On Monday morning 13 July 2015, the ‘24hr Inclusive Design Challenge’ started at the Design4Health congres in Sheffield, Engeland. The morning started with a keynote by Julia Cassim (KYOTO Design Lab) on inclusive design. After some inspiring examples a briefing followed to design an 'inclusive' intervention for one of the (many) challenges that Parkinson patients are facing, based on the patients' input as design partners.
Pulse Pal
The concept that my team came up with was called ‘Pulse Pal’: a flexible wrist band that rhythmically pulses, like if someone softly pinches your arm. When the patient is focussing on these pulses, it will be easier for him of her to regain control over body movement after a 'freeze' that many Parkinson patients in some occasions may encounter. We worked day and night at our concept and were very happy to win the public prize for it.
The jury prize went to ‘Slow go’: a concept for supermarkets (and other situations in which one has to queue) to form a separate lane for those people that need more time. According to the jury this concept was the most 'inclusive' and subtly asks questions about our modern hasty society.
