New Concept of Design--"Barrier-free" Design

Barrier free design (concept of barrier free de sign) was first seen in 1974 and is a new design proposal put forward by the UN organization. Obstacle-free design emphasizes that in the modern society where science and technology are highly developed, all planning and design of the public space environment, as well as various types of construction facilities and equipment related to human consumption, food, housing, and housing must fully consider those with varying degrees of physical disabilities and normal activity. The needs of the masses (such as the handicapped and the elderly) are equipped with service functions and devices that can respond to and meet these needs, and create a modern living environment that is full of love and care, and effectively protects human safety, convenience, and comfort.

Barrier-free design is first embodied in urban buildings, transportation, public environmental facilities and equipment, and instruction systems. For example, walkways, tactile instruction maps for walkers, toilets for public wheelchair users, public telephones, and dual audiovisual The bank's self-service deposit and withdrawal machines, etc., are used to expand the variety of appliances used in work, life, and entertainment. For more than two decades, this design advocated proceeding from the point of view of caring for the weak and vulnerable people, and promoted the development and progress of design with a higher level of ideals, so that the products created by mankind became more rational, friendly, and humane.

The ideal goal of barrier-free design is "accessibility." Based on meticulous research on human behavior, consciousness, and action, we are committed to optimizing the design of everything we use for people and the environment. We use the operator interface to remove barriers that make users feel confused and difficult to use. To provide the greatest possible convenience, this is the basic idea of ​​barrier-free design.

Barrier-free design pays attention to and pays attention to the special needs of the handicapped and the elderly, but it is not designed solely for the disabled and the elderly. It focuses on the development of human "shared" products - products that can respond to meet the needs of all users.

For example, it looks like a very common container, but it has a clever "shared" design: a set of matching shampoos and conditioners, two identical containers, and only one row of linear convexes added to one of them The tactile sensory sign can be used as a shampoo or conditioner. This small design not only eliminates the barriers that blind people use, but it is also a kind of gracious and intimate design for the average user. It can be distinguished without blinking when shampooing. Similar designs include stereo headphones, which distinguish between left and right with raised and recessed beads, both as a delicate decoration on the exterior and as a "touch-information" for "shared" design.

It can be seen that the choice of perceptual methods in the design of product use interface is the key to determine whether the product can achieve “sharing”. Because human beings have many "channels" of perception, such as sight, hearing, touch, etc., what the disabled people lack is only one of them. Therefore, products with a "multi-channel" perception approach have superior performance for accessibility. In the early 1990s, various types of “clear-toothed toys” first introduced in Japan and then in Europe and the United States were typical examples of barrier-free design. Designers sought not only to eliminate obstacles between people and objects in the product use interface. It is hoped that the barriers between people will be eliminated through the realization of product sharing. The slogan for product development of the "Soundless Toys" is "Let's play together." (Note: Clear, relative to the blind, refers to people with normal vision.)

Author: Chen Xiaohui

Source: Fine Arts