Universal Fukuoka City Design Challenge 2013

In order to convey the ‘Friendly People, Friendly City: Universal Fukuoka City’ approach to the public and promote understanding/implementation of universal design among citizens, a design challenge workshop was organized between October 3~6, 2013. The theme was ‘Recharge Fukuoka – Designing the Vitality of Fukuoka’s hidden masterpieces’.

Residents and designers worked together using the progressive ‘Inclusive Design’ approach to explore methods for solving issues as part of Fukuoka’s own ‘Friendly People, Friendly City’ design. The program was directed by international universal design specialist Julia Cassim.

Team A: Nijuu Maru Project
Using portrait cards to create a connection between society and people with disabilities.
Establish a café within the facility as ‘a place for creators with disabilities to communicate directly with visitors’. The creators themselves will attend to visitors, which will give them a sense of connectedness to the local community and may become a source of motivation. A database of all past works will be on display, adding to the appeal of the café and helping to facilitate communication between creators and visitors.

Team B: plasico
While residents of the welfare institute Midori No Sono – which produces and sells quilted tea towels – have a high degree of sewing skill, we found a need to increase the quality of design to give those products added value, as well as a need to clarify the target market and carry out appropriate promotion.
Given that, we aimed to create new value in these traditional techniques by establishing a brand image and designing a logo and original quilted patterns. The end result was our proposal of a new brand ‘plasico’ which still used traditional techniques.

Team C: Eating habits to help kids stay healthy
Using card games and smartphone apps, we designed a system for keeping kids healthy aimed at parents who have little interest in food, lack the time, or feel stressed about preparing meals.

Team D: Spreading smiles and making connections with allergy-free cake
We attempted to revise the cakes made by people with disabilities at the Fuyo Gakuen with a focus on:
– Branding
– Package design
– Creating an environment for sharing information
– Cake decoration workshop

For details
Universal Fukuoka City Design Challenge 2013