Our ready-reference wall chart, Guidelines and Strategies for Designing Transgenerational Products, can help you design and develop products and environments that provide accommodation and support for people of all ages and abilities.

Our 24" X 36" comprehensive chart contains specialized design relaqted information about the realities of human aging. Intended for for those wiith no special knowledge of the aging process, it provides four detailed sets of secific guidelines and strategies for accommodating aging-related changes: Vision, Hearing, Movement, and Touch. In addition, it offers the following set of handy Generic Guidelines:

• Provide cross-sensory redundant cuing for all alarms, signals and controls, e.g., combine an audio signal with a visual indicator.

• Offer redundant modes of operation utilizating the next larger set of motor movements, e.g., finger to hand; hand to arm; arm to foot.
  

• Establish consistant display/motion relationships, e.g., forward/up to increase, backward/down to decrease.

• Provide difinitive feedback cues, e.g., control detents should "snap" into position.
  

• Reduce the complexity of all tasks and operations, e.g., simplify and minimize the number of tasks.
  

• Design for use by a variety of populations, e.g., male/female/young/old, weak/strong, able/disabled.
  

• Provide adjustable product/user interfaces, e.g., horizontal/incline, vertical/incline, raise/lower, push/pull, left/right.
  

• Design beyond the basic physical/sensory/functional need, e.g., enhance the user's independence, self respect, and quality of life.

• Place critical, frequently used controls within easiest reach, e.g., cluster controls on basis of priority.
  

• Prevent accidental actuation of critical controls, e.g., recess or provide a guard.

• Design to facilitate physical and cognitive function, e.g., encourage user to practice and improve.
  

• Compensate for a range of accommodation levels, e.g., provide for some exercise through user interaction/participation.

Rationalizations need no longer be offered as excuses for product and environmental designs that fail to attract and accommodate any segment of the population.