Design for [every]ONE (D4E1) is a co-creation project initiated by the Industrial Design Center of Howest and in collaboration with Handicap International. Disabled individuals, designers and paramedics participating in the project create and build innovative assistive devices for their own use in order to increase the independency and mobility of disabled persons. Global health systems are subjected to an augmenting pressure. The key issue for our future society will not be the provision of more paramedics and designers, needed though they may be, but the effectiveness by which people are engaged in the responsible, collaborative maintenance of their own health.
Design for [every]ONE (D4E1) is a multidisciplinary research project which involves disabled persons and students from the design engineering and the occupational therapy departments of Howest University College West Flanders. Small teams develop custom made tools for a single user in a specific context. Not a single person or disability are similar. Yet these unique users can only choose from a fixed offer of universal assistive tools produced by mass production standards.
The health care sector has a long tradition in supporting the lost functions of humans by responding to them with technical equipment. The range of available tools is immense and a logical consequence should be that there is less need for professional help to perform the tasks of daily life. But the trends in employment of home nurses and the growth of waiting lists for residential care teach us a different story. In lots of situations standard devices do not meet the specific requirements of ‘unique’ users. Due to the demographic shift this group of people is rapidly growing. In essence we are all in the process of developing a disability in the future. Therefore a growing efficiency of people in coping with their own welfare is important.
The main caregivers are often family members and neighbours. They are passionate inventors: someone in his garage working out a technical solution enabling a friend to participate in social life is part of the little everyday things of life. This explains the numerous submissions for the competition ‘kiss for a small job’ organized by Handicap International.
In addition, designing for one specific user is not new…in fact it is the oldest tailor-made approach we know. The big gap that industrial progress opened up between the professional provision of design and our common competence and readiness to see and solve the problems around us, activated a new breed of active users namely Pro-ams (or committed and networked amateurs working to professional standards). State of the art technology such as 3D printing supports these professional standards and brings DIY (Do It Yourself) back on the map as a valuable business model. Thanks to the rise of the internet and flexible manufacturing processes, we are capable of making niche products on demand. Designers will no longer only design for people, they will have to learn to design with people. Co-creation requires a language that both designers and laymen can use.
In a DIY context people buy their materials in a local do-it-yourself store, they make existing or new tools, they inform each other by means of a manual, they hack each other’s design and adapt the product to their personal taste or needs. Product ideas are shared online and variations on the same product idea can emerge worldwide.
Other interesting examples of online self-empowerment are Google Health or Patientslikeme.org, a platform on which more than 70,000 people give advice to each other about symptoms and treatments for many syndromes.
Contact
Lieven De Couvreur – co-ordinator D4E1 –
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SCOPE :: D4E1
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