Since 2000, the Helen Hamlyn Centre has investigated ways to build and share knowledge on the theory and practice of inclusive design. It has established its research programme through a series of projects in three interlocking domains: academia, business and industry, and the design profession.
In the academic field, we have worked on the i~design programme with the Engineering Design Centre (EDC) at Cambridge University through three successive phases and established the successful biennial series of Include conferences. More...
In partnership with business and industry, we have explored how inclusive design can help to deliver new products and services that benefit older and disabled consumers, through the interaction of new RCA design graduates with industry partners on the Helen Hamlyn Research Associates Programme. More...
In collaboration with the Design Business Association, we have involved more than 300 professional designers from leading UK consultancies in the Challenge Workshops – a programme that focuses on techniques in inclusive design as a tool for innovation. More...
The central theme of the Helen Hamlyn Centre’s work in all three domains – academic, business and the design profession – has been to generate exemplars of inclusive design in practice and help to support the business case for inclusive design by demonstrating the commercial and social benefits.
We have gathered together a collection of 50 case studies for this purpose as part of the i~design 2 research programme. Drawn from the research through design practice at the centre, 27 of these are the result of industry collaborations and 23 are from our design collaborations.
These demonstrate how inclusive design can address key consumer and business issues, and drive innovation across a range of design disciplines. They highlight the innovative strength of British design and how companies can capitalise on this to create new products and services, better packaging, communications and environments.
They show how people can benefit from safer healthcare, better working and learning conditions, greater independence and improved transport and mobility. And they also demonstrate how working with small groups of carefully selected ‘critical users’ can lead to genuine design innovations with wide appeal to consumers.
The centre has also played a leading role in writing 2005 British Standard 7000-6, one of a series of design management standards. Aimed at large, medium and small organisations alike, it proposes a practical methodology for managing inclusive design at both organisational and project levels.
It suggests that inclusive design makes business sense, reflects on the social responsibility of organisations, and provides visible signals of compliance with legislation, and sets out a clear, five-point business case for its adoption:
