During the first On The Media episode of 2021, The World, Remade, Bob Garfield revisited a segment from earlier in the year on designing for access and inclusivity. The term, universal design, stems from programs, products and systems that were designed for a niche group, but find further useful applications and end up benefitting many people. Common examples are curb cuts and closed captioning.
via 99% invisible
Why is this particularly relevant today? The idea is that, with the restrictions in place to slow the spread of COVID-19, the world is participating in a universal design experiment. All people are experiencing a sudden lack of agency over their own lives, physical mobility and access to spaces. Meanwhile, the world around us is being rapidly redesigned to allow essential behaviors, such as grocery shopping and going to school, to continue. And we are all being asked to make small changes in our own behavior to ensure the protection and safety of those around us.
Through rapid prototyping, there is a system-wide effort to redesign our built environments.
As the interviewees in the OTM segment attest, (Vanessa Chang, lecturer at California College of the Arts, Mik Scarlet, an expert in the field of access and inclusion for disabled people, and Sara Hendren, professor at Olin College of Engineering), this is an opportunity to bring in groups that have advocated for inclusive design, which requires adapting the built environment systemically, at scale. The expertise in reimagining what our world could look like comes through lived experiences that require creative hacks and continued confrontation of limited access to the world.
This is an unprecedented opportunity to consider universal design solutions that could make the world safer and healthier. To go beyond compliance with accessibility laws, companies and designers can instead aspire to design for the benefit of the greatest number of people.
Outer Space is a Design New Frontier
A major challenge of universal design is that it often requires retro-fitting existing infrastructure to meet different needs. In space, where so much has yet to be designed, there is an opportunity to not only design inclusively for the space environment, but for those innovative solutions to find universal applications here on Earth.
The new space age is the domain of private industry, with a number of ambitious and effective startups carving out their foothold in the space economy. These early service offerings have limited ability to scale. Constraints include the finite surface area on the International Space Station and square footage within the capsules that travel to and from the ISS, and limited personnel to manage work and research on station. It is commonly accepted that the business opportunity lies in scaling down—to Earth—where the customers are. Products and services that originate in space are, or will eventually be, sold to people and companies based on Earth.
One risk of private companies establishing the norms in space is that the motivations change from scientific to financial. This has had negative consequences on Earth, and ideally, this won’t be repeated much less accelerated in space. Space law and space ethics have an important role to play, but the economic argument may be most convincing. Designing systems, products, and services that benefit the greatest number of people creates more economic opportunity, on Earth and in space.
So instead of designing narrowly for space, let’s design expansively, inclusively, and universally.
Read more about universal design as a philosophy that applies to design for spacesuits in our interview with Michael Lye.
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The principles of universal design: