This is a fair request and good luck to you...........however ...........I for one would be pleased if you were to describe more about your studies and to give a profile of yourself in the space prorovided here

...

Some of us are keen to get as much information as possible on special projects and yours seems to be one of these .......... :)

Nup just looks like another one of those marketing companies to me.

I am sorry if this appears to be just another marketing company but I can assure you I am not with any companies. I wanted to make the topic above sound as formal as possible so that readers would feel it was a well thought out and purposeful request.



You are right, in every way this is marketing exercise but it's for my own educational and project research reasons. My name is Cameron, I'm 23 years old and I'm currently studying at Monash University in Melbourne, studying Industrial Design, and I am in my fifth year of study. The project itself has no real direction at this stage as I have only been at it for a short time, and is still in the research stage. The actual title of the project is 'inclusive design' and is focused around learning these user centered design and research techniques so this stage is important for me to explore. It is important for me to understand what seniors and users of all ages feel is a worth while direction or an area that needs development.



Thank you for reading.

Cameron (iDesign)

OK. As people age, they do tend to become less flexible in their movements. Taps are a problem for me, I know that there are flick taps, but they don't have the required marking on them. Left for hot and right for cold. We should be able to remember, but sometimes we don't. Our vision is usually less acute, so knobs with larger feelable indicators would be good too. It's usually the simpler things.

As people age they sometimes too get a bit unsteady on their feet , yet not enough to say need a walker or walking sticks or the like. The personal shopping trolleys that are sold mostly only have two wheels.

I would like to see them all made with four wheels that way the trolley in its self becomes a support without making it look like you are on your last legs!!

I would also like to see the public transport all to be accessible to all people whether able bodied or in a wheelchair or some one with a couple of kids in prams,or people who do use walking sticks or crutches on a permanent basis.

Here in Perth some of our buses are disabled friendly but there are still a lot where you can not always use them because they are the ones with all the steps.

Then of course, there are the childproof caps on just about everything. Childproof almost always means older person proof too, because even though they know how ot do it, they simply no longer have the physical strength.

You took the word out of my mouth BevG! Those cursed childproof tops :roll:



Hi Cameron, here are some of the things that cause me pain:



Garden-tools: they are usually brown and green - you put them down and never find them again, they melt into the landscape!

We need lighter gardening tools but they are more like toys than tools - they made of inferior material somewhere in China and break, bend etc. - useless!



Bubble-wraps: you have to attack them with cutters, axes whatever to open them and usually cut your hands in the process. Why on Earth bubble-seal a garden hose fitting?!



I bought some spray-bottles from the Earthcore company and they don't spray. Actually most of them don't spray or stop spraying after a while



Shopping trolleys in general - you really have to fight them with all your strength sometimes to navigate in the aisles.



If I think of more I let you know - good luck with your studies :)

It has even gone as far as the medication you buy from the pharmacy. Small tablet, first encased in a sealed box, then wrapped in a hard to open hard plastic, even the foil can be so thick that you have to reserve a long fingernail, or use a pointy instrument to get them out.

Thanks for all the great replies! I appreciate it.

When I had to take my Mother and my husband in a wheel chair it was most difficult as there are most places that are wheel chair unfriendly. I also find the packaging on products--that hard stuff that is darn imposable to get into without a strong pair of scissors--and yes some of those child proof tops are a real pain as well.

Something I have received many (hundreds) of complaints regarding is the complexity of computers. The multitude of icons and convoluted pathways to achieve even "simple" tasks, like searching the Internet.



You might be interested in having a look at the new computer program for seniors called "Big Buttons", which I think is definitely an example of "inclusive design". It makes a computer screen aesthetically pleasing, easy to see and the names of the buttons are logical, rather than counter-intuitive (such as why would you click "Start" in order to "Turn off/ finish with" the computer??).

Yes there are a lot of illogical things on the computer till you learn how to use--many have said --"how do you turn it off" when I say you have to go to "start" they are surprised.

Hi Cameron - good luck with your studies. It is quite refreshing to have someone actually ask us what we want, rather than telling us. Thank you.



I for one would like to see gardening implements with longer handles, or even deatachable handles that fitted the standard gardening implements. I also think there should be extending steps on buses, activated by the driver, to allow easier access to buses.

Right on Pommy - those steps into a bus are a real nightmarer. As are the Maxi taxi's. Try hauling yourself up into one of them if you're not able to use the wheelchair facility. It was rather interesting the other day when I had something delivered from an op shop. They weren't quite sure that they were delivering it to the right place, so took me out to their truck, placed me on the lift thing at the rear, with a man beside me to steady me as it rose. As it happened it was the right address, so they gently lowered me and delivered the bookcase.