From the time we wake up in the morning, throughout our days at work or play, until the time we fall asleep at night, we live in environments in which a day rarely goes by in which we do not come under the influence of the creation of some sort of designer. In reflection, the industrial society that developed with such speed from the 20th century on has given birth to a truly diverse range of industries, and may also be viewed as having forged the foundation of today's urban society and human lifestyles.
Under this pattern, single standard commodities are produced in large quantities, and then shipped out to the marketplace using highly developed information networks and logistics schemes. At a glance, this appears to be a highly rational and efficient state for an industrial economy. However, while on one hand this approach supplies us with convenient and comfortable lifestyles, on the other hand it has continued to generate new social problems related to the environment, energy and other key sectors.
Today, the concept of the "universal design," which seeks to achieve designs based on that anticipate the nature of user-friendly qualities ahead of time, is beginning to emerge as a major social movement in Japan and other Asian countries where the phenomenon of the aging society poses an increasingly serious situation.

The Aging Society Points to an Era of Diversity

For many years, designers and companies involved in the pursuit of craftsmanship worked to design single standard goods, setting their sights on the needs of average and ambiguous targets. However, those of us who actually comprise the consumers of such commodities all exist as distinctive and diversified groups. Hand in hand with the aging of society, we are seeing a steady increase in the ranks of persons who cannot use various types of standard products, or at the very least find such goods difficult to utilize. In this sense, the aging of society can very definitely be described as the emergence of an era in which a diversified range of people will come to coexist for a long time in the midst of that social fabric. In the case of Japan, a country where this aging process is advancing at a rapid pace even global benchmark, recent years have marked the beginnings of the swift proliferation of universal designs effectively rooted in consideration for the understanding of individual consumers and usability.

The Birth of Universal Design

With the arrival of the 1990s, moves in the United States resulted in the drafting and enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a piece of legislation that pooled the measures mobilized to deal with a wide range of disability issues up to that point in time. The ADA effectively declared that all persons suffering from illness or disability, as well as the various problems that result from the aging process, should be free to participate in a more equitable society on various different fronts without experiencing discrimination. Ronald Mace, Ph.D., professor of architecture at the School of Design of North Carolina State University at that time, responded to this social movement with the unveiling the idea of "universal design" - a concept that drew from his own concepts and convictions.

The Seven Principles of Universal Design

1. Equitable Use
2. Flexibility in Use
3. Simple and Intuitive Use
4. Perceptible Information
5. Tolerance for Error
6. Low Physical Effort
7. Size and Space for Approach and Use

Additional Provision

1. Sustained and economical use
2. Outstanding quality, attractive appearance
3. Friendly for both the human body and the environment