Contributions to Collections

Supporting inclusive design of mobile devices with a context model

Abstract

The aging population represents a great demographic change and poses challenges to product manufacturers particularly regarding the design of products that are in line with the requirements of the largest possible group of users, including those people with physical impairments. Most product manufacturers are aware of this challenge, and even though a wide range of tools has been developed to enable product designers to understand the end user requirements, contemporary products are only rarely designed according to inclusive design principles. This chapter initially provides an overview of existing inclusive design approaches suitable for the conceptual design stages: sketch, design (CAD), and evaluation. Focussing particularly upon the sketch and CAD phases, a tool-based design support is proposed which is based upon the implementation of a context model, comprehensively describing and interlinking the aspects of potential situations (user, environment, tasks). Following a design case of a mobile phone, it is illustrated how the context model is applied throughout the sketch and CAD phases.