Consumers can be voice for design change
Usually, my summer reading is biographies but Defined by Design: The Surprising Power of Hidden Gender, Age, and Body Bias in Everyday Products and Places by Kathryn H. Anthony was chosen specifically for this column. Available on Amazon, I urge anyone who has ever thought in disgust, I could’ve done a better job designing this, to pick it up as it’s a real eye-opener.
Here are some of the things the book has me thinking about. You may have different concerns depending on your stage of life but these are mine:
As a woman, I know from experience many things are designed by men that are used by women, including kitchens with overhead cupboards too high to reach, appliances too heavy to lift and difficult to keep clean, seating too high and deep, workplaces that are too small and dark. So many public bathrooms don’t consider that we carry purses and wear coats that must be taken off, take longer to do what is needed because we have to sit and have to wait in long lines to use the washroom at public events because of that (washrooms should be allocated at least 3 to 1 for women). What about non-existent infant nursing areas, and cafeterias and grocery stores where we can’t reach items.
How many women struggle to get in and out of high vehicles and who knows what contortions go on inside when the woman is under six foot, which most of us are. It is noted that, increasingly, women are purchasing cars and computers, once thought of as a male purview, so why not let us design models just for us?
Clothing? I can’t believe what is thrust upon us in the name of fashion. With war, famine and natural disasters all over the world we are, as women, supposed to be interested in the comical machinations of those who design clothing for women. Decades ago I gave up caring what was in fashion, and so have millions of other women who can’t conceive of any self-respecting woman going along with this charade. Those who are larger, smaller, taller, shorter and older are ignored.
And mammograms! No man on earth would submit to having his testicles squashed in a machine on purpose, but women are urged to submit to torture on a regular basis. Surely there’s a better way.
As a woman of a certain age, I am looking for instructions in big enough print to be easily read on everyday items and packaging that I can get open without asking my husband to find a box cutter. I’m searching for well-made clothing that is comfortable, that covers the hump on my neck from working on a computer for 40 years and the wings on my underarms. I am looking for a brassiere that doesn’t make me feel as if I’ve been hoisted up by the shoulders, wired in and poked forward only to be in incredible pain 10 hours after I’ve put it on (who decided that brassieres should have wires in them anyway?).
As a woman with a disability who uses a mobility device, I am looking for people who run businesses to think about everyone, including children, when they design their spaces. Medical examining rooms are incredibly tight and what about those hotel rooms with elegant but dangerously high beds. I’m weary of advertisements for new buildings featuring entrance steps when a beautifully landscaped ramp can be used by all. Inclusive design signals that designers realize people with disabilities want to live and work where everyone else does and that people want to age in place, not having to move if they can no longer manage steps.
As a person, I want the world to be a safer and more equitable place and that means that design should not force us to conform – as individuals, we should be considered for our specific needs.
What can we do when we find something that doesn’t work for us? Speak up. Get in touch with the company selling it; tell them why it doesn’t work for you. It’s only through the voice of the consumer for whom things are designed that change will happen.