provide identifiable cues for visually impaired
users to take fast, precise action.
A self-adhesive mask acts as a safety
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cover for the extinguisher and protects the
face against smoke inhalation, helping to
prevent respiratory fatalities, the single most
common cause of death in domestic fires.
This lightweight extinguisher was conceived
as a decorative but functional object
– more like a vacuum flask rather than a
heavy fixed extinguisher. This would allow
one to be stored within easy reach in multiple
locations and would overcome difficulties
of installation. It can be easily activated, used
and then discarded in the event of a fire.
The British Standard stipulates a predominant
red exterior – the design team
saw this as a conflict between effectiveness
and legislation – an excuse not to purchase,
a reason to hide the product and decrease
emergency access. A simple colour study
helped gauge consumer reaction to the
point where Houdini no longer became
recognisable as a fire extinguisher.
Each can will be clearly marked with
an expiry date and sold in an innovative
multi-pack of four for a retail price of around
£35 per pack. One would be a dummy
extinguisher to be used as a training model
that will help overcome the instinctive fear
and panic in the event of a fire. Matter
envisage future models illuminated and

talking to each other, reacting to existing
alarm systems with audible warnings and
acting as a flashlight or escape light.
Transfer-print options would allow owners
to tailor Houdini to their décor and lifestyle.
User input
The design was progressed through sketches
and foam models, which allowed user input
at every stage. The users consulted were
younger consumers with severe disabilities
– dexterity, mobility and sight impairments
and restricted growth – as well as elderly
people living independently.
Judge’s comments
“The project addresses one of the biggest
challenges for inclusive design. How to combine
usability, safety and desirability, and
simultaneously motivate the consumer to
invest in a product that may only be used once
but could save their life.”The judges particularly
liked the ideas of the dummy pack for
training and the business model built around
the idea.“Matter produced an easy-to-use
object that is as desirable as it is useful and
is based on a thorough understanding of the
complexity of issues.”
27

project 5:
Consider
Wire Design
A simple, practical software tool to
help graphic designers and their clients
understand the effect of common visual
impairments and check their work
throughout the development process
for visual inclusivity.
28 28

Background
Many graphic designers do not understand
the relevance of inclusive design to their
practice or view it as a restriction to their
creativity. Clients are increasingly aware of
the need for inclusively-designed graphic
communication but are not equipped with the
design expertise to develop an answer. Consider
sets out to help designers and clients
understand the principles of inclusive design
without offering a one-size-fits-all solution.
How does it work?
Consider could be launched from any
design software package or PDF Reader,
which means that it will be available
throughout the whole design and proofing
process to the client and the designer. The
first part of the software allows consideration
of an audience from the perspective of age,
expendable income and location and then
offers the client a quick conversion of that
data into a breakdown by common visual
impairment, such as dyslexia, colour blindness,
refractive error, partial sight etc. This
information may be written into any project
brief so that the whole project team can
work with a better understanding of their
audience in relation to ability.
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Consider then enhances this understanding
of the target audience, by replicating
common eye conditions: a design in
progress is automatically converted into a high
resolution PDF file and the designer can
choose any condition and degree of severity
from a drop-down menu and view how their
visually impaired audience sees that design.
At this stage, unconventional icons give
recommendations on improving the design
for this condition and at this level. For example,
for simple short-sightedness, issues
such as type size, font contrast and colour
would be highlighted. At a more severe level
of the condition, the opportunities would
include sound and shape, texture, Braille and
personal assistance. For dyslexia, designers
would be able to load examples from the
library of graphic tests and different layouts
for newspaper, website, posters, packaging,
signage and so on that are included with
the software.
The software does not deliver prescriptive
solutions but instead helps the designer
to understand the principles underlying
inclusive design and shows how they might
make their work more inclusive. Similarly for
the client, examples of how image, structure
and copy can make a dramatic difference for

