At the Royal College of Art
For the first time in its four-year history, the 2003 DBA Design Challenge Award was split between two winners. An ergonomic saucepan by Factory Design and an inclusive mobile phone by Seymourpowell took joint prize for the Award, which is organised jointly by the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre and the Design Business Association (DBA).
Its aim is to advance ideas and best practice in socially inclusive design by giving designers the opportunity to innovate in new areas with the expert help of users with disabilities. Over a short three months, the six shortlisted design firms worked with them and the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre to develop their ideas. These embraced the disciplines of product design, interaction design and visual communication.
The six projects were presented to a capacity audience in an event chaired by Rory Cellan-Jones, Business Correspondent of BBC News who said: "Any company that does not take the issue (of inclusivity) seriously will be in trouble."
Michelle Rivers, of Wandsworth's Sensory Disabilities team thanked the design teams for their dedicated and creative response to the Challenge.
In closing, Deborah Dawton, Chief Executive of the DBA, echoed his words; "At a personal level, this Award programme feeds the soul and taps into the passion designers have to solve problems. On another, it creates viable new business opportunities. We hope these tangible projects inspire business to embrace the values of inclusive design into their mainstream design activity."
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