KODW 2013 started off with the Include Asia Conference, a 2-day program focused on inclusive design. The biennial conference debuts in Hong Kong since its launch in 2001 in London, partnering The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design (PolyU Design), the Royal College of Art (RCA) and Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) for the first time. This year’s theme ‘Global Challenges and Local Solutions in Inclusive Design’ spurs participants to explore and respond to concerns such as ageing population, climate change and rapid urbanisation for individuals and communities.
Held at Hotel ICON, the program welcomed keynote speaker, Kathryn Firth, Chief of Design at London Legacy Development Corporation. Also speaking at the conference was Paul Thompson of RCA, Keiji Kawahara of International Association for Universal Design, and Dan Formosa of Smart Design, who also held workshops.
As tradition, the Include Conference committee recognises members of the inclusive design field for their contributions to the community. This year’s recipients of the Champion of Inclusive Design were Yasuyuki Hirai (Kyushu University, Japan), Joseph Kwan (UDA Consultants Ltd.), and our very own, Michael Siu Kin Wai (PolyU Design). We would also like to congratulate Susan Barnwell and Jasmien Herssens on winning the Best Paper Awards.
With immense pride, the School of Design of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU Design) – Asia’s best among the world’s top 25 design schools – is thrilled to announce that Professor Roger Ball has been named one of only eight recipients of an endowed professorship in PolyU’s first-ever Endowed Professorship Scheme.
At a special inauguration ceremony held on 29 May at the PolyU campus, Professor Ball was singled out for his outstanding academic and research achievements and officially awarded the Eric C. Yim Professorship in Asian Ergonomics. Mr. Eric Yim, who founded the highly successful design firm POSH Office Systems and serves as its Chairman and CEO, generously underwrote the professorship.
Professor Ball has won international recognition for his trailblazing work at SD’s Asian Ergonomic Lab, founded in 2003 and soon after awarded a multimillion dollar grant for its first major project, SizeChina. An innovative 3D survey of Chinese heads and faces, SizeChina helps designers make consumer products that properly fit Asian body sizes. 90% of all consumer products are based on body shape data from Western people.
Professor Ball’s work has resulted in significant funding awards, consultancy projects with leading corporations, and most recently this prestigious endowment. Professor Ball and his team at the Asian Ergonomic Lab have boosted PolyU’s rising reputation as an influential world-class research institution.
Professor Ball’s primary research is to collect through digital scanning the full range of sizes and shapes of the Chinese population, such as their hands, feet and ears. The data from SizeChina is already poised to be used by diverse faculties within PolyU, including Health and Social Sciences, Engineering, Applied Science and Textiles, and Nursing.
Whether designing new respiratory protection products or paving the way for better-fitting eyewear, shoes and automobiles, Professor Ball has tremendously contributed to both academic and industry interests. The SizeChina Project led to the first-ever digital database of Asian head and face sizes for extensive use by manufacturers and designers.
SizeChina is training the next generation of designers with cutting-edge technologies. PolyU Design as a whole has developed practical workshops, curricula and textbooks, positioning its graduates and partners in Hong Kong and across the globe to create truly revolutionary applications in popular industries such as electronics, fashion, transportation, furniture, and medical devices, to name just a few exciting possibilities.
The School of Design joins everyone at PolyU in extending heartfelt congratulations to Professor Ball and his pioneering team at the Asian Ergonomic Lab. Their fascinating work is inspiring and meaningfully changing our everyday life for the better.
“Global Challenges and Local Solutions in Inclusive Design”
2-3 July 2013, Hong Kong Design Centre, Hong Kong, China
Organised by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Hong Kong Design Centre and the School of Design at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art, London, is pleased to announce that Include 2013, the seventh international conference on inclusive design, will take place on 2-3 July 2013 in Hong Kong, China.
Include Asia 2013, organised in partnership with the Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) and the School of Design at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, marks a major international departure for the Include series after six successful conferences in London.
Include Asia 2013 will form part of HKDC’s Knowledge of Design Week 2013 and draw in new design researchers and practitioners from south-east Asia to the Include network.
We are inviting paper proposals for Include Asia 2013 on the theme of Global Challenges and Local Solutions in Inclusive Design.
Researchers and practitioners are asked to consider the role of inclusive design within the context of emerging global challenges such as ageing populations, rising healthcare costs and climate change and the need for local tailored solutions for individuals and communities.
In effect we want to explore the paradigm shift from scaling up (the main driver of design over the past 50 years, through mass manufacturing, global branding and so on) to ‘scaling down’ to meet specific human needs.
