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the helen hamlyn research centre: design for our future selves the royal college of art: postgraduate art and design

The Challenge Workshops

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 and their industry clients 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 become an eagerly awaited event in the design calendar and has been developed and extended in various contexts, in the UK and abroad.

In January 2005, the design firm Sieberthead asked Inclusive Business RCA to help them devise a 3-day innovation workshop for staff of the multinational giant, Reckitt Benkiser. Sieberthead had taken part in the Challenge twice and 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 their work 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, has led to the development of a series based on the Inclusive Design Challenge model. Workshops of one to three days in duration have been held in the UK, in Israel and Japan

Workshop reports:

In October 2006, Inclusive Business RCA will run a 48 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge for design teams belonging to the 147 member firms of the International Association of Universal Design, the Japanese body that promotes the subject. It will be the centrepiece of their 2nd international conference on Universal Design to be held in Kyoto, 23-25 October.

A similar event is planned to launch the 2007 Singapore Fringe Festival in January. Clive Grinyer, Head of Design and Usability at Orange and keynote speaker at the 2006 DBA Inclusive Design Challenge Awards event described the impact of this flexible knowledge transfer format: "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."

If you are interested in developing expertise in inclusive design or the organisation of an event related to inclusive design, contact Julia Cassim.