Product design to support creative ageing for people with dementia: a practice-based inquiry

Collingham, Henry (2021) Product design to support creative ageing for people with dementia: a practice-based inquiry. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

The practice-based research presented in this thesis was an exploration into the impact, context, and potential of co creation to affect the lives of People with Dementia. I present transferrable insight from a year-long Embedded Ethnographic engagement in a Residential Care Home, spent working alongside Participatory Artists, building critical insight into the aesthetic and sensory context of Care.

Insights from this Ethnographic research are developed and situated through Research through Design (RtD) practice in two further empirical design studies. Firstly, the co creative development of physical material tools to support Creative Ageing practice. Secondly, the design of co creative activities to allow People with Dementia to individualise elements of the designed environment.

My thesis highlights ways in which Product Design expertise can contribute to Creative Ageing practice and extends means by which People with Dementia can engage in the creation of individualised design outcomes, by contributing new methods and a new conceptual lens to the paradigm of Parametric Design, characterised by a questioning, generative and critical approach.

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