We welcome paper proposals (abstracts) from researchers, designers, educators and policymakers that address the Include Asia 2013 theme. Authors of accepted paper proposals will be asked to develop their ideas into full (10 page) papers for oral presentation at the conference held in Hong Kong. Venue for the conference will be Hong Kong’s new Jockey Club Innovation Tower designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.
Paper proposals can contribute to inclusive design theory, provide examples of empirical research or use case studies (design stories) to illustrate how, when and why an inclusive design approach can address wider challenges and/or local needs.
Include Asia 2013 will be a forum for the exchange of ideas, academic research projects and models of best practice from the global community of those engaged in inclusive design. Accepted papers will be published online in the Include Asia 2013 proceedings.
Submission Guidelines
Please make a submission by paper proposal (abstract) for a full paper. All proposals for full papers will be reviewed anonymously by two reviewers on the Include International Review Committee.
- The template for submitting abstracts can be downloaded here
- 1000 word abstracts should be submitted now through Kinetix Events
- The deadline for abstract submissions is 15 February 2013
- Selected Authors will be informed of review decisions on 15 March 2013
- Full papers will need to be submitted by 1 May 2013
More details on the Include conferences can be found here.
For abstract and submission queries contact us here
Prof Michael Siu and the Public Design Lab brought us good news from Shanghai last week. The Ceremony of the 2012 Successful Design Awards – China was held on 4 November where BrailleWise (飛機共融衛生間) won the Diamond Award, the highest among the Top 16 Selections. Smart Electrical Vehicle Charging Station (SEVCS), a collaborative project with EE, IC and FMO of PolyU, impressed the judges with its highly innovative and user-friendly design for empowering electrical cars. It was selected as one of the China’s Successful Design Award winners.
“The awards honor entries with excellent design strategy, process and outcomes. They are expected to bring creative and meaningful contributions to the society and industry. BrailleWise has done a good job on all these,” Prof Michael Siu told us. “It is encouraging to receive one of the judges’ compliment that our design did not only overcome a difficult problem with long history, but also provided an inclusive practical solution.”
Conferred by the Shanghai Industrial Design Association and Shanghai Creative industry Center, the 2012 Successful Design Awards, one of the most privileged award presenters in China, granted prizes to 124 distinguished designs out of 454 entries. Other Top Selections are ROBAM-810 sterilizer, Philips Soundbar Home Cinema Speakers, interior design for Mong Kok Post Office, Haier WSGIG refrigerator, Nokia Lumia 800 and then some. Members of jury panel included David Carson, Kevin Mc Cullagh, Shiz Kobara, Ali Grehan, Robbert Van Nouhuys, Bryan.e.nesbitt, Sotamaa Yrjo, George M Beylerian and Cathy Huang from all over the world.
Earlier in March, BrailleWise was given the Runner-Up Award for the Industrial Design & Technical Concepts category of the Crystal Cabin Award, the only international award for excellence in aircraft interior innovation, held in Hamburg. SEVCS was the Bronze Award winner of the 2011/12 Spark Concept Award in New York.
BrailleWise assists the visually impaired to access aircraft lavatories easily and independently.
SEVCS is a smart charging station for electrical vehicles
Read more:
BrailleWise
SEVCS
The 2012 Successful Design Awards
Led by Prof Michael Siu, the Public Design Lab recently received the Runner-Up Award for the Industrial Design & Technical Concepts category of the Crystal Cabin Award held in Hamburg. The Award is the only international award for excellence in aircraft interior innovation, hosted by the Hamburg government. The participants competed in six categories: Greener Cabin, Health & Safety; Industrial Design & Technical Concepts; Material & Components; Passenger Comfort; Premium Class Products; and Visionary Concepts.
There were 58 entries from all over the world shortlisted. Public Design Lab’s design “BrailleWise”, as the only entry from university, was one of the three Finalists for the category of Industrial Design & Technical Concepts. The design team was invited to present the work to 23 international experts of the Judging Panel. BrailleWise was rated as the 2nd top scores in the category, beat down by one of the globally biggest design firms producing aircraft facilities. The design was also exhibited in the Aircraft Interiors Expo 2012 in Hamburg on 27-29 March 2012.
The design team considers and respects the needs and preferences of the visually impaired. BrailleWise assists the visually impaired to access aircraft lavatories easily and independently. The design fits different lavatory configurations and its installation does not detract from the appearance of the lavatory environment. BrailleWise is easy for maintaining a hygienic lavatory environment and minimises the requirement of Braille information on different individual facilities. It also promotes the positive and caring image of airlines.
(click to enlarge)
More about the Award: http://www.crystal-cabin-award.com/
SizeChina, a project led by Dr Roger Ball, Associate Professor of PolyU Design, was nominated as one of the seven finalists from around the world.
