Dignity is a key value within healthcare. Technology is also recognized as being a fundamental part of healthcare delivery, but also a potential cause of dehumanization of the patient. Therefore, understanding how medical devices can be designed to help deliver dignity is important. This paper explores the role of empathy tools as a way of engendering empathy in engineers and designers to enable them to design for dignity. A framework is proposed that makes the link between empathy tools and outcomes of feelings of dignity. It represents a broad systems view that provides a structure for reviewing the evidence for the efficacy of empathy tools and also how dignity can be systematically understood for particular medical devices.@en

Capability loss simulation has great potential to improve the inclusivity of designs, through helping designers to understand the needs of people with reduced capabilities. However, its uptake in the design industry has been low, particularly in graphic design. This may be partly due to a poor fit between design tools and the work processes and tool requirements of designers. This study aimed to address this by seeking designers’ input into the design of concepts for vision loss simulation. Five design workshops were conducted, each with one or two graphic designers. In each, participants were given a list of requirements for simulator tools, summarised from previous studies, as well as 15 cards describing a range of simulator concepts. They then developed their own concept and explained the reasoning behind it. The resultant concepts are presented and analysed in this paper. Key aspects that designers consider important in simulator tools are identified.@en

There is a low uptake of inclusive design tools in industry, partly due to a poor fit between design tools and the thought and work processes of designers. Simulating visual capability losses is a technique with great potential in helping designers improve inclusivity and accessibility. However, we need to understand the needs of designers from different disciplines to improve the fit of these tools and their uptake in industry. This study aims to determine designers' needs for vision loss simulators, and how this varies between disciplines. Interviews were carried out with 15 designers from five disciplines. The results suggest that one tool is not suitable for all. The graphic and web designers interviewed required a tool to aid communication with clients, hoever, the industrial and engineering designers required two tools, depending on the stage of the design process. To increase their uptake, simulator tools should be used in education.@en

It is essential that graphic design is visually clear and accessible. However, evidence suggests that a lack of consideration is given to visual accessibility in print-based graphic design. Furthermore, effective client-designer communication is a vital component in this. This paper investigates current graphic design practice, with regard to visual accessibility, specifically focussing on client-designer communication. A survey of 122 graphic designers and clients identified that these two groups may not be communicating with each other effectively with regard to visual accessibility, and that there is a need to develop inclusive design tools to assist them with this. This paper adds a novel contribution to our limited understanding of visual accessibility in the UK's graphic design industry.@en

Capability loss simulators give designers a brief experience of some of the functional effects of capability loss, thus helping them to understand capability loss better. Wearable simulators, such as vision simulator glasses, can also be worn while using products and prototypes to help identify usability problems. However, this process can be confusing. This paper presents a simple procedure for using vision impairment simulators to assess the visual clarity of product features. The procedure provides clear results that are linked to the numbers of people in the population affected by the issues identified. It was tested with eight accessibility specialists and product developers. Results indicate that they can use this method effectively, and find it useful.@en

With an ageing population, Inclusive Design is increasing in importance. However, misconceptions surrounding its practice may be limiting its uptake in industry. The visual accessibility of a product is a key aspect of Inclusive Design, and is particularly important in the graphic design industry due to its heavy reliance on visual communication. To improve the uptake of Inclusive Design in this area, we need to increase our understanding of graphic design practice and the misconceptions surrounding visually accessible design. Interviews were used to identify seven common misconceptions held by graphic designers and their clients, including the belief that the designer will consider visual accessibility, even if it is not in the brief.@en