Sophie Helene Dirven is a social lifestyle designer addressing social challenges through in-depth interviews and co-designing with users. Her research question here was:
How can the systems of organisation used by blind and visually impaired people be made relevant for people in need of more structure in our society of sensory overload? And how can this knowledge be documented and shared?
Example: Blind people are very good at distinguishing main issues from side issues, at organising things and at systematising their lives. They can help other people develop structure, focus and order.
“For my final design, I researched systems of organisation used in various products. I did this from the perspective of blind and visually impaired people, organising coaches, and scientists. […] Based on these findings, I developed the design rules a system that includes a number of small bags in which users can organise their belongings based on colour, shape, location and texture.”
The paper folder containing booklets in various sizes that you see here contains the detailed documentation of Dirven’s very thoughtful and elaborate research project. It can also be regarded as a prototype for the JULIA bag, named after Julia, one of Sophie’s co-designers. Julia organises the objects in her bag in a number of smaller bags that can be easily recognised by their shape, texture, location and contrasting colours.

Dirven received the WdKA Research Award for this project in 2018.

A4 format, 60 pages in total.

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