Universal Design: Auxiliary Chopsticks Design for the Elderly

Abstract

The concept of “Universal Design” is to design products that are easy to use for everyone. With the rapid increase of the elderly population in the world, the principle of “Universal Design” has become one of the essential knowledges and design considerations for designers. The physical and mental decline of the elderly makes it difficult for them to use traditional chopsticks. The purpose of this research is to use the principle of “universal design” to design a set of auxiliary chopsticks for the elderly. First of all, this study found out the problems of using chopsticks for the elderly. Then, through expert focus group interviews and morphological analysis, the characteristics and functional requirements of chopsticks were summarized. The authors conceived creative ideas and made evaluation prototypes. The new chopsticks have passed two-stage assessment of elderly subjects. In all 7 universal design principles, the evaluation of auxiliary chopsticks is superior to that of traditional chopsticks. Further research may be needed to make improvements.