the end user are highlighted and the software
offers advice on these issues.
Graphic design innovators of the past
and present would also be included in the
software package for inspiration, as well as
examples of good and bad design, all of
which may be previewed according to any
impairment. Increasingly, assistive technologies
are creating opportunities for more
inclusive communication. Consider highlights
some of these new technologies,
such as mobile text readers that can quickly
convert encoded files into speech.
With a far greater incidence of dyslexia
in the creative industries, prescriptive guidelines
delivered in a dull, text-based format
have been shown to be problematic. They
also lack the crucial ingredients of empathy
and inspiration that would motivate designers
to explore inclusive possibilities they
might otherwise have not considered.
Consider was conceived with both
designer and client as user in mind and taps
into their common desire for good graphic
design that is relevant to a wider audience.
User input
Clients, graphic designers, visually impaired
artists and users with sight conditions.
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Judge’s comments
“A brilliant, intuitive tool with wide-ranging
scope that will change perceptions among
designers and their clients regarding
inclusive design and help them jointly reach
an effective, inclusive solution.” The judges
were impressed by the refreshing, nonprescriptive
approach of the design team
and their canny understanding of how to
overcome resistance and motivate designers
and clients to adopt inclusive practice. They
felt that the fact that the tool would be built
within the familiar Adobe platform would
encourage widespread use.

project 6:
Caddy
Wood&Wood Design
An affordable, mainstream lifestyle product
that combines the benefits of the granny
trolley, mobility aid and roller suitcase without
the aesthetic stigma of the first two.
Background
Nine per cent of adults in the UK own
some form of mobility aid but despite the
large number available and the popularity
of ‘granny trolleys’ among the elderly, few
take into account the aspirations of younger
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consumers who might benefit from their
functional qualities but are repelled by their
attached stigma. The potential of mobility
aids in such new markets as the large
nomadic workforce remains unexplored.
How does it work?
The Caddy is a mobile case that can be
pulled with one hand, or pushed with two
and provides storage, support and seating,
enabling use by people of all abilities. It has
a rigid polymer outer shell, with all features
and fixing points moulded in. A removable
fabric case sits within the shell to form the
storage compartment, and is accessible
through the top from both front and back.
The pivoting rear-leg frame and lockable
castors allow the user to easily switch
between the two and four-wheel modes.
Large diameter wheels with integral axles
and rubber tyres help them negotiate
uneven terrain and small kerbs and
reduce jarring.
Compression brakes engage when the
user is seated, avoiding the need for lever
brakes, which are difficult for people with
reduced grip. A large curved handle allows
different gripping and leaning options, with
adjustment levers integrated into the form.

Made from a durable fabric laminate,
the textile design of the internal case can
be selected to suit personal tastes. The case
has an expansion gusset to increase volume,
and various internal compartments can be
created. The seat platform rotates upwards
to reveal a small compartment for personal
items, and locks in place to secure the internal
case within the outer shell.
User input
The prototype was developed and tested
with regular travellers of different ages with
mobility impairments.
Results
Interest in the design concept has been shown
by a major international luggage manufacturer.
Judge’s comments
“A stylish and practical new-generation
product with clever inclusive features that
addresses the needs and aspirations of the
younger market – disabled or otherwise.
Caddy resolves one of the biggest issues for
disabled people – the social acceptability of
key items of equipment.” The panel admired
the depth of the research behind it and were
unanimous in asking “Where can I buy one?”
35

36
PART 2
>The Challenge Workshop
Introduction
Ten years ago, use of the term
‘inclusive’ in relation to design
would result in a questioning
or puzzled expression among
designers and manufacturers.
The relentless ageing of populations
worldwide, and a corresponding
shrinking of their
traditional 18-35 market, has
seen both waking up finally to
the size of this new, previously
overlooked one.
According to the Office for
National Statistics (ONS), out
of a total population of 59.8
million people in the UK in
2003, 20 million were aged
50 and over, a number that is
projected to increase by a further
36% to 27.2 million by the
year 2031. The Financial Services
Authority has calculated that
this population group owns 85%
of the nation’s wealth (excluding
housing and pensions) and
spends £175bn a year or 45%
of all household expenditure.
All in all, it adds up to a business
opportunity not to be missed.
Behind the numbers something
interesting is going on in design
terms – for this ‘new old’ segment
of the population does not
conform to the myopic stereotypes
in traditional marketing campaigns
of older people. There is a great
deal of generational blurring taking
place in which physical age is no
longer the sole indicator of where
consumers sit in terms of taste or
lifestyle and this is reflected in that
most age-conscious of sectors,
fashion and retail.
Sharon Stone at 47 is the
new face of Christian Dior; model
agencies report a 30-40% increase
in demand for older models, while
the ‘Twiggy factor’ has been cited
as a major reason for the return to
economic health of Marks and
Spencer after the 56-year-old
model was featured in a campaign
for their new womenswear collection
aimed at women of all ages.

Generational blurring or no,
one thing is undeniable – the
ageing process and all it entails
in terms of reduced dexterity,
mobility, vision and hearing means
that no-one is immune, no matter
how healthy or active, and it is
not something that styling alone
can address. lt will affect the way
in which consumers interact with
products, services and environments
and baby boomers are
notoriously demanding and critical.
The question then for designers
and industry is how to design
mainstream products and services
which take account of the physical
and sensory changes of ageing but
do so in a way that reconciles their
aspirations and functional needs
without the stigma of conventional
special needs products.
Exemplars of inclusive design
do exist. The Oxo Good Grips
range has led the way, as have the
exciting prototypes emerging each
year from the DBA Inclusive Design
Challenge and the Helen Hamlyn
Research Associates Programme.
Here, designers have used
methodologies centred on user
involvement at all stages of the
design process, resulting in better
design, whatever the context.
Designers and their clients
often agree that this is the way
to go, but they will also counter
it by saying they do not inhabit
a perfect world – they are timepressured
and involving users
can be logistically complex and
expensive. Designers also fear that
working with older and disabled
users is restrictive and will result
in some form of fatal creative
compromise to their final design.
Six years of the DBA Inclusive
Design Challenge have laid that
idea comprehensively to rest and
shown that you can reconcile
aesthetics and function and
innovate significantly through
interaction with users with severe
disabilities. After all, these are
people who often do things in
radically different ways that in
themselves suggest new, lateral
approaches to design problems.
37

There still remains the problem
of time, however, and inclusive
design is perceived as being timeconsuming.
To show that this is not
necessarily the case and to ensure
that the lessons learned are pertinent,
the DBA Inclusive Design
Challenge takes place within the
time frame of a typical design
project of around four months.
Some projects are even shorter
and we wondered whether there
could be a quicker way to jumpstart
the inclusive design process
and generate innovative ideas or
at the very least alert design
managers to the advantages of
an inclusive approach.
In 2005, the Inclusive Business
RCA programme ran a three-day
workshop for Reckitt Benkiser and a
24 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge
as part of the Include conference
at the Royal College of Art. Their
evident success suggested that
one could significantly change
corporate hearts and minds and
inspire designers even within an
attenuated time frame.
38
So we have refined the
Challenge model as a knowledge
transfer mechanism to explore
inclusive design techniques with
design and industry, using feedback
from designers over the past six
years to evolve a flexible workshop
module for different contexts. The
Challenge model contains the key
elements of pertinent information,
lateral inspiration and the development
of presentation skills.
The four workshops described
in this section road-tested the
Challenge model under different
circumstances and with different
participants, these ranged from
SMEs in the disability aids and
equipment sector and Occupation
Thearapists (OTs) in the UK to
industrial design students in Israel
and Human Computer Interaction
(HCI) students and those of other
disciplines in Japan. The flexible
format generated exciting results.
Read on ...
Julia Cassim

Workshop 1
>Innovating through Inclusive Design
College of Occupational Therapists, London
18 January 2006
Context
This one-day workshop was
organised in collaboration with the
College of Occupational Therapists
(COT) – the 20,000 strong body
for a profession, which uniquely
sees both sides of the story.
Its aim was to bring together
occupational therapists – the
gatekeepers for rehabilitation
aids and equipment – and the
manufacturers who supply them
in a sector not generally associated
with excellence in design.
Participants
Participants came from as far as
France and Germany and included
designers, administrators,
manufacturers and users.
Framework: Part 1
After presentations, occupational
therapists outlined the context
of poor design in an area characterised
by little R&D, low profit
margins, lack of creative service
delivery, under-managed services
and compliant users.
39

Tony Rheinberg, Marketing
Director of bathroom manufacturer
Armitage Shanks, introduced an
inspiring case study demonstrating
the application of inclusive
design principles in two bathrooms
designed by interior designer
Alison Wright and occupational
therapist Kate Sheehan.
Their brief was to ‘design
bathrooms for two clients with different
requirements, allowing for
independent use without compromising
style and affordability.’ The
first was Mary, a pensioner with
arthritis in her hands and knees;
the second was 30-year-old Robert,
an architect and wheelchair user
who wanted a shower room that
focused on his active lifestyle and
appreciation of good design.
The design for Mary included
a toilet wall-mounted to her seated
height, lever taps, thermostatic
valves, an easy-push flush and grab
rails, inbuilt storage, non-slip flooring
and good contrast integrated into
a cool green interior that exuded
style, not age or disability. In contrast,
Robert’s luxury wet room with
its slip-resistant, self-draining
floor used robust materials inspired
by yacht interiors. It had discreet
40
support and other safety features,
all drawn from Armitage Shanks’
mainstream product range.
Part 2
Then it was the audience’s turn
– the slot after lunch saw five teams
working furiously to a deadline of
one-and-a-half hours, to come up
with an inclusive product solution
to the design problem set by the
disabled consumer on their team.
Assisting them were ‘visualisers’
– Helen Hamlyn Research Associates
past and present who helped
the team evolve their ideas in visual
form and come up with a proposal
for a final prototype.
Results
The ideas presented by the teams
ranged from the ‘Loomerang’ –
a portable, inflatable toilet seat
– to better packaging. The winning
design from a team led by Mark
Champkins and Reg Webb, a blind
musician who struggles to open
CDs, was for reconfigured CD packaging
that ticked all the boxes with
the judges. The afternoon ended
with discussion and a promise that
this was the start of a new way of
learning about inclusive design.

Top three rows: workshop scenes. Bottom row: Mary’s bathroom (left) and Robert’s shower room
(right) a collaboration between Armitage Shanks, Alison Wright and Kate Sheehan
41

Workshop 2
>British Council Design Workshop
Holon Academic Institute of Technology,
Israel 15-17 November 2005
42
Context
The Holon Academic Institute of
Technology (HAIT) near Tel Aviv
focuses on advanced technology
and its scientific, professional,
social and cultural aspects. Its
School of Design has three departments:
Industrial Design, Interior
Design and Visual Communications.
The workshop was for 30 third-year
industrial design students. All had
completed up to six years of
military service before entering
higher education. The three-day
workshop aimed to give them
experience of user-centred research
culminating in a group design
project. The development of their
ability to present effectively was
another key element.
Framework
Day One: setting the context
The students were asked to bring

two products – one well designed,
the other poorly so. After analysis
of their functional, emotional and
aesthetic qualities, the students
were split into groups and asked to
select a poorly designed product
and redesign it to a deadline.
The objects ranged from
obstetric forceps and an army hide
rucksack to a cruet set and pencil
sharpener. After presentation of
their proposals, participants were
introduced to some inclusive
case studies and ‘quick and dirty’
research methods, followed by a
simulated experience of disability.
They donned rubber gloves, taped
up their fingers, smeared grease
on their glasses or wore those
which simulated eye conditions and
then handled the object they had
redesigned.
Then it was back to their drawing
boards for another redesign
of the object with a presentation
and judging. Their first redesigns
showed an emphasis on style and
aesthetics while the second leaned
towards the importance of function.
The question remained as to how
to seamlessly reconcile the two.
After an introdution to usercentred
research methods, the
students were given the brief for
Day Two, to spend the morning
capturing user data in a supermarket,
restaurant, home or public
transport terminal. They had to
observe an individual or group
interacting with a product, service
or environment, document them
using sketching, video ethnography,
still photography and find
issues that could be addressed
through design.
Day Two: field work and
storyboarding
The students spent the morning
observing individuals in different
contexts. In the afternoon, they
were shown how to isolate a key
design issue, build a narrative
around their findings and present
it in storyboard form, giving the
context of the person or group that
inspired it.
An introduction to the concept
of multiple scenarios followed. It
is central to understanding how
a product or service inspired by
disability or extreme needs can be
made relevant to different groups
in the population. By identifying
how superficially disimilar activities
by diverse groups of people are
43

44 44
Above: teams and projects from Holon Academic Insititute of Technology including Zadrow
(second row), the winning idea. Bottom row, right: presentation to the winning team with
judge Mel Byars (far right)

linked, an inclusive platform can
be built for a product and enables
mainstream design principles to
be applied.
Day Three: presentations
Their brief for the final day was to
develop an inclusive design concept
and present it in six minutes.
Results
The five teams visited street markets,
shopping malls and care homes.
The results were accordingly varied:
from new concepts for Falafel
packaging to care home service
delivery. One team based their idea
on a chance encounter with a 47-
year-old Arab grandmother living in
Jaffa. She had invited them into her
home, and described her feelings
of isolation as an empty nester.
The design team responded
by devising Friends-4-U, a landline
phone-based service which would
link her with others in her situation
so that they could exchange news,
gossip and advice anytime.
Another team surveyed the
local shopping mall and found no
place for mothers who wished to
breast-feed their babies discreetly.
They designed ‘mbrace – a
dedicated facility within the mall,
which encompassed the need for
comfort, privacy and sociability.
The winning team went one
step further and produced a prototype
in less than 24 hours. At a
street market they had met an
elderly woman who went there daily
with her small dog to socialise and
shop. She lived in straightened circumstances
and was in poor health.
The design team understood her
need for an inexpensive product
that would combine the functional
qualities of a shopping trolley with
an integrated seat.
Enterprisingly, they retrieved a
discarded trolley from a skip, fixed
a seat to it and welded hooks to
the side to allow shopping bags
to be hung from it. Their conversations
with their key user had
convinced them that even if a
perfect product were designed and
manufactured, it would have been
unaffordable. Showing her how
to improvise within the context
of what she owned was the most
inclusive solution. The results were
judged by industrial designer Ofer
Zick, design historian Mel Byars
and Julia Cassim from the Helen
Hamlyn Research Centre.
45

46
Workshop 3
Department of Systems Engineering
Kyoto University, Japan, 1-3 March 2006
Context
Kyoto University was founded in
1897, the second university to be
established in Japan, and educates
the country’s ruling elite. This
workshop was organised by the
Symbiotic Systems Laboratory
in the Department of Systems
Science whose research focus is
the relationships between humans,
artefacts and their environments
and the development of systems
design methodologies. The Lab
collaborated with Tanpopo no Ie
(Dandelion House), a national disability
arts network which also runs
a residential centre with studios in
Nara, the ancient capital of Japan.
Universal design is wellestablished
in Japan as evidenced
by the activities of the International
Association of Universal Design
(IAUD), a 140 member-strong network
of Japan’s leading companies
that is organising the 2nd International
Conference on Universal
Design in Kyoto in October 2006.
Many companies have in-house
universal design divisions and do
extensive user testing and research
to ensure an inclusive product range.
Leading names like Panasonic and
Toyota showcase them in permanent
exhibition spaces in Tokyo.
With the business rationale
based firmly on the demographics
of ageing markets, the challenge
for Japanese manufacturers is to
widen the appeal of universallydesigned
products, which are
commonly viewed as being for
older or disabled people alone.
The aim of both workshops in
Japan was to show how one could
combine ergonomics with mainstream
styling to develop desirable
and inclusive products that would
appeal to a broader spectrum
of consumers.
Participants
Graduate systems engineering
students from Kyoto University;
design, media and social welfare
studies students from other universities
in the Kansai and Chubu

Teams and projects from Kyoto University. Top row: best presentation. Third row: best idea
47

area; disabled individuals from the
Tanpopo no Ye network and one
employee of a small company.
Framework
The workshop followed the pattern
devised for the Holon workshop
with the crucial difference being the
involvement of disabled users. Each
of the four teams spent half a day
shadowing their assigned subject
– a visually impaired housewife, two
young male wheelchair users and
a visually impaired couple in their
50s. The teams worked late into
the night to develop their design
ideas for presentation on the final
day to faculty staff and members of
the public.
Results
The four projects were as varied as
those by their Israeli counterparts.
One team proposed a new easyto-open
packaging design for
vacuum-sealed ‘natto’ – the
fermented soya beans that are
a cheap and popular item of the
Japanese diet. A second group
devised a new system for making
individual cups of filtered coffee
while the third looked at the
48
problems visually impaired people
experience in applying toothpaste.
‘Tooth Candy’ was their answer
– solidified toothpaste that could
be popped in the mouth and was
as ideal for people on the move as
the visually impaired person who
had inspired it.
The winning team worked with
a young wheelchair user who was
an avid visitor to games centres and
a fan of puri-kura (print club), which
he exchanged as visual autograph
equivalents with his friends. These
arcade booths deliver sticker sheets
of 16 miniature photographs of the
subject posed against a variety of
computer-graphics backgrounds.
It is a popular sub-culture among
young people in Japan.
The team devised a way
in which this system could be
translated into sound so that
instead of images, friends could
exchange sounds using existing
mobile phone technology. The
judging panel felt that this was a
unique way of promoting social
inclusion and having fun.

