Aging & Society: Eighth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Many designers in the UK - including graphic designers, communication designers, textile designers, interior designers and fashion designers, to name but a few - all start their professional training in an Art School. The educating of designers alongside artists - rather than alongside engineers or architects - sits within a very particular historical tradition of arts education, one which demanded that such creative practitioners serve not only the needs of industry but also the aesthetic, moral and practical needs of the population. This paper will argue that, in this context, the needs of the ageing population should be integrated into design pedagogy, in much the same way as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are beginning to be. Many of the ‘problems’ faced by ageing individuals are design problems, ones which could be preempted and solved if the education of future design practitioners included work on the life-course of their future consumers and the changing physical requirements of the body over time.