Design thinking applied to home textiles innovation : a case study in an elderly centre in Hong Kong

Abstract

The ageing society is a challenging social issue, yet it implies a growing demand for elderly goods and services. The current development of elderly textile products, however, appears to neglect everyday use. This paper used a case study to demonstrate the utilization of design thinking, a human-centric methodology, in order to design and develop a creative solution for elderly care in elderly centers, taking into account their needs and preferences with regard to textiles. Starