"Good design should be universal"
— Satoshi Nakagawa, Founder of Tripod Design
Sometimes it’s a matter of choice in life to choose what to do. If you look around yourself for a minute, unfortunately you will probably realise that most surrounding products are designed for a mass of healthy, young adults. To some extent, this happens obviously for a commercial reason: companies and governments choose to serve the majority of people first, since it makes the most money or just “serves more”. However, “universal design” could change this and become a key to an inclusive society in Southeast Asia.
As an unfortunate result of the industry-first design products, a minority, such as children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with disabilities, experience limitations in daily life and are left behind — and hurt — in spaces such as bathrooms, kitchens and stairs.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 10 per cent of falls in houses, such as bathroom and stair falls, cause major injuries in seniors. Some lead to traumatic brain injury-related deaths. There is a stress on families, communities, and countries for increased healthcare, in-home caregiving, and even appropriate home modification for the elderly or people with disabilities.
In the early 2000s, “universal design”, or UD, was initiated by Ronald Mace, a polio patient and the founder of the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University. It’s the concept of the design of products and the environment that are accessible and usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, without the need for specialised design. It has encouraged professionals to not focus on any particular consumer segments, but rather to serve a wide spectrum of all users at once.
Figure 1
U-Wing pen, a UD product, designed by Satoshi Nakagawa. Picture courtesy of Tripod Design
It sounds extreme, even impossible, but it turns out that one country has mastered UD perfectly for two decades: Japan. Although the emergence of UD is witnessed around the world, the enthusiasm among business and government leaders and designers in Japan has been unique.
Two years ago when I met Satoshi Nakagawa, a world-class UD guru from Japan, he explained to me that UD could possibly help elders and people with disabilities in many ways. For instance, it could:
- Support daily life activities, e.g., eating, bathing, toileting, transferring, etc.;
Prevent accidents that are cause of deaths in homes;
Provide mental support for everybody to live longer and not be depressed over their physical state of being;
Allow elders to age in their homes, rather than requiring retirement communities or nursing homes to provide their essentials of life.
According to Nakagawa, what matters the most is that UD encourages a proactive and independent lifestyle among users, allowing them to continue their social and physical activities, making them healthier and happier. The Journal of Aging Research shows that the elderly’s independence contributes to decrease in health care costs, including costs for medicines and caretakers. UD has not only a moral and emo- tional aspect, but also financial benefits.
Figure 2
An affordable Safety Shower Bench sold at HomePro at approximately US$20 — equivalent to four Starbucks Iced Lattes in Bangkok. Picture courtesy of HomePro TH
UD products are also meant to be cheaper than a specialised product because of the scale of the economy. This translates to an inclusive society in terms of truly affordable products, not just products that serve the well-to-do.
Meanwhile, UD encourages young designers to better understand and empathise. At the KUDOS Universal Design Seminar 2016 in Bangkok, where Nakagawa was invited to conduct a workshop, he encouraged young Thai designers to be in the shoes of users with physical limitations. Wrapping them up so that their arms could not be used, for instance, Nakagawa nudged Thai designers to better understand the context of the elderly and people with disabilities.
He proposed to reform the current industry-centred design mentality into a consumer-centred design mentality, with an aim to use UD as a core idea to strengthen the communication and interaction between designers and consumers. Nakagawa believes UD would naturally flourish in a society where respect and care for others are prevalent.
“One of the reasons Japan has been the world leader in Universal Design is that we have a tradition of cherishing the value of communi- ty and respecting the elderly. I believe many Asian countries similarly value these and thus could succeed too,” Nakagawai said.
That populations are ageing across the world is undeniable. Accord- ing to the United Nations, the number of those aged over 60 years is expected to more than double by 2050, rising from 962 million globally in 2017 to 2.1 billion in 2050. Additionally, in 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, or the CES, reported that the number of people with disabilities across the world has exceeded 1 billion. It is time that we urgently reinterpret how we design and revolutionise assumptions of who product users are. It is wise for us to learn from Japan’s achieve- ment of an inclusive society through UD, which allows people to remain as active as they can.
As such, it is important to develop the next generation of Southeast Asian designers — vital human capital to drive innovations that will help our region and the world prepare for a greying transition — by redistributing lessons learned from Japan for further learning.
At KUDOS, we are drawing up plans for an online learning programme that will include peer-learning through a public UD forum in the spirit of open-source models, such that lessons learned will serve as a blue- print moving forward. Within the next few years, a solid, clear guideline will be completely developed to serve a product and service under the concept of UD for each country in Southeast Asia. With today’s emerging technologies like IoT (Internet on Things) and 3D printing, there has never been a better time to make UD products even better, cheaper and more inclusive.
Indeed it is a matter of choice what to do. We strongly believe it is time to embrace UD to enhance the feeling of well-being and safety for all people. After all, the future of ageing is the one that awaits all of us.
"UD encourages a proactive and independent lifestyle among users, allowing them to continue their social and physical activities, making them healthier and happier."
REFERENCES
- Carr, K., Weir, P. L., Azar, D., Aza, N. R. (2012) Universal Design: A Step toward Successful
- Aging. Journal of Aging Research. doi: 10.1155/2013/324624 Kudos. [Thai Blog]. http://www.kudos.co.th/blog/list?path=147&article_id=61
SANTI SRIVICHARNKUL
Santi Srivicharnkul is CEO of C.I.T. Corporation Limited, operating in home improvement under the KUDOS brand in Thailand and ASEAN. His Bangkok-based company is committed to developing the next generation of designers who will prepare ASEAN for an inclusive society through design and technologies.
APRIL 2018 | ISSUE 3
Visions for the Future
