1. Human Centred vs User Centred Design

During the first class of the term, Dionysia showed us some examples of Human-centred design VS User-centred design. This made me think about which approach is better in general. The human-centred design approach considers the multiple facets and aspects of a person's life - ie a user with only one available hand might be just a parent holding a child rather than an amputee. So, when designing with these factors in mind, the designer tries to cater to a wider range of users whose needs might not have been previously considered. However, by choosing to cater to the needs of the many rather than narrowing down to a specific target group, designers risk being too generalist, and their end up unable to address the specific needs of a certain group.

Coincidentally, a few days before the class, I came across some sketches made by an artist for Inktober 2016, where he highlights the issues faced by wheelchair users in Malaysia. (linked here)

That very weekend before class, I had been to the British Museum and noticed that the spaces weren't very disabled-friendly - with heavy doors that needed to be pushed or pulled, and toilets that are situated past a few flights of stairs (there's a disabled friendly one that was above that but always occupied by able-bodied people). With this in mind, I think I'd like to try to be as universal and human-centred in my approach of choosing and creating an entry for the module competition.

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