Codesign for people with aphasia through tangible design languages

Abstract

Codesign techniques encourage designers and end-users to work together in the creation of design solutions, but often make assumptions about the ways in which participants will be able to communicate. This can lead to the unwitting exclusion of people with communication impairments from the design of technologies that have the potential to transform their lives. This paper reports our research into codesign techniques for people whose communication skills are impaired. A variety of techniques were explored on two projects; some were adaptations of existing codesign techniques, others were created specially. In both cases, the emphasis was on creating tangible design languages. The results illustrate how people with communication impairments can be given a voice in design and demonstrate the benefits of doing so.

Keywords::

• codesign
• aphasia
• participatory design
• tangible design language

Acknowledgements

We thank the people with aphasia who generously participated in this research.

Notes

^1. Email: [email protected]

^2. Email: [email protected]

^3. Email: [email protected]

^4. Email: [email protected]

^5. Email: [email protected]

^6. Email: [email protected]

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Councils UK Digital Economy Theme [grant number EP/1001824/1] and by The Stroke Association [grant number TSA 2011/10].