This seminar was undertaken by myself and Elyssa Sfar, UBIK with the 4th year Masters Students at  l’école de Design Nantes Atlantique. The project was entitled “Design to Improve Life” for the Aging Population.It consisted of an introductory day of presentations and videos putting forward the problems that the elderly population face, as well as the issues that many other people face with illnesses, disabilities, such as bad backs, etc.  This led onto a discussion about Design for All, which was the other focus of the Workshop.

The second day was a workshop where the students had to restrict their joints and articulations to find out what it is like when their bodies get old: the restrictions in day-to-day life, the frustrations in doing small things, the difficulties old people face socially and mentally.

The students then had to work in groups and study several elderly people over the course of a month, using methodologies by IDEO, user-scenarios, fly on the wall, walking in other people’s shoes etc.

Here’s an example of one groups findings at the first stage…

The final presentations were group projects around the development of new products or services to improve life for elderly people and for all people.

If you would like further information about this workshop. Please get in touch.

Un séminaire de méthodologies

Cet atelier comprend des ateliers de bilan et projection professionnelle, une veille internationale et des échanges sur les différentes méthodologies de design en vigueur à travers le monde, de rencontres avec des professionnels, et de focus sur des outils de créativité (en anglais) et d’eco-conception pour les designers.

Cette année, les étudiants ont, entre autres, pu se pencher sur la thématique “design to improve life : the aging population”. Il s’agissait pour eux de mettre en situation et d’observer les usages dans l’optique d’imaginer des scénarii d’amélioration du quotidien des personnes âgées.

lécole de design Nantes Atlantique