(1046) UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPT OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN AND PRACTICES OF CREATIVE PRINCIPLES FOR FUTURE NEEDS

摘要

The concept of Universal Design (UD) is being applied to a variety of fields, such as architecture, product design and communication. The underlying reasons for this recent tendency are the rapid evolution of an aging society and increase in the demand of people with disabilities for the improvement of their civil rights. Increasing of these factors increase the UD and its principles in value on practices and education in design. The present study tried to identify how the students understand and apply the concept of UD in their creative process. The intention is to establish the critical steps for creating and redesigning the product that could be used by people of all ages and abilities. For case studies, a group of 30 industrial design students were observed and worked with on universally designed electrical household products. A survey was conducted to students about universal design about current knowledge. The results of the survey revealed that UD was lead to a creative and convenient design process with its suggested paths for design students and professions. Furthermore, UD experience was suggested to be included into design curriculum at least as a studio project.