Design for health
Applies the design of products, services, spaces, communication and behavior to the prevention, treatment and care of health.
What it deals with
Health depends on many things that are designed: the hospital, a medicine’s packaging, an appointment, a campaign. Designed badly, they can harm health.
Principles
Prevent before treating
Also design healthy habits, campaigns and environments.
Safety first
In health, a design error can hurt someone.
With patients and professionals
Those who give and receive care know where it fails.
For a whole life
Think about chronic illness and aging with independence.
Applications in design
Use it like this
Design with patients and health professionals, not just for them.
Avoid
Designing without taking risks into account: in health, a mistake can cause harm.
Don’t fall for it
What works in a hospital may not work at home: test in the real context.
Methods and tools
- ApproachEvidence-based designMaking design decisions based on the best available research, and measuring their effects afterward.
Connections
Builds on
Authors and works
- 2017
Emmanuel Tsekleves and Rachel Cooper (Eds.)
Gathered the history and cases of design for health, organized by discipline and by theme.
Sources
Secondary sources
- Tsekleves, E., & Cooper, R. (Eds.) (2017). Design for health. Routledge.
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