PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

The language and principles of universal design and accessibility represent an important shift in emphasis in design and design education.This has initially been most important for those designing homes for independent living for the aged and disabled and has had a broad impact in home design fields.Another area where accessible and universal design has made inroads is in web design for the visually impaired.Limiting the notions of universal design to those areas is too narrow.The primary goal of universal design is that attention to good design should represent an enhancement of every user's experience and should not be viewed as an addition cost to be borne by the designer and manufacturer.This paper will present a brief primer on what the primary principles of accessible design should be for every engineering student with an emphasis on recent challenges posed for accessible consumer electronic products because of the move towards sleek membrane touch interfaces that have inadequate tactile, visual or auditory feedback.