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Public tour of the SCDH

12 December 2024 (5:00 pm)

We work in the spaces where design meets health.

With a wide range of expertise, the SCDH supports clients from industry, science and the public sector in the conception, development and testing of design solutions.

Design and health

We understand design as the creation of spaces, settings, objects, information, guidance systems and digital solutions as well as of services and processes.

Health is a personal and societal value that is constantly changing. This value is not synonymous with the absence of illness. 

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Rather, “health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life; where they learn, work, play and love. Health is created by caring for oneself and others, by being able to take decisions and have control over one's life circumstances, and by ensuring that the society one lives in creates conditions that allow the attainment of health by all its members.” (Ottawa Charter, 1986). Thus, human autonomy and the common good are front and centre. 

The overlap between design and health is large, and the aim within it is twofold: to have a positive impact on patients and those close to them and the staff in hospitals and other health institutions and to promote health in daily life in the workplace and outside of it, including in public spaces.

Portfolio

Projects at the interface of design and health are our core competency; “Visual Communication”, “Objects and Environment” and “Systems and Processes” are the areas in which we work. In all three of these areas, we offer professional development opportunities, and provide analysis, consultancy, simulation and co-prototyping – both as a contracted service and in projects financed by funding acquired in competitive procedures. Projects can be realized either in the SCDH’s Living Lab, on our clients’ premises or in digital form. We use our platforms as needed and depending on the question being addressed. Our approach is always the same: human-centred, evidence-based, participative and iterative.

 

Areas of activity

We develop and research design solutions and standards that promote health in three areas of activity: "Visual Communication", "Objects and Environment" and "Systems and Processes".

Signage, guidance systems / Information design / Interaction design

The transmission of information and ideas that are presented graphically and swiftly perceived and understood – this is visual communication. We see it everywhere, all the time: in the form of signage in buildings, of signs and markings indicating a route in a city, an informational chart on a website, a poster campaign in public spaces. 

Architecture, interior design / Urban planning, public spaces / Product design

The built environment encompasses not only architecture but also the places around it, the front yards or gardens, interior courtyards or shaped urban spaces. These places, and the objects and products within them were and are formed by us, by people, and, at the same time, they form the environment in which we live. 

Service design / Organisation design

A service, a system, a process: these are not things that simply come into being. They need to be shaped, and they need to be continuously reshaped or refined. Only by consistently taking their users’ perspective into account, can one guarantee their alignment with the needs and expectations of those users. This approach results in needs-oriented systems, processes and services – and occasionally in changes that may involve the entire organisation.

Offerings

Analysis

Consultancy

Simulation and co-prototyping

Professional development

Approach

Human-centred: We put people, in all of their diversity, and their needs front and centre.

Evidence based: We base our work on scientific findings.

Participative: We make all stakeholders part of the process right from the start.

Iterative: We gradually draw closer to solutions.

Netzwerk

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Who we are

The SCDH’s extensive network is part of what makes it so remarkable: we cultivate contacts and constantly strengthen ties, whether these be with universities, experts, businesses or interest groups, within Switzerland or abroad. And our clients profit from these efforts: we pull together the knowledge that they need for their projects.

Who we are

Outputs

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Outputs

Projects, professional development opportunities, events and news relating to the SCDH – This link leads to our outputs.

Outputs

Contact

Contact

Making contact is the first step towards collaboration. Reach out and get to know us. We look forward to meeting you.
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