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.
Every change process starts with the recording, compilation and analysis of facts. We identify the “as-is” state and arrive at a jointly held picture of the baseline situation, we evaluate the findings and identify solutions aimed at eliminating problems or optimisation.
Analysis can encompass the appraisal of baseline spatial conditions (urban planning, architecture, interior architecture and design), the needs and experiences of all users, process flows and services, as well as the preparation of expert reports on these. Brainstorming and the development of ideas as well as the localisation of problems can also be a part of the analysis.
Our methodology in this area is based on the use of qualitative and quantitative methods of gathering information (interviews, questionnaires, stakeholder workshops, on-site observation, design analyses, shadowing and mapping), technical capabilities (measurement of brain activities and motion and eye tracking ) and literature reviews
How can design be used to improve health? We provide comprehensive advice as an independent consultant, combining knowledge from multiple disciplines to do so and free of any conflict of interest. Our clients benefit from wide-ranging expertise and a keen eye for the essentials. The focus is on in-person advising.
Consulting can encompass the identification of recommendations for actions, the recommending of action in various areas (sensor systems, user experience, safety, ergonomics, autonomy, accessibility, processes and services), and the preparation and execution of the recommended action.
Our methodology in this area is based on the use of workshops for brainstorming and developing ideas, with experts brought in from our extensive network, as well as literature reviews.
Supported by simulations, we evaluate spaces, products, systems or processes using virtual and real models. We use prototypes to develop and test ideas – working hand in hand with all relevant stakeholder groups. Thus, planning errors are detected and avoided early on. Processes are optimised and the level of acceptance for new spaces, products and services is enhanced. This increases planning reliability and helps avoid unnecessary costs.
Our activities in the area of simulation and co-prototyping include holding workshops in which we simulate examples of treatment and working processes, conducting on site visits, while accompanied by users, and assessing potential solutions in a sandboxed testing environment.
Our methodology in this area is based on engaging representatives of the different groups of users in the process. These may be senior citizens, adults, persons with an impairment or children and adolescents. We may use an age simulation suit, for instance, or age simulation glasses to simulate impairments. Technologies we may use include virtual or extended reality and 3D scanning.
As a national centre of technological excellence we bring together wide-ranging knowledge from the fields of design and health. Knowledge that we are happy to share with others. Our initial and continuing training offerings focus on innovative issues and topics, make interdisciplinary ways of thinking visible and accessible and enable individuals to tap into an exciting network.
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