Inclusive Worlds: Briefing for Tutors considering RSA Student Design Awards

In October, RSA Design held a briefing day for tutors who are working on this year's Student Design Awards. The day had two purposes: firstly to introduce tutors to the new scheme – RSA Design Directions – and to explain the thinking behind its structure and development; the second was to provide the opportunity for tutors to hear brief presentations from those people who had worked with the RSA on developing the projects for 2003/04 and to ask questions and gain clarity on specific points.

Susan Hewer, RSA head of design, set out the RSA's thinking behind the development of the new scheme. The content of her slides is available on the website linked below.

She described the RSA's new manifesto based based on five key challenges (Encouraging Enterprise, Zero Waste, Global Citizenship, Resilient Communities and Capable Population) and how, from them, RSA Design has evolved its own three key headline themes for its future work. The three themes are:
* The Individual, Society and Culture: reflecting the RSA's commitment to an inclusive society offering equality of opportunity to all;
* Sustainability: reflecting the RSA's commitment to a society that is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable; and
* Science, Engineering & Technology: reflecting the RSA's commitment to a progressive society that identifies, shares and celebrates the market benefits of new sciences and technologies.

It is their intention that, over time, all projects within the Design Directions programme would sit firmly within these headline themes.

The Inclusive Worlds section was chaired by Roger Coleman of the RCA. He identified some key points to think about when approaching the project: breaking the mould; identifying user needs; designing inclusively - consideration of how people use, access and benefit from the designs and how this is demonstrated; and production potential.

He was joined by Alastair Macdonald of the Glasgow School of Art who stressed the importance of developing an holistic overview. Designers will need an understanding of the end user's physical, sensory and cognitive capabilities. Different capabilities will have different design needs, so the designer needs to consult the appropriate specialists. He said it was important to bear in mind each specialist just has one view of the problem and therefore the designer must bring all these views together, developing an overview that will lead to the most appropriate solution.

Generally is was felt that it was important to get a degree of user testing and feedback from users, but that it is also important to remember users typically only respond to what is available, not what is possible.

For more details on the presentations and categories of project, have a look at the RSA Design website, linked below.

Associated Link: RSA Design: details of the briefing day

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