AHFE Open AccessUniversal Design and Design for Inclusion
Table of Contents
Breaking the Silence: Design of a Social-Drama Gamified Toolkit for Sensitive Topics in Children's Sexuality Education
In children's sexuality education, shame and cognitive load often lead children into expressive silence. Particularly within the Chinese cultural context, influenced by traditional concepts, direct discussion of sensitive topics often faces higher psychological barriers and social evaluation pressure, constituting significant implicit educational exclusion. To overcome these expression barriers within a specific cultural context, this study constructs a collaborative toolkit combining social drama and gamification mechanisms from the perspective of Human Factors and Ergonomics. The toolkit establishes a psychological safety distance through role-playing and achieves cognitive offloading using card scaffolding, aiming to lower participation thresholds in high-shame environments. The research team organized in-situ workshops for verification. Results indicate that children are more likely to engage in discussions and situational enactment under autonomous operation and role perspectives, although some core mechanisms still present understanding costs in early usage. This study demonstrates that designing low-friction interaction mechanisms adapted to cultural-psychological characteristics can effectively support inclusive education on sensitive topics.
Jiaqi Long, Shuai Sun, Zile Xu, Zixuan Wang
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Industrial Design Student User Interviews: Confidence, Objectives, & Gender
This paper presents a case study and research investigation into how Industrial Design (ID) students’ confidence and interview objectives within user interview processes are correlated with gender. The study examines the design process and outcomes produced in a semester-long senior industrial design studio at the University of Kansas (KU) in which students developed and tested innovative concepts for men’s and women’s lacrosse protective equipment. The mixture of gender demographics amongst the class and lacrosse players provided a unique opportunity to observe how male and female interviewers perceive user research and their primary interview objectives. Throughout the product development process, user interviews provide crucial strategic insights to the user’s needs and preferences - this in turn provides an outline for the designer to refer to when making design decisions, ensuring that the product remains aligned with the core needs of the user. Therefore, it is important to understand how students learn and perceive user interview processes to produce designers who possess the ability to conduct user interviews and drive product development with the focus and design intent of the user’s core needs. The influence that confidence plays on students' and professionals’ perceptions of their own worth and skill has been established in previous research (Mastrella et al. 2023) However, the lens of how gender in ID affects this confidence and subsequent implications has not yet been cross examined with the ID user interview process to see how gender as a variable affects the learning and development of ID students’ user interview skillsets.
Eleanor Ammerman, Betsy Barnhart, Carly Hagins
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Limits and Risks of Artificial Intelligence Use in Ergonomics
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into work systems has been associated with automation and data-driven decision-making. However, in ergonomics, predominantly techno-centered approaches reveal significant structural limits and risks. Grounded in ergonomics of activity and sociotechnical systems theory (Guérin et al., 2001; Falzon, 2014; Salmon et al., 2021), this paper critically examines how algorithmic modeling may reduce transparency, increase cognitive demands, and oversimplify the contextual and interpretative nature of real work activity. While Industry 5.0 emphasizes human-centered technological integration (European Commission, 2021), AI systems often operate through abstraction and generalization that may shift evaluative authority away from professional judgment (Grote, 2023). The study argues that AI should function as a supportive analytical resource rather than as a substitute for ergonomic reasoning, highlighting the need for methodological boundaries that preserve human mediation, contextual interpretation, and systemic coherence in ergonomic practice.
Maycon Gustavo Costa Dos Anjos, Marcelo Soares, Eduardo Ferro, Mauricio Duque
Open Access
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Designing Intelligent Parenting Assistive Products for People with Hearing Impairments
Due to hearing loss and the particularity of parenting scenarios, the deaf community faces parenting difficulties in areas such as infant care, safety monitoring, parent-child communication, and early education. This study aims to enhance the sense of security, autonomy and quality of parent-child interaction among the hearing-impaired in parenting, and to provide better humanistic care and parenting assistance to hearing-impaired families. Using case analysis and literature review methods, this study systematically dissects the behavioral patterns, emotional demands, and environmental interaction characteristics of hearing-impaired parents during the parenting cycle from a user-centered perspective. The study constructs a design framework centered on visual, tactile, and intelligent feedback. The framework integrates multimodal information transformation technology, context-aware interaction mechanisms and accessibility design concepts. Guided by the framework for designing child-assisted products for hearing-impaired parents, this study developed an intelligent child-assisted product with cross-sensory perception of infant status, visual alerts for emergencies, and two-way communication between parents and children on a daily basis. This study not only provides efficient parenting support tools for hearing-impaired parents, but also opens up new theoretical and practical directions for the design of accessible products, which is of great significance for promoting the construction of an inclusive society and practicing the concept of technology for good.