The World Design Impact Prize is a biennial designation created to recognize, empower and stimulate socially responsible design projects around the world. Established by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid), the World Design Impact Prize will honor and reward industrial design driven projects that are making a positive impact on our social, economic, cultural and/or environmental quality of life.
By drawing from the expertise of Icsid’s network, the World Design Impact Prize creates an exciting opportunity for members and the general public to play an active role in recognizing and honoring projects, and project partners, that create a better world through design. Furthermore, the establishment of a prize specifically for industrial design driven projects will produce tangible examples, best practices and socially responsible industrial designs that will help shape the future of the profession. The winner of the World Design Impact Prize, Community Cooker project from Kenya was announced on 2 February 2012.
SizeChina was nominated as it set the start of a new age of Asian anthropometrics. It was launched to assemble data from a representative cross-section of people from the Chinese mainland to create the first-ever digital database of Chinese head and face shapes. It met the design need for accurate data by creating a practical, sophisticated design measurement database for use by industries developing the next generation of Asian-fit products. Seeing others taking up the challenge as well, with a SizeIndia and a SizeAfrica, the project will ultimately lead to the creation of a universal anthropometric “shape library” of the entire human race.
www.sizechina.com
www.worlddesignimpact.org
Are you designing a hat, mask, or glasses for the Chinese market? Then you need reliable information about the precise size of the Chinese head and face and now you can get that data, instantly, with the new online anthropometric tool, Facefinder, brought to you by SizeChina for free.
Now on the SizeChina site, the Facefinder home page offers a simple, user-friendly interface that gives instant access to a complete database of Chinese head measurements. Ten different dimensions can be searched for male or female subjects, aged 18 to 51+, and 1%-ile to 99%-ile in size. Facefinder will print out instant reference charts of search results, ready to guide projects of any size, from student work to industrial development.
SizeChina anthropometric data meets the highest international standards for statistical accuracy. Based on the analysis of 3D results from laser scans of 1600 subjects on mainland China, the data is available in a range of commercial products, including physical and digital headforms, software plug-ins, and individual data clouds. Now our first freemium product, Facefinder offers access to the same data in chart form — free of charge, and on-line. Now there is no need to visit the library and search through out-of-date books to try to find the dimensions you need. Ask Facefinder, and it will tell you what you need to know instantly.
Do you want to design headphones for a Chinese male teenager? Ask Facefinder for the 98%ile male teenage head-width dimension to make sure the headband is wide enough.
Are you creating sunglasses for a fashionable 40-year-old Chinese woman? Ask Facefinder for the dimension between the center of the pupils of the eyes for 50%-ile females aged 31-50.
Do you need to make surgical facemasks for 70 year old Chinese visitors to a hospital? Ask Facefinder for a full range of the variation in the dimension measured from the tip of the nose to the point between the eyes, for both genders.
Visit www.sizechina.com today, and discover the power of Facefinder.
Facefinder development team
Project Leader – Mr. Eric Chow
User Interface – Lead developer – Mr. Eric Chow
Lead Scientist and statistics – Dr Tina Luximon
SizeChina Director – Dr Roger Ball
External consultant – Dr Johan Molenbroek
Facefinder © 2011
We are thrilled to hear some great news from our faculty members and students receiving honours from international occassions. Professor Michael Siu and his Public Design Lab, Mr Francis Hung, discipline leader of Advertising Design and his student Ricky Lo shared their happy moments in the recent red dot ceremony wtih us.
Chess.* Chess Game
red dot award: product design 2011 – Sport and games
Award: red dot
Designed by Public Design Lab led by Professor Michael Siu, members: Paul Lo, Frankie Fu, Eric Yeung
learn more>>
Transformation of Classic Chinese Furniture House – Jade Rattan Ware
red dot award: communication design 2011 – posters
Award: red dot: best of the best
Designed by Ricky Lo, Year 3, BA(Hons) in Design (Advertising) 2010/11
Supervising professor: Francis Hung, Assistant Professor
learn more>>
Filtainer Container for the Treatment of Drinking Water
red dot award: product design 2011 – Life science and medicine
Award: Honourable Mention
Designed by Public Design Lab led by Professor Michael Siu, members: Paul Lo, Wai Lun Chan
learn more>>
About red dot awards>>
Join us in congratulating the teams!
SizeChina is developing a 3D design tool that aims to provide designers access to 3D head shape model of Chinese population during the product design process. Its intended users are engineers, designers, scientists and students studying in those fields.
Typical design applications would include: optical products and eyewear, sports and protective helmets, surgical facemasks, oxygen masks and headphones. The software creates a 3D underlay or layer on top of which any product can be designed.
Visit our Youtube page and tell us what you think about our new 3D design tool!
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