As the spring weather begins to draw people outside more and more, the question of accessible garden design emerges. There are plenty of specifications and technical guides available for garden design for people with mobility impairments; providing information on the material and width of pathways etc. However, there is a lack of advice on how […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Where to Find Accessible Design Guidelines
For designers who are actually interested in conforming to agreed standards of excellence on accessible information and universal design, it can often be difficult to find the relevant information and guidelines. Below are some samples of where to begin finding information on how to design your product, building, website or printed information, for all: Web […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Designing Awareness
Transport for London launched a very interesting road safety campaign in 2008. The campaign is focused on safety for cyclists and consists of a number of “Awareness Test” videos, all imbued with the tagline “It’s easy to miss something you’re not looking for”. A very interesting idea and a novel way to encourage people to […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Oops Design Awards
I came across these irreverent design awards today which claim to be the first design awards to highlight “Ugly”, “Silly” and “Useless” products. While bound to make you laugh, it does broach the question: Is ugly design necessarily bad design? First of all what is ugly design? While some purists (William Morris) would argue that […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Accessible GPS Technology
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Michael May, CEO of the Sendero Group and a pioneer in GPS navigation and similar location devices for those with vision impairments. Michael has recently completed a section of the Northern Way of St James (part of the Camino de Santiago) with his family, and continues to […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Design Week 2009…IxDA presents DEFUSE
Q: What do broken pavements, skangers and Nordic Walking Poles all have in common? A: These items all featured heavily in the DEFUSE (Design for Use) night hosted by the IxDA as part of Design Week. An example of the wide spectrum of design thinking in Ireland today and one of the highlights of this […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Design Week 2009
Ireland’s Design Week 2009 begins this November (in and around the 2nd-8th), with events in Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Kilkenny, Louth, Waterford and Tullamore. The week will showcase the best of Irish design and provide a valuable forum for discussion on design and how it benefits the larger community. Of particular interest is the 24 Hour […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Universal Design
Universal Design is a revolutionary approach to designing products, media and spaces. Unlike the Design for Disability approach, where the focus is on making a limited range of products more accessible to people with a limited range of abilities, Universal Design endeavours to take the abilities of all likely users into account from the very […]
Continue readingMore Tag
Welcome!
I intend to use this blog to examine aspects of current design for industry to figure out what exactly it is that makes good design. As my background is in Product Design there will most likely be a focus on that but I would welcome any input from other disciplines in this discussion. I had […]
Continue readingMore Tag