Lei Zhong, Jiaxuan Xu
Open Access
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Keeping Text-to-Image Generation Aligned with Requirements: Need-Priority–Driven Co-Creation
Text-to-image generation supports rapid concept exploration in design sprints, but improvisational prompts often cause two failures: priority dilution (critical improvement foci are buried) and weak input structure (mixed information in one sentence), which reduces stability and traceability. This study proposes a needs-priority–driven prompt framework that links decision documentation to generative ideation. Universal-Design-derived need items (C1–C6) are weighted using AHP with consistency checking (CR ≤ 0.10). QFD, integrated with AHP weights, translates weighted needs (WHATs) into engineering characteristics (HOWs/ECs) and yields a ranked Top-6 EC set. The ranked ECs are rewritten into a fixed-field structured prompt to guide Midjourney exploration and improve auditability from priorities to visible design cues. The contribution is a transferable “ranked ECs to structured prompt” specification for requirement-aligned generative exploration under short-cycle constraints.
Shuo-fang Liu, Yi Chieh Wu, Chang-Tzuoh Wu, Jui-Feng Chang
Open Access
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From regulatory compliance to inclusive experience: Reframing accessibility as design identity in an accessible hotel room.
Accessibility in hospitality environments is often interpreted primarily through regulatory compliance, resulting in accessible rooms that are identifiable through technical fixtures rather than through coherent spatial design. This study explores an alternative approach in which accessibility becomes an integral component of design identity. The research presents the redesign of an accessible hotel room in SSAW Hotel (China), where spatial configuration, furniture systems, and interaction interfaces were iteratively tested through layout experimentation, dimensional adjustments, and cultural enhancement. The project investigates how physical accessibility, informational legibility, and cultural references can be integrated into the spatial logic of the interior, supporting diverse users’ disabilities. At the same time, culturally informed elements, such as bamboo-inspired lighting and a blue-green chromatic palette, reinforce spatial coherence. The study demonstrates how accessibility can evolve from a regulatory requirement into a design-driven strategy shaping inclusive hospitality environments.
Niccolò Casiddu, Francesco Burlando, Sara Iebole, Boyu Chen, Xin Zhao
Open Access
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How to design for inclusion in Cultural Heritage: the relation between object and context
This paper presents the experiments carried out in the framework of the national research project PRIN-Neuromuseum, funded by the European Union within the PRIN 2022 PNRR program (D.D.1409 del 14/09/2022 Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca). The set of experiments implemented in an ecological environment, saw the involvement and support of the neurosciences.In order to make the Cultural Heritage accessible to all, the research team intended to improve the so called “intimate appropriation” of cultural contents in involving both rational and bodily responses. In investigating new forms of "cultural learning" in museums, the neuropsychological and cognitive processes have been compared in different museum conditions. In particular, in this paper the experiments carried out in Neuromuseum project are shortly described and the theoretical development of results is summarized.The guidelines for an “empathic design” able to trigger empathic responses in including all visitors, no matter their difficulties, are discussed.
Michela Benente, Valeria Minucciani
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
'Practicing universal design of housing in Japan: Accomplishments and future directions
In Japan, housing manufacturers were the first to implement UD in development of dwelling design where seniors can continue to live in the later years. Expected explosion of senior population forced the government to change concepts on how the dwellings were to be designed and provided. The government realized that all dwellings should be designed for the residents’ later years. The Ministry of Construction developed dwelling design guidelines for the ageing society, while the Ministry of International Trade and Industry tried to introduce standards on housing appliances to be usable by senior residents. Both tried to make the senior-friendly design as matter-of-fact, not specific designs, resulting UD in the end. Human factors experiments were conducted extensively, in order to establish new dwelling design guidelines and industrial standards on appliances. Many porotype houses were also constructed for enacting housing law or standards. Their introduction changed the liveability of typical Japanese dwellings extensively. Some NPOs, E&C Project, Research Institute of Human Engineering for Quality Life or International Association for Universal Design (IAUD) played essential role through making industrial standards and teaching them each other about UD. IAUD was established after the first International Conference for Universal Design was held in 2002. The association was comprised of 114 companies in Japan, including housing and housing equipment companies. This paper examines the roles played by the private sector and governments in the development and implementation of UD, summarizing the UD accomplishments of housing in Japan so far. It will also discuss possible future directions.
Yoshiaki Goto, Satoshi Kose
Open Access
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Accessibility of historic heritage reconsidered: The role of topography
Accessibility and usability of historical heritage is essential toward the realization of universal/inclusive design. How they can be achieved has been discussed extensively, and an International Standard is already published. Visiting various towns and cities that are designated as UNESCO World Cultural Heritage, however, reminded the author of the importance of the fundamental aspects of their livability – to consider the places not as a tourist destination but as a place where residents live. The author found that many of such towns and cities are up on a hill, because historically one of the essential requirements was to protect themselves from attack and invasion by the enemies, which meant they are not so easily accessible. In the contemporary context, the residents are much older than people have historically assumed. The issue of topography, i.e., ups and downs, therefore, need to be reconsidered for the betterment of everyday life of the residents, not just for tourists from inland and overseas. There have been ideas to overcome the difficulties, and this paper discusses some examples that could perhaps be applied elsewhere. The author will also discuss issues of accessibility and usability of public transportation – planning of itinerary at various occasions revealed the difficulty of finding suitable mode of transportation for those with mobility problems including wheelchair users, particularly in areas where railway systems are less convenient compared to coach buses – most coach buses have luggage area at the bottom, assuming that passengers can climb up stairs to be seated. Such assumptions are no longer valid.
Satoshi Kose
Open Access
Article
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Transition of Universal Design in Japan's Construction Industry
We researched the changes in laws, private-sector practice, and education for human resource development related to universal design (UD) in Japan and identified future challenges. UD development began in 1980 with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry’s new housing project to define housing performance enabling lifelong living and to develop non-specialized equipment, systems, and construction methods. The 1994 Building Access Act was Japan’s first law based on UD. From 1987–1992, the Ministry of Construction’s technology project produced ergonomic research and a draft of housing design guidelines for an aging society, altering standard housing design. After the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, barrier-free design was adopted in temporary disaster housing, accelerating UD adoption in equipment and private homes. A 2022 survey found 25 of 47 prefectures had UD guidelines, reflecting changing local government attitudes. A questionnaire of 22 private construction firms yielded 11 responses showing activities such as publishing research results and educational materials; some firms treat UD as a default specification. However, many municipalities and firms have discontinued staff training, despite the need for continuous “see, know, experience” education. To the efforts of private companies and organizations, as well as the enforcements of laws and regulations, UD has made progress in both construction and use, but there will be some issues in the future: advancing UD-related law beyond promotion, addressing overlooked users and situations since UD’s introduction, to new issues which were not recognized when UD was introduced to Japan will be necessary to adopt about new approaches.
Yukari Semmyo, Kiho Yaoita, Yoshiaki Goto
Open Access
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The case for co-creation to mediate Cultural Heritage museums toward inclusive communication for all
Co-creation offers an opportunity to both gauge and enhance the communication of complex and nuanced narratives around cultural heritage in ways that move beyond the expected presentation of cultural heritage in a museum. The starting point for this paper is an analysis done at the Egyptian museum in Turin, regarding the presentation of historic photos in a prominent highly visited gallery within the museum. Very few of the visitors dedicated their attention to them, suggesting that the current state of the exhibition is not sufficient to meaningfully communicate these photos to the public. The Authors carried out an experimental activity of co-creation to enhance the public’s involvement. The results of this study provide a baseline by which to understand how co-creation can be used in museums and other cases are discussed in this paper to present techniques applied by curators and interpreters. This paper further illustrates how co-creation activities could represent useful exercises to involve and include the most diverse public. Some fundamental principles of co-creative activities have been selected in different European countries. The Design of these activities in collaboration with museum curators is critical to define how to communicate cultural heritage in an inclusive way.
