Does design for all need marketing?

Abstract

Design for All merits to be universally applied because of its enormous social and human worth. It has successfully developed in the cultural world but its applications in people’s life do not match this success. Why? The producer needs to make profits and so very seldom embraces DfA, seeing it as an extra cost, which can be afforded only for image’s sake. Marketing is necessary to show the business world that DfA is capable to enlarge a company’s market and increase its profitability. This paper will show that DfA is a sound business proposition. It will also describe “Idea DfA”, the first Italian project promoting DfA in the small business’s world. This 2010 project demonstrates not only marketing’s role in spreading DfA in the small business’s world, but also marketing’s role as a determinant operative tool within any DfA process.