Article
The Strategy of Universal-Design Thinking in Architecturally
Innovative Product Development
Chenhui Gao
1
, Kai-Chieh Lin
2,
* and Zheng-Yi Wu
2
Citation: Gao, C.; Lin, K.-C.; Wu,
Z.-Y. The Strategy of
Universal-Design Thinking in
Architecturally Innovative Product
Development. Processes 2021, 9, 2254.
https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9122254
Academic Editor: Arkadiusz Gola
Received: 29 November 2021
Accepted: 13 December 2021
Published: 14 December 2021
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4.0/).
1
The Graduate Institute of Design Science, Tatung University, Taipei 104, Taiwan; redchange@126.com
2
Department of Industrial Design, Tatung University, Taipei 104, Taiwan; chrisgod05@gmail.com
* Correspondence: kclin@gm.ttu.edu.tw
Abstract:
Universal design, as an important concept in product development, has been gradually
implemented in various industries and firms, but most of the applications are aimed at the incremental
innovation of product design. However, considering the differentiation of product types, the design
factors are varied and not precise, which makes it difficult to effectively implement the existing
universal-design principles in specific product designs when facing architecturally innovative product
development, which leads to an increasing amount of time and resources. This study, with an
umbrella stand as an example, proposes to design a new universal-design scale by combining the
attributes of the umbrella stand, the existing universal-design principles and the usability principles
at the beginning of the design. Then, through interviews and user surveys, cluster analysis is used to
screen the products and refine the design factors. In addition, with the Quantification Type I, the
universal-design principles and design factors are matched effectively in order to obtain the weight
differences of the product design factors and eliminate unsuitable design factors, in order to guide
product design. Finally, the universal umbrella-stand-design case is completed for verification. The
results show that the universal umbrella stand has been significantly improved in the evaluation of
universal-design principles. In the future design, architecturally innovative products with inaccurate
design factors can also use this process to complete the design and development of the target product,
and to significantly enhance the universal-design evaluation of the product.
Keywords: universal design; design factors; architecturally innovative
1. Introduction
Universal-design thinking is making mainstream products and services more acces-
sible for mainstream users and those with specific requirements, without making special
adaptations. This indicates that the UD product market based on the “respect each individ-
ual to achieve self-actualization” ideal is rapidly growing [
1
]. User requirements, market
knowledge, and approaches that are easy to understand are used to design and produce
products that can achieve maximal usability for individual users [
2
]. As the global aging
problem has become increasingly concerning, universal design (UD) has become the current
trend of design development in various fields. UD involves the creation of a tolerant and
sustainable society in which everyone can participate and people with different abilities,
limitations, and needs can use products equally and conveniently, which directly and indi-
rectly benefits the society [
3
]. Therefore, UD application methods for product development
are an urgent problem because of the constantly increasing demand for UDs in societies
and industries. Numerous companies have implemented UD and raised product design
and development requirements. For example, Mitsubishi Electric built a UD evaluation
tool, UD-checker, to evaluate the universality of the product categories that are designed
and produced by the company [
4
]. In addition, Panasonic developed six UD guidelines
covering operations, space, usage, and maintenance of its products [
5
]. Although UD is
often a crucial part of product evaluation before application, it is mostly used for post
Processes 2021, 9, 2254. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9122254 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes
