Good design is known for being innovative, practical, beautiful and durable. Product development students in the Department of Design and Marketing at Colorado State University are integrating all these principles while focusing on the inclusiveness of consumers with physical and cognitive differences. Students in the AM 475 Product Development Capstone course are committed to target market research, technology package development, and a thorough understanding of everything needed to develop a product, while keeping accessibility in mind.
Kristen Morris, an assistant professor in the Department of Design and Marketing, asked students to create a clothing line that incorporates inclusive design principles, so as to "make the product available to as many users as possible." The curriculum objectives are centered on inclusiveness, inclusive design and social change design.
Most clothing development does not take into account the needs of consumers with physical or cognitive differences. For many people, dressing and undressing become unnecessarily difficult due to the lack of adaptable design changes.
"I ask students to unravel the concept of the'ordinary consumer'," Morris said. "We discussed that mass-market clothing brands may have a set of assumptions about their target market, such as a healthy, slim body, heterosexuality and gender norms, etc."
The task of students is to meet these needs through contact with community members, and then design with the user as the center.
"I do this because I believe that students, as professionals in emerging industries, should consider how clothing affects the lives of different groups of people in completely different ways," Morris said. "I hope that students will become responsible product developers so that the products they design will not inadvertently exclude certain people from being happy when they use the products they design."
Morris's own design research focuses on these principles, and she incorporates this design concept into student projects as much as possible to "advocate critical thinking and whole-person design solutions."
"I have observed that the benefits of integrating a user-centric approach in the classroom are reduced prescriptive design, more motivation to develop iterative ideas, and real product solutions," she said.
In the course, students completed the whole process of product development and design. To start this project, the students established a target market and conducted market research, which included an in-depth understanding of consumers and an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of competitors’ brands. The ultimate goal was three pieces of clothing, but in the process, the students created a brand with a name, logo, and unique brand identity. Brand promotion is not only embodied in the development of clothing, but also in the labels, tags, promotional models and websites they built around the inclusive design concept.
The focus of clothing creation is to meet the needs of consumers and incorporate those inclusive and adaptable design elements. The idea starts from the inspiration board and develops to clothing sketches. In the end, the 3D visualization of the clothing is created using CLO3D technology. Once the final design is determined, the students will create a technical package for the development of the garment, which includes a production line schedule, cost calculations, and usage reports. Students share their process through social media posts and build a website to promote their process and design concepts.
Colin Humphreys, a senior in product development specializing in apparel and merchandise sales, has created a series of pants (jogging pants, overalls, zipper pants, and mixed pants) that include adaptability to suit prosthetic patients. In his research, he found the main problems with clothing in his target market, including sports-restricted clothing, openings that hinder the use of prostheses, and lack of exciting and conveying options for the wearer’s style.
Humphreys created jogging pants to address comfort and mobility as well as durability and accessibility. Jogging pants use special types of fasteners to help dress and undress. Mixed pants can be trousers or shorts, allowing you to choose and customize wearing according to your needs. The outer seams of the tooling zipper pants are equipped with zippers to facilitate opening or closing of the prosthesis.
"The most valuable lesson I learned from this project was to recognize the need for adaptable clothing," Humphries said. "Reading through all the main information about people with disabilities is inspiring, but it also opens people's eyes and understands the daily inconveniences caused by traditional clothing." For more information about the Humphrey project, you can visit his website.
Kira-Sophia Gregory recently graduated from clothing and merchandise sales, and designed a series of surf clothing for people who suffer from diabetes or who need a G tube or a PEG tube. Her brand is called Lull, which comes from the calm moment of the waves. Gregory's research shows that these users need to visit certain body parts for medical visits and injections. When surfing in a diving suit, this requires the user to completely take off his clothes, which may be difficult when enjoying the waves of a day outdoors.
Gregory's design process produced a complete wetsuit, a spring suit (long-sleeved swimsuit) and a one-piece swimsuit with a wrap skirt. Each design includes modifications to the openings to enter the body, as well as waterproof pockets for storing required medical equipment. You can learn more about Gregory's work on her website.
Maxwell Hackett's inspiration for his project is personal. As a senior in product development, he developed a women's clothing line called Molly Michelle to commemorate his mother who struggled with colon cancer. Hackett shared that clothing and fashion were an important part of his mother's character before her illness, and fashion was an important part of her identity. After she was diagnosed with cancer, she lost a fashion identity that occupied a large part of her life. She needs fashionable and fashionable clothes that can provide medical ports, have a certain adjustment ability when the weight fluctuates due to illness, and comfortable clothes without cold zippers, especially using comfortable fabrics during chemotherapy.
Hackett's solution is a top, hooded sweatshirt and sundress. Comfortable fabrics, fashionable colors, fashionable silhouettes, and port passages through various clothing openings and fasteners are important parts of the design. Hackett even started making prototypes of some of these clothing designs to help his mother easily access them. To learn more about Hackett's work, you can visit his website.
Morris has great plans for the future of this course and hopes to incorporate more community participation in the inclusive design process.
"My vision for this course is to build more connections within our Colorado State University and Fort Collins communities to connect students and potential consumers," Morris said. "I hope that there will be more contact between students and the people they are developing products for. My future vision is that every semester, we will cooperate with a community organization, and students and end users will establish a symbiotic relationship, allowing users Become a true collaborator in the design process."
Students play an important role in starting this partnership. They have contacted community organizations to conduct the research needed for the course, but Morris hopes to turn these initial connections into lasting partnerships. As future students continue to do more prototyping work in this course, feedback on design improvements from the community will become critical.
Morris continues to add a website to her research group's Inclusive Innovation Lab. The website will showcase student work embodying the principles of inclusive design. Morris said: "This website is a platform to share the work of our faculty, postgraduates and undergraduates in the Department of Design and Sales for inclusive designs for underserved and marginalized consumer groups."
The Department of Design and Sales is part of the College of Health and Humanities at Colorado State University.
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