O design para a qualidade de vida: como o design pode contribuir para atividades do cotidiano dos idosos

Abstract

Due to the increase in life expectancy, provided by the improvement of health conditions and the drop in the fertility rate, it is observed that there is a tendency for the elderly population to grow in recent years. In many cases, due to their physical and psychological needs, there is a latent lack of products aimed exclusively at the public in question, which leads to more accidents, in addition to those that usually happen in their daily lives. In this way, with the identification of these problems and the needs of the elderly, a research is proposed on how design can bring greater independence and comfort in carrying out activities by the elderly public as a result of the application of methods, techniques and design tools, provided by scientific and design methodologies. The work presents a bibliographical research on the proposed theme and the performance of analyzes, which seek to highlight the contribution of design and designers in products for the elderly present in the market, through market analysis, proposed by the methodology of Löbach (2001), and the S.W.O.T. analysis, proposed by Humphrey (1970). As a result, the analyzed products meet the usability needs of the elderly and caregivers, however they need improvements in the aesthetic aspect and, in certain niches, they have high prices, which ends up being inaccessible to part of the population. Therefore, it is up to design professionals to combine usability, concept proposed by Iida (2005), ergonomics and comfort with aesthetics, in addition to having knowledge of existing materials and processes to propose something that makes the product that reaches the final consumer cheaper.