Leading Design Consultancies Tackle Design Bias at DBA Design Challenge 2001 at The Royal College of Art

Boiling water, looking good, the workplace, enjoying recreational space and remembering - all everyday things that we accept as part of life's routine. However it's just these mundane activities that 5 leading design consultancies will be pulling apart and re-examining as they come up with new ways for a wider section of society to experience and enjoy them.

"If you look at the battle lines between advertising, design and engineering, it is design focus on the user that is design's great strength. The message from clients such as BAA, Hewlett Packard and B & Q is that it increasingly makes good commercial sense to widen the accessibility of products and services we use at work, in the home, on the move and socially."
Jeremy Myerson, Co-Director, Helen Hamlyn Research Centre, Royal College of Art.

On 1 October 2004 the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 will require business and public sector organisations to make goods, facilities and services more accessible to disabled people thus enforcing a more inclusive approach and creating significant business opportunity in its wake. The Design Business Association [DBA] and the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at the Royal College of Art have been working together to demonstrate how designers can keep their clients ahead of the legislation and the competition.

This year five of the UK's leading design consultancies - Imagination, BDGMcColl, Alloy, Marketplace and SiebertHead will compete for the first DBA Design Challenge Inclusive Design Award. The design teams will present their prototypes developed with input from disabled users at a public forum, which will include designers and the business, academic and disability communities at the Royal College of Art on Thursday 6 December. Their outline concepts are attached.

Inclusive design describes the process whereby designers and manufacturers ensure that their products and services address the needs of the widest possible audience. They do this by consulting with users with a range of abilities and needs who can highlight design difficulty or creative challenge.

Many mainstream products and services ignore the advantage of this process and unnecessarily restrict their appeal to a consumer market that grows daily.

• by 2020 half the UK adult population will be aged 50 or over
• UK purchasing power of people of all ages with some form of disability (e.g. sight, mobility, hearing etc) is £40-£50 billion
• the over 50s already retain control of 60% of savings

At last year's DBA Design Challenge Design House, Factory, Priestman Goode and Renfrew showed the difference design could make with an exciting range of inclusive concepts for everyday life. Projects ranged from easy-access milk packaging to adaptable web interfaces for people with visual impairments.

The DBA Design Challenge 2001 will be held at the Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 on December 6 2001, from 6pm-9pm and will be introduced by Lord Snowdon, Provost of the Royal College of Art. Julian Cobbledick, Chair of the British Healthcare Trades Association and CEO of Medequip and stand-up comedian Francesca Martinez (tbc) will respond to the presentations prior to the presentation of the DBA Design Challenge Inclusive Design Award.

ENDS

Journalists wanting more information or an invite to attend the event should contact Anna Brenard, Senior Media Relations Officer, Royal College of Art on T: 020 7590 4127 or by e-mail at anna.brenard@rca.ac.uk

All other enquiries should be made to Julia Cassim, Helen Hamlyn Research Centre on T: 020 7590 4242 or by e-mail at hhrc@rca.ac.uk

For further information on the DBA Design Challenge 2000 and 2001 please visit www.hhrc.rca.ac.uk

Notes to Editors:

The Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at the Royal College of Art

The Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at the Royal College of Art is a centre for inclusive design. Funded by the Helen Hamlyn Foundation and founded in January 1999, it collaborates with Royal College of Art staff and students and a range of external partners to develop new, socially inclusive products and services for future ways of living, working and communicating. The DBA Design Challenge 2001 is being organised as part of the Centre's Small Business Programme funded by HEFCE - Higher Education Reach-Out to Business and Community Fund.

The Design Business Association (DBA)

The Design Business Association (DBA) was founded in 1986 when design was first recognised as a significant business sector in its own right. A non-profit making organisation, it is run by members for members, and is dedicated to representing the interests of design businesses of all disciplines. www.dba.org.uk

The participating design consultancies in the DBA Design Challenge 2001

BDGMcColl
Mobo-space: bringing the workplace to the employee

From inspiration provided by mobile libraries, our challenge is to design a mobile office space, which would act as a focal point, providing otherwise excluded users with high-end technical back-up, consultancy support and a physical meeting opportunity. Its primary aims would be to reduce isolation and promote social inclusion in remote working while facilitating increased communication between excluded groups and their local communities. www.bdgmccoll.com

Alloy Total Design
Kettle-sense

Being able to do everyday things is a key element to social inclusion. Our proposal looks to the mundane to inspire a product that will significantly improve an everyday experience for all people of all ages and abilities. We intend to re-think the most heavily used appliance in the house, make it truly better, more accessible, and highly inclusive. www.thealloy.com

Imagination
Inspiration Park

Combining nature with new and emerging technologies we will create a new type of space. A space that would allow free and unrestricted access to all, whilst providing imaginative ways of understanding how we each engage with and make sense of the world in our own way. Inspiration Park is designed to connect the experiences of people of all ages and abilities, inspiring a greater understanding of what accessibility means for recreation and public spaces. www.imagination.com

SiebertHead
Looking Good & Feeling Great

Many of the products we use on our bodies, hair and teeth are household names, with aspirational brands supported by vast marketing budgets. Are these products, their packaging and accessories 'inclusive' in their current design and formulation? SiebertHead are working with disabled users to learn more about the difficulties faced in daily preening and hygiene, and the strategies devised to overcome them. This insight will help us to design a product or products that have been conceived and designed inclusively, and have mainstream appeal. www.sieberthead.com

Marketplace
Re:mind

A small computer device that will prompt not to forget essential items, whether they are able-bodied or need special help. For people with early dementia it will remind them of important events in their day and help them maintain contact with others. For people suffering chronic conditions such as HIV or arthritis that require complex medication routines it will help them remember to take what and when during the day and reduce the risk of overdose. www.marketplace-design.co.uk