From The Archives ~ Topics: case studies, user research/usability

Designing Speculative Household Cleaning

by Susan P. WycheApril 24, 2006

Abstract
Aging in place is a high priority for today’s elderly population, but little is known about how age affects mundane domestic activities. To make older adult’s desire a reality, design researchers must continue to understand elders’ needs and design products that respond to them. Presented is a human-centered approach to designing cleaning products. The project resulted in: 1) an initial understanding how aging changes older adults’ ability to clean their homes and 2) a collection of speculative cleaning products that demonstrate how greater empathy for elderly users can motivate innovative design.

Keywords
Design Methods, Elders, Ethnography, Home, Speculative Design, Human-Centered Design.

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First presented at the conference on Designing for User eXperience, November 3-5, 2005, San Francisco, CA

  1. link to this comment by search engine optimization consulting Sat Apr 05, 2008

    This is a very interesting study. Honestly I have never stopped to think about whether or not older people were able to relate.

    Now that I'm getting older and watching my family and friends get older its wonderful to hear that this kind of research is going on to keep people aware.

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