-
Workshop 4
>User Science Institute, Kyushu University
Fukuoka, Japan, 6-8 March 2006
Context
Kyushu University, based in
Fukuoka, is one of Japan’s leading
national universities with a student
enrolment of 16,500 and a 100-
year history. The User Science
Institute (USI), part of the Faculty of
Design, is located off-campus on a
busy street corner in a small glass-
walled complex of three buildings
that include a day-care centre and
an adult education centre. Passersby
can look through the windows and
drop in. This open-door policy
exemplifies the USI’s outward-facing
design activities which are centred
on inclusive design.
The workshop was organised
49

50
Workshop scenes. Bottom row: best idea – Frepper, a modular shoe

y RCA alumnus and industrial
designer Professor Yasuyuki Hirai
in collaboration with Kobo Maru,
a non-profit creative arts workshop
for disabled people.
Participants
Industrial design students from
Kyushu University and design,
architecture and systems
engineering students from
other universities in the region.
Framework
The three-day workshop followed
the same structure as the Kyoto
workshop, with four young disabled
men from Kobo Maru participating
throughout.
Results
Again, the results were as diverse
as in the previous workshops.
All but one of the user group
combined speech and mobility
impairments and so the proposals
by the teams that worked with
them focused predominantly on
new ways of communication.
One team devised a discreet
device that could be worn around
the neck, giving light signals at
times when help was required.
The second designed a flowershaped
motif that could exist as a
physical object to be worn around
the neck or as a symbol that could
be activated in ATMs and other
public interfaces to alert service
staff to a customer’s need for
assistance.
The third team proposed an
interactive restaurant table on
which images and text could be
written, while the winning team
proposed ‘Frepper’ – a flexible
shoe with modular elements that
allowed it to be accessorised
and was easy to put on and
remove. It could be marketed as
a new footwear innovation for the
mainstream market while existing
in a specific special needs context.
51

web resources
DBA Inclusive Design Challenge
Adecco: W3.ibm.com/marketing/emea/emaps
Coley Porter Bell: www.cpb.co.uk
Felton Communication: www.feltoncom.com
Matter: www.matter-studio.co.uk
Wire Design: http:wiredesign.com
Wood&Wood Design: http: wwdesign.com
52
Other Related Sites
Alison Wright: www.futureproofhome.co.uk
Armitage Shanks: www.armitage-shanks.co.uk
British Standards Institute: www.bsi-global.com
College of Occupational Therapists: www.cot.co.uk
Design Business Association (DBA): www.dba.org.uk
Design Council Inclusive Design Resource:
www.designcouncil.org.uk/inclusivedesignresource
Disability Rights Commission: www.disability.go.uk/drc
Helen Hamlyn Research Centre: www.hhrc.rca.ac.uk
Holon Advanced Institute of Technology(HAIT):
www.hait.ac.il/about/profile.asp
Include 2005: www.hhrc.rca.ac.uk/programmes/include/2005
International Association of Universal design(IAUD): www.iaud.net/en
Kyoto University, Symbiotic Systems Lab, Department of System Science:
www.symlab.sys.i.kyoto-u.ac.jp/research/index_e.html
Kyushu University, School of Design, User Science Institute:
www.usi.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Makaton: www.makaton.org
National Statistics online: www.statistics.gov.uk
Scope: www.scope.org.uk
Tanpopo no Ye: http://popo.or.jp/english/index.html

About the Helen Hamlyn
Research Centre
The Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at the
Royal College of Art works to advance a
socially inclusive approach to design through
practical research and projects with industry.
Endowed by the Helen Hamlyn Foundation,
it has a special focus on the design needs of
older and disabled people. Inclusive Business
RCA, organiser of the DBA Inclusive
Design Challenge, is the Research Centre’s
main platform to address disability issues.
www.hhrc.rca.ac.uk
About InnovationRCA
InnovationRCA is the Royal College of Art’s
innovation network for business. Its work is
dedicated to developing new knowledge,
new products and new innovation practices
for business. Inclusive Business RCA, is one
of its main knowledge-transfer programmes.
www.innovation.rca.ac.uk
Design: Margaret Durkan
Photography: David Ramkalawon, Julia Cassim
and Dr Hua Dong
Printing: Futura Printing Ltd
53

54
The Helen Hamlyn
Research Centre
Royal College of Art
Kensington Gore
London SW7 2EU
T 020 7590 4242
F 020 7590 4244
hhrc@rca.ac.uk
www.hhrc.rca.ac.uk