Exploring universal design with product design students

This paper will review a student project from Swinburne University Industrial Design program, which was focused on Universal Design. Swinburne University offers a 3-year undergraduate program in Industrial Design. We will look at the history, interpretation and the application of a specific set of Universal Design Guidelines as developed by NC State University and via some preliminary text analysis of student submissions investigate if there is any correlation between the application of the guidelines as a part of the design process and the degree that the final outcome appears to be a Universal Design proposal. We will discuss and describe an analysis of the experience of a cohort of students, as determined from a review of text submissions and lecturer review of the design outcome, post the undertaking a product design studio incorporating Universal Design.