Page 496 - Biomedical Engineering and Design Handbook Volume 2, Applications

474 REHABILITATION ENGINEERING AND PROSTHETICS DESIGN

TABLE 16.5 Universal Design Principles
1. Equitable use. The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities.
Guidelines:
a. Provide the same means of use for all users: identical whenever possible; equivalent when not.
b. Avoid segregating or stigmatizing any users.
c. Provisions for privacy, security, and safety should be equally available to all users.
d. Make the design appealing to all users.
2. Flexibility in use. The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.
Guidelines:
a. Provide choice in methods of use.
b. Accommodate right- or left-handed access and use.
c. Facilitate the user’s accuracy and precision.
d. Provide adaptability to the user’s pace.
3. Simple and intuitive use. Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user’s experience, knowledge, language
skills, or current concentration level.
Guidelines:
a. Eliminate unnecessary complexity.
b. Be consistent with user expectations and intuition.
c. Accommodate a wide range of literacy and language skills.
d. Arrange information consistent with its importance.
e. Provide effective prompting and feedback during and after task completion.
4. Perceptible information. The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions
or the user’s sensory abilities.
Guidelines:
a. Use different modes (pictorial, verbal, tactile) for redundant presentation of essential information.
b. Provide adequate contrast between essential information and its surroundings.
c. Maximize “legibility” of essential information.
d. Differentiate elements in ways that can be described (i.e., make it easy to give instructions or directions).
e. Provide compatibility with a variety of techniques or devices used by people with sensory limitations.
5. Tolerance for error. The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.
Guidelines:
a. Arrange elements to minimize hazards and errors: most used elements, most accessible; hazardous elements eliminated,
isolated, or shielded.
b. Provide warnings of hazards and errors.
c. Provide fail-safe features.
d. Discourage unconscious action in tasks that require vigilance.
6. Low physical effort. The design can be used efficiently and comfortably and with a minimum of fatigue.
Guidelines:
a. Allow user to maintain a neutral body position.
b. Use reasonable operating forces.
c. Minimize repetitive actions.
d. Minimize sustained physical effort.
7. Size and space for approach and use. Appropriate size and space are provided for approach, reach,
manipulation, and use, regardless of user’s body size, posture, or mobility.
Guidelines:
a. Provide a clear line of sight to important elements for any seated or standing user.
b. Make reach to all components comfortable for any seated or standing user.
c. Accommodate variations in hand and grip size.
d. Provide adequate space for the use of assistive devices or personal assistance.
Note: The principles of universal design address only universally usable design, whereas the practice of design involves more than consideration
for usability. Designers must also incorporate other considerations, such as economic, engineering, cultural, gender, and environmental concerns, in
their design processes. These principles offer designers guidance to better integrate features that meet the needs of as many users as possible.
Source: Reprinted with permission of North Carolina State University, The Center for Universal Design, 1997.