The third 24 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge was held this year from June 7-8 in Oslo as part of the European Business Workshops in Inclusive Design.

Over a period of 24 hours, teams of designers from different disciplines were asked to come up with inclusive solutions or products in response to the challenge theme: Digital Solutions, Products and Services and Communication and Marketing - the themes of the Workshop itself.

The purpose of the challenge is knowledge transfer between team participants and the conference as a whole. This is done by raising awareness, challenging designers creatively and helping the participants to acquire new forms of expertise within the field of Inclusive Design.

- Challenge your belief so that unique people can be a unique inspiration. This can be an eye opener!

Jørgen Solstad of Kadabra Produktdesign,
team leader - Winner of best idea at the
24 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge 2010.

Why participate?

• Unique knowledge transfer between participants
• Raise awareness and gain new skills in the area of inclusive design
• Be part of a best practice demonstration project developed in an extremely short timeframe to showcase to your clients
• An invaluable opportunity to show what you and your selected team are made of
• Enables new design talent to be spotted and developed by the business
• Creative stimulus for mid-career designers
• Become part of an international inclusive design network and draw on the expertise of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design

This is a unique opportunity to gather designers, industry and users who have not worked together before, and to establish new and long-lasting networks.

How was it organised?

The participants was organised into four teams and information about the Challenge was given at an introduction workshop a day in advance (6 June). Each team was given a design brief at the start of the European Business Workshops in Inclusive Design on June 7, 2012, by facilitator Julia Cassim who also mentored the teams throughout the process.

At the end of the 24 hour period, the teams presented their results in a plenary session on the second day of the workshop event. There was two winners, one for the best idea and one for the best presentation, both voted by the audience. See winners and all teams here.

- It is a great experience to force yourself to design something everyone can use, and to make a presentation of the idea within such a short space of time. I would encourage everyone to participate in this Challenge!

Elizabeth Walmann, Graphic Designer
and on the winning team for
best presentation in 2010.

Challenge themes

The teams was given briefs covering three topics and based on a people-centred, inclusive design approach:

1. Digital Solutions
2. Products and Services
3. Communication and Marketing

Teams

Each team consisted of:

• A team leader (designer)
• Designers
• Design students
• Business representatives
• 1 user representative also know as design partner

The teams covered various disciplines such as product/industrial design, service design, graphic design and interaction/web design.

Facilitator

Julia Cassim, Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Royal College of Art Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design in London facilitated the 24 Hour Inclusive Design Challenge.