Design for (deaf) people

Deaf people are not disabled. They just live in a world that was not designed for them.

My bachelor years focused on inclusive and sustainable design. For my thesis I chose to work with the deaf community, which meant first learning sign language and spending real time with people who were born deaf and live exclusively within deaf culture.

Deaf people do not experience themselves as lacking something. They have a rich culture, a language, a community. The problem is not deafness. The problem is that most products designed for deaf people look medical, stigmatizing, and othering.

So I designed a smartwatch. It connects via bluetooth to devices like a doorbell, fire alarm, babyphone, and cellphone. Different vibration patterns identify different alerts without needing to look at the screen. A continuous pattern for fire alarm. A repeated short pulse for the doorbell. The round button underneath dismisses it.

It looks like a watch because it is one. Nothing about it signals that the person wearing it is different.

My bachelor thesis is available upon request.