Practice and reflection of participatory design in tableware design for the elderly

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In the past, the designers used to dominate and conduct user-centered design and research. The findings of such surveys might not reflect the user needs and produce the best design solutions. OBJECTIVE: This project aimed to use PD to introduce the design curriculum to break through the previous user-centered design thinking, as the designer and the user design together, with the user given the right to lead the entire design process. METHODS: The theme of this research design is tableware; 55 students and 11 elderly (over the age of 65) were invited to participate in this study. Questionnaires divided into the beginning, middle and final stages tested the teaching effectiveness of PD. RESULTS: The results showed that PD effectively improves five points: (1) design concepts and attitudes, (2) design methods, (3) problem solving and communication skills, (4) implementing design concepts, and (5) responding to the variety of user needs. CONCLUSION: This PD teaching model employs a well-established practical process to form an effective teaching routine, which is expected to be universally applied to other related design courses.