International recognition

Swedish design has a long tradition of designing products and environments with emphasis on the end-users, which has developed into a trait of Swedish design.

During the 70’s and 80’s, there was a considerable shift in attitude towards designing products to meet the needs of the elderly and people with physical disabilities. Design for the disabled gradually became somewhat of a Scandinavian characteristic, which spread overseas. The international recognition came when MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, held an international exhibition titled “Designs for independent living” in 1988. Over half of the exhibited items were from Scandinavia and of those, half were contributed by Ergonomidesign.

Cognitive inclusion is designing for the invisible

Cognition is concerned with mental processes – such as perception, memory, reasoning, and motor response – and how these processes affect interactions between human beings or between humans and systems. Just as people have different physical capabilities they also have different cognitive capabilities that might not be as visible as the physical. These capabilities can be affected by age, injuries, trauma, or be congenital. Nevertheless our mental capabilities are a part of who we are and needs to be considered when designing.

Sociocultural inclusion is designing for equal opportunities

Factors such as social class, economy, educational level and living conditions have a strong impact on the individual’s access to opportunities for participating in and benefiting from society. Social exclusion changes as communities become more culturally diverse and new societal norms develop. Certain groups are at higher risk of becoming marginalized. Vulnerable groups include the unemployed, the homeless, older people, immigrants and ethnic minorities, people with impairments, individuals in conflict with the legal system and people living in remote areas.

We are pioneers in inclusive design

Ergonomidesign offers grounded expertise in the theory and practice of inclusive design. Our inclusive approach has its origin in design for the disabled and goes back to the late sixties, before it even had a name.

 

Thirty-five years ago when we visited people in their homes, we found that people had stopped eating certain types of food because of inability to cut it or because they had difficulties opening the package. One woman said, “Vacuum-cleaning costs two pain killers, while cutting bread costs one”.

 

During the 70’s and 80’s our studies focused on understanding and mapping difficulties in daily activities for people with disabilities. Through several projects we developed new products that enabled people to carry out ordinary tasks. The objective was to enhance quality of life for people with physical and/or cognitive disabilities by making attractive, appropriate designs available to a broader range of users.

 

When developing new products, we started by focussing on the requirements and limitations of disabled users. We learnt not only which movements the users could not do, but also which ones they were able to do. This approach has been beneficial in all our design work.

 

The end result was new designs for familiar objects, many of which are still in use today, e.g. the first angled kitchen knife (put in production 1974), a series of ultralight eating- and drinking equipment, the first advanced gripping tongs, innovative walking aids, educational feeding spoons and an attractive body care series called “Beauty”. Learnings from our in-depth studies with users who are less able have influenced our designs of other products e.g. the Bahco hand tools, the SAS coffee pot and the RTI bicycle handles. The early R&D projects paved the way of an end-user oriented research method which became one of our core competences at Ergonomidesign.

 

We can proudly say that our designs, developed with focus on the end-user, have resulted in great commercial success for many of our clients. Ejendals' Tegera PRO protective gloves are good examples of this with more than one million gloves sold and sales up 65% in a year (2006-2007).

Our inclusive approach and practice

A truly inclusive design approach means studying and understanding the different socio-cultural factors that influence the way products and services are used. Designing for inclusiveness requires an approach that takes into account the needs of vulnerable groups. By creating solutions catered for diversity, an inclusive design approach can tackle discrimination and increase the individual’s participation in social, cultural and political life.

 

Fundamental in an inclusive approach is to involve “critical” users in the design process. Critical users are those who will likely have difficulties or be excluded from an activity or social context. By understanding specific activities and varying conditions for critical users, the use limitations and possibilities are identified, serving as criteria for design.

 

Another important issue is how products or services should be designed to accommodate the needs of both critical and non-critical users. The goal is to identify any contradictory demands or wishes and to decipher whether those can be met in the same product, service or environment, “without compromising the business goals of profit and customer satisfaction”, (HHRC).

 

At Ergonomidesign we aim to create innovation for all people. The inclusive approach is to include as many users as is reasonably possible. In the end it is about creating innovations that make us feel included rather than excluded.