Michela Benente, Valeria Minucciani, Daniel John Mangano, Charina Knutson
Open Access
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Conference Proceedings
Designing DATG 2.0 Through Inclusive and Co-Design Approaches: A Human-Centered Research Project for Non-Invasive Health Technologies
DATG 2.0 (Dynamic AngioThermoGraphy 2.0) is a PNRR-funded research project developed at the University of Ferrara that explores the redesign of a non-invasive thermovascular imaging system through an inclusive and human-centered design approach. Rather than prioritizing technological optimization alone, the project frames medical imaging devices as socio-technical systems shaped by users, clinical practices, and experimental contexts. The research adopts a mixed methodology combining co-design, structured interviews with multi-specialist clinicians, and research-through-design prototyping.Early-stage qualitative activities involved gynecologists, physiotherapists, breast specialists, dermatologists, and endocrinologists, enabling the identification of usability constraints, workflow requirements, interpretability challenges, and future telemedicine scenarios. These insights informed the redesign of the DATG device architecture, emphasizing conformability, portability, interaction simplicity, and visual clarity.A central contribution of the project is the development of a tissue-equivalent thermal phantom conceived as a design-driven experimental artifact. Through an iterative strategy addressing geometry, volume, material selection, internal channel fabrication, and thermal management, the phantom simulates sub-millimeter vascular patterns under controlled conditions. Beyond its validation role, the phantom functions as a boundary object supporting interdisciplinary collaboration and shared understanding among designers, engineers, and clinicians.By integrating human-centered methodologies with material experimentation and systemic validation, DATG 2.0 demonstrates how advanced biomedical technologies can be shaped through participatory and design-oriented processes. The project contributes to inclusive design research by illustrating a framework for aligning technological innovation with clinical adoption, user agency, and scalable digital health ecosystems.
Giuseppe Mincolelli, Silvia Imbesi, Angelo Taibi, Antonino Proto, Jacopo Altieri, Marcello Bonfè, Saverio Farsoni, Rosa Brancaccio
Open Access
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The Invisible Users: Gender-Differentiated UX Failures in Municipal Digital Services and the Child-Rearing Penalty in Public Information Access
Public digital services operate under an assumption of universal accessibility that empirical evidence rarely supports. This paper investigates a specific and underexamined dimension of public sector UX inequity: the structural disadvantage experienced by child-rearing women when navigating municipal web portals designed, implicitly, for unhurried, PC-based browsing. In a study conducted with a Japanese municipality undergoing web portal redesign, a behavioral targeting methodology was used to survey task-motivated citizens — those who had demonstrated active information-seeking behavior on the portal. The resulting dataset exposed a pronounced and statistically significant gender gap in service experience. The overall Net Promoter Score (NPS) was -52.3, but disaggregation by demographic segment revealed a critical disparity: women reported an NPS of -58.1, with women in their thirties registering -73.8 and women in their forties registering -62.3. Journey map and qualitative analysis identified the cognitive mechanism underlying this gap: female users in child-rearing years accessed the portal predominantly via smartphone, in time-constrained contexts, seeking specific procedural information. The portal's architecture — optimized for desktop browsing at an unhurried pace — imposed a disproportionate cognitive load on this segment, consistent with established Cognitive Load Theory. A subsequent redesign prioritizing smartphone-first architecture and simplified navigation hierarchies produced the strongest satisfaction improvements among precisely the groups previously most disadvantaged. This paper introduces the concept of the "child-rearing penalty" in public digital services — the measurable experiential disadvantage imposed on time-constrained caregivers by systems designed for average, unhurried users — and proposes gender-disaggregated UX analysis as a methodological prerequisite, rather than a supplementary step, in public sector human-centered design.
So Nishina
Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Towards an Inclusive, Human-Centered Micromobility Model: Design Perspectives for Pedal-Assisted Light and Active Vehicles
Urban mobility faces complex challenges that extend beyond decarbonisation, including traffic congestion, unequal access, and infrastructural constraints. In response, micromobility has been widely promoted as a low-emission and flexible transport solution. However, conventional micromobility vehicles, such as bicycles, e-bikes, and e-scooters, often exclude significant segments of the population due to physical, functional, and perceptual barriers. Within this context, pedal-assisted quadricycles emerge as a promising alternative, combining human propulsion with electric assistance to enable sustainable operation while potentially enhancing inclusivity and active mobility. This paper investigates the potential of pedal-assisted quadricycles as inclusive, accessible, human-centered light vehicles. An interdisciplinary team adopted a Research-through-Design (RtD) approach, integrating ergonomic analysis, accessibility requirements, and technological development into coherent vehicle configurations. The study resulted in two exploratory low-TRL quadricycle concepts aimed at improving stability, safety, comfort, and overall usability. These outcomes provide a structured design basis for future national and international research initiatives and highlight the value of interdisciplinary research in advancing inclusive light vehicles design. The findings demonstrate how technological innovation, when aligned with accessibility-oriented design, can broaden usability and contribute to a more equitable transition toward sustainable urban mobility systems.
Alessandra Rinaldi, Jonathan Lagrimino
Open Access
Article
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CASA CARE: Co-Designing Adaptive Housing Models to Support Autonomous Living for People with Mild Cognitive and Motor Disabilities
CASA CARE is a research-based pilot project aimed at developing an inclusive and adaptive transitional housing model for young adults with mild cognitive and motor disabilities within the Italian “After Us” framework. The project integrates co-design and Human-Centered Design methodologies to generate a scalable and transferable model of autonomy-oriented living environments. Through iterative workshops involving users, caregivers, social and healthcare professionals, designers, and local companies, the project identified needs, constraints, and opportunity areas that informed the architectural, interior, and technological development of the residence. The resulting spatial system combines modular furniture, adaptive layouts, assistive technologies, acoustic and lighting comfort strategies, and flexible domestic configurations to support progressive autonomy over a structured two-year pathway. The residence includes five independent studio units and shared collective areas designed as learning environments, where autonomy is practiced and monitored. The project foregrounds inclusion not only as accessibility compliance, but as an experiential and participatory process in which users act as co-authors of the spatial system. CASA CARE contributes to the discourse on inclusive housing by proposing a replicable co-designed model that bridges architecture, interior design, assistive technology, and social innovation.
Silvia Imbesi, Giuseppe Mincolelli
Open Access
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Designing for Equity: Extending the Equitable Design Toolkit (EDT) Beyond Digital Practice
Design education is increasingly tasked with preparing students to address social equity, accessibility, and the impact of technology alongside usability and visual clarity. This paper builds upon the Equitable Design Toolkit (EDT), first introduced in earlier research (Lee, 2025), and extends the framework to broader pedagogical contexts to demonstrate how inclusive design principles can move beyond screens and interfaces into lived environments and human-centered systems. The EDT supports design instructors in helping students create more equitable products by incorporating an intersectional and power-mapping framework known as the Wheel of Power and Privilege, which visualizes how social hierarchies shape access, representation, and lived experiences. The toolkit consists of three core components: Intersectional Identity Cards that illustrate overlapping identity dimensions such as race, gender, ability, and age; the Wheel of Power and Privilege, which maps social hierarchies that influence access; and Biased Design Cards, which highlight examples of exclusionary design. This study examines the classroom integration of the EDT as a pedagogical model, in which students used the toolkit to create research-informed intersectional personas and applied inclusive design thinking to assess both digital interfaces and physical environments, addressing issues such as navigation, signage, and interface affordances for diverse user groups. By integrating inclusive critique practices with the EDT, this study frames inclusivity as a core measure of design effectiveness and offers educators adaptable strategies for equity-centered learning across digital and physical contexts.
Sang Eun Lee
Open Access
Article
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Design and Experience Improvement of Multi-sensory AI Products for Human-Computer Interaction with Autistic Children
Many intelligent products for children fail to meet the needs of those with autism, often due to single interaction modes and a lack of personalized feedback. To address this, we designed a multi-sensory AI system specifically for children with autism, aged 4–6 years. Our approach integrates human factors engineering with special education principles. The system uses a hybrid interface combining a smart terminal with physical building blocks that provide tactile, visual, and auditory feedback. An AI engine personalizes tasks and regulates sensory input. We evaluated the system with 40 autistic children in a controlled experiment. Results indicate that compared to a standard touch-screen game, our system significantly improved task completion rates and reduced completion time. It also increased effective interaction duration and reduced the frequency of sensory rejection behaviors. Children using our system showed a higher proportion of positive emotional responses. This work offers a practical framework for designing more accessible, adaptive AI tools for special education.
Luo Tongyu
Open Access
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