RSA Inclusive Design Student Award Winners Announced

The "Design to Include" theme in this year's RSA Student Design Awards challenged entrants to consider demographic shifts, growing accessibility legislation and the need for a more inclusive society. Some 2,200 students entered the competition, now in its 79th year, to compete for prizes of nearly £150,000. There is an exhibition of winners on the website below.

In the "New Design for Old" section which asked young designers to develop a product, service, system or interface that takes account of the needs, aspirations and capabilities of older people, Matthew Fiddimore of Nottingham Trent University won the Kohler Mira Limited Attachment Award and the Conran & Partners Travel Award.

His design, i-site, is a versatile, modular home security system that allows the user to choose the location of the sensors and to switch them on at the touch of a button. The portable passive infra-red (PIR) sensors communicate with the control panel via radio frequency allowing them to be placed anywhere, work entirely independently of one another and to be armed individually putting the user in complete control.

The "Interior Design" brief asked students to create a club, making it an environment where all the senses are enriched and also is accessible for people of different abilities including those with sensory impairments. Deborah Ingram of Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College won the ADAPT Trust Travel Award.

Her design includes a 'breeze' blowing out from the nightclub identifying the entrance. Moulded base camps rising from the dance floor provide seating, tables or podiums and, within these spaces, clubbers can create their own ambience by controlling the sound level, colour contrast and lighting.

The "Interactive Media" brief was to design a learning environment with full functionality and was presented within the constraints of the accepted accessibility guidelines to ensure students with visual impairment are able to enjoy the benefits of access to electronic information environments. Nym Jethwa at the University of Hertfordshire won the HEAD Trust Travel Award and a British Airways Flight Award.

Nym's "Clockwork Voice" aims to provide an interface that allows access to all site functions. The multimedia capabilities of the chosen software allows aural communication to be managed through digitised speech thus precluding the use of assistive technologies and screen readers.

"Future Homes" saw students designing an innovative problem-solving solution for bathing and showering within a prescribed space, that was universal, inclusive and safe - a good solution for 7 to 75 year old users. Keigo Harada of Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication won the PDD Attachment Award and The Ideal-Standard Designer's Award.

This ingenious design for a new bathing experience involves a helix system which causes water to project upwards from the rim of a disc on the floor, meeting at the top before falling back down the middle to create a shower. Floor controls are operated by standing on them to adjust the height and temperature of the water.

Associated Link: Exhibition of winners

User Interviews - Analysis Simplified
Source: Webcredible, 6 January 2009
 
You’ve conducted your user interviews, but now you need to make sense of all that information you’ve gathered.

Why Products Fail
Source: ComputerWorld, 5 January 2009
 
Most gadget and software makers don't understand what users want most: control.

How to Design Websites for Mobile Phones
Source: stemkoski.com, 3 January 2009
 
Tips from Ryan Stemkoski's web design blog.

Pioneer of Cyberspace honoured
Source: BBC, 2 January 2009
 
A professor who invented a forerunner of the world wide web has been made a dame in the New Year Honours.

2008 in Review: Developments that rocked the world of User Experience
Source: Catalyst Resources, 1 January 2009
 
A look back at 2008 highlights some of the key developments that rocked the world of user experience.

2008: The Year Online
Source: MIT Technology Review, 31 December 2008
 
The business of social networking, cloud computing, and a flaw in the fabric of the Internet top the most notable stories of 2008.

Shoveling through the Spamalanche
Source: UN, 30 December 2008
 
A ‘Spamalanche’ of 3,000 emails will be waiting in your inbox by the time you get back to work. What can you do besides 'delete all'?

New guidelines boost Web Access
Source: BBC, 29 December 2008
 
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has announced a new standard to make sites more accessible to older and disabled people.

Measuring Emotional Engagement
Source: UN, 27 December 2008
 
New applications of electroencephalography (EEG) provide the means to gather detailed information on a user’s emotional relationship with a brand or service.

UXalliance thrives on Research strengths
Source: UN, 24 December 2008
 
The UXalliance provides clients with access to over 220 user experience professionals and 40 test labs worldwide.