Design for All India promotes the principles of inclusive design. Dr. Sunil Bhatia leads the Delhi-based organization, which publishes a monthly journal containing relevant articles by a wide variety of authors. Sunil invited me to guest-edit the March 2024 issue. That entailed setting a theme for the issue, and inviting a collection of authors to contribute articles. Because the benefits of inclusive design are an everyday experience, as are problems when attention to inclusivity is ignored, I set the theme to be “Everyday Thoughts.” Here are the articles and authors, in the order they appear in the issue, beginning with my introduction as editor:
I contributed two articles. The first is a discussion of education in design, describing how the education system has not kept up with addressing real-world human needs. It’s antiquated, not set up to produce socially-conscious designers.
My second article is an extended interview with a chatbot, Google Gemini, who (for the purpose of the article) took the role of a person having a moderate case of arthritis. She/he/they/it and I are in discussion about the challenges faced by a person with arthritis, and opportunities for design and innovation. It was my first extended conversation with a chatbot, who was (or which was?) surprisingly conversational and informative.
The full list of articles and authors is here:
• Guest Editorial, Everyday Thoughts, Dan Formosa
• Designing a World for All: The Evolution of Inclusivity and Accessibility in Design, Pablo Ulpiano
• Generative AI: Helping or Hindering People with Disabilities? Natalie Marques
• The Problem of Noise-Lifelong Sound Health by Akoio®, Bill Schiffmiller and Michael Piskosz
• Wearable Heart Monitor Considers Every User, Margaux Boyaval
• Beauty Is For Everybody. But Is It?, Natalia Formosa
• Designing Adaptive Clothing, Benjamin Havrilak
• The Future Is Touch, A Call for Haptics in Education, Keith Kirkland
• Turn Design Education Upside Down, Dan Formosa
• My Chatbot Has Arthritis, Dan Formosa
A link to the issue is here.
A link to the official Design for All website is here.
Thanks to every one of the authors who contributed their thoughts and experiences.