The amount of care provided in the home will grow significantly as care transforms to meet the ch... more The amount of care provided in the home will grow significantly as care transforms to meet the challenges of an aging population. When care services move into the home, this environment becomes a workplace for a number of professionals, while still being a home for the care recipient. Much equipment and material is needed in the care situation and tends to turn parts of the home into a hospital. In an ongoing research project with home care organizations in Sweden, we are examining the need for improvements in the physical environment in home care and generating solutions to meet these needs. The solutions need to be functional for the home care workers and at the same time be attractive and preserve a homelike atmosphere. We have observed how issues related to hygiene, working surfaces, disposable materials, and lighting can result in nonergonomic work postures, eye strain, and other risks for the practitioner and the care recipient. Emanating from these issues, university students...
The base (BOP) and the top (TOP) of the world income pyramid represent the poor people and the pe... more The base (BOP) and the top (TOP) of the world income pyramid represent the poor people and the people from developed countries, respectively. About two-fifths of the world population can be categorized as poor. Poverty is a trap because children born to poor parents are likely to grow up to be poor adults. In recent years, a poverty reduction approach that combines business development with poverty alleviation has received attention. The design of products for the BOP is an important ingredient of this poverty reduction approach. While companies are beginning to address the product needs of the BOP, there is limited practical and theoretical knowledge to support them. The current understanding of the design for the BOP is limited. This study aims at exploring the differences between the design strategies used by the industrial design students in designing products for the BOP and TOP markets. The results indicate the differences between their design strategies (i.e. problem driven s...
ABSTRACT Older technology users and their integration into IT society have been on the research a... more ABSTRACT Older technology users and their integration into IT society have been on the research agenda since digitalization took off. Given the attempts to develop user-driven design, it is surprising that the appearance of technologies older people are provided with, or are the target group for, have not progressed. Now another political agenda, coined as “welfare technology”, is being launched in Scandinavia. It is the reminiscent of previous arguments for why demographics, welfare and the need for new business arenas should be prioritized. This paper argues that STS-inspired design can contribute to a paradigm shift that breaks this trend and instead helps to develop proactive technology that meets the needs and demands of today's senior citizens. Two cases illustrate the way the imbalance between technology and older people's influence persists over time. Another three cases with a bearing on design sciences are singled out and discussed: the selection of older subjects; the understanding of the “social” in going from the laboratory to real-life settings; and the “making of meaning” in product development. The conclusions point to the opportunity to bridge the imbalance when introducing welfare technology by introducing STS-inspired reflections on engineering and design.
International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 2014
Idea generation is an important part of the engineering design process, and therefore significant... more Idea generation is an important part of the engineering design process, and therefore significant research efforts have focused on developing methods to support designers in generating ideas.
In an attempt to make universal design an integral part of industrial design in general, an exper... more In an attempt to make universal design an integral part of industrial design in general, an experiment was implemented early during the industrial design education. The aim of the experiment was to increase the awareness of the students regarding the fact that products may at the same time be attractive and well-functioning for a broad range of users. Five categories
The amount of care provided in the home will grow significantly as care transforms to meet the ch... more The amount of care provided in the home will grow significantly as care transforms to meet the challenges of an aging population. When care services move into the home, this environment becomes a workplace for a number of professionals, while still being a home for the care recipient. Much equipment and material is needed in the care situation and tends to turn parts of the home into a hospital. In an ongoing research project with home care organizations in Sweden, we are examining the need for improvements in the physical environment in home care and generating solutions to meet these needs. The solutions need to be functional for the home care workers and at the same time be attractive and preserve a homelike atmosphere. We have observed how issues related to hygiene, working surfaces, disposable materials, and lighting can result in nonergonomic work postures, eye strain, and other risks for the practitioner and the care recipient. Emanating from these issues, university students...
The base (BOP) and the top (TOP) of the world income pyramid represent the poor people and the pe... more The base (BOP) and the top (TOP) of the world income pyramid represent the poor people and the people from developed countries, respectively. About two-fifths of the world population can be categorized as poor. Poverty is a trap because children born to poor parents are likely to grow up to be poor adults. In recent years, a poverty reduction approach that combines business development with poverty alleviation has received attention. The design of products for the BOP is an important ingredient of this poverty reduction approach. While companies are beginning to address the product needs of the BOP, there is limited practical and theoretical knowledge to support them. The current understanding of the design for the BOP is limited. This study aims at exploring the differences between the design strategies used by the industrial design students in designing products for the BOP and TOP markets. The results indicate the differences between their design strategies (i.e. problem driven s...
ABSTRACT Older technology users and their integration into IT society have been on the research a... more ABSTRACT Older technology users and their integration into IT society have been on the research agenda since digitalization took off. Given the attempts to develop user-driven design, it is surprising that the appearance of technologies older people are provided with, or are the target group for, have not progressed. Now another political agenda, coined as “welfare technology”, is being launched in Scandinavia. It is the reminiscent of previous arguments for why demographics, welfare and the need for new business arenas should be prioritized. This paper argues that STS-inspired design can contribute to a paradigm shift that breaks this trend and instead helps to develop proactive technology that meets the needs and demands of today's senior citizens. Two cases illustrate the way the imbalance between technology and older people's influence persists over time. Another three cases with a bearing on design sciences are singled out and discussed: the selection of older subjects; the understanding of the “social” in going from the laboratory to real-life settings; and the “making of meaning” in product development. The conclusions point to the opportunity to bridge the imbalance when introducing welfare technology by introducing STS-inspired reflections on engineering and design.
International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 2014
Idea generation is an important part of the engineering design process, and therefore significant... more Idea generation is an important part of the engineering design process, and therefore significant research efforts have focused on developing methods to support designers in generating ideas.
In an attempt to make universal design an integral part of industrial design in general, an exper... more In an attempt to make universal design an integral part of industrial design in general, an experiment was implemented early during the industrial design education. The aim of the experiment was to increase the awareness of the students regarding the fact that products may at the same time be attractive and well-functioning for a broad range of users. Five categories
Uploads
Papers by Elin Olander