Design
for Wellbeing
The main objective of the Design for Wellbeing initiative was to enhance
the wellbeing of persons with motion, sensory and cognitive disabilities
by using their descriptions of needs in relation to assistive devices
as a starting point for product development. We aim to give users an
active role in developing their own assistive devices by allowing people
from various disciplines to work with them in a product development
team, to improve the wellbeing of persons with disabilities, and to
develop product development methodology with respect to the user’s
role in design processes.
Design for Wellbeing redirects the focus of product development from
technology-based development, via needs-based development, to participative
product development. By adapting a multidisciplinary approach, involving
both health sciences and engineering disciplines, we are able to manage
the entire development cycle from an initial understanding of users’ needs to studies of finished products in use.
Design for Wellbeing is carried out in the form of student projects and research projects,
building on experiences from the course "Sirius: Creative Product Design Process", offered at Luleå University of Technology,
and the course ME310: Team-Based
Design Development with Corporate Partners, offered at Stanford
University. The courses are project-based and team-structured, and students
work closely with corporate partners on real-world innovation projects.
In Design for Wellbeing, the successful concept of these courses is
redesigned to facilitate the participation of students and researchers
from other disciplines than engineering and to achieve an active involvement
of persons with disabilities.
The projects are carried out both locally
and globally since the Design for Wellbeing partnership includes organizations
from Sweden, USA and Japan. Apart from the goal of increasing the wellbeing
of persons with disabilities, the wellbeing projects aim to prepare
participating students for innovative teamwork on a global arena, but
also to provide researchers from various disciplines with a testbed
within which new perspectives on product development, education and
healthcare can emerge and be studied. The project provides an example
of activities within Luleå University of Technology’s Arena
initiative, where students from different educational areas collaborate
with researchers and external partners in multidisciplinary projects.
Design for Wellbeing is an ideal project for collaboration across distance,
disciplines and disabilities.
Contact
Tobias Larsson, Professor
Division of Functional Product Development
Faste Laboratory
Luleå University of Technology
SE-971 87 Luleå
Sweden
E-mail: tobias@ltu.se
URL: www.ltu.se/tfm/fpd
Phone: +46 (0)920-493043
Mobile: +46 (0)70-5119416
Fax: +46 (0)70-388 16 34
Last update: 2007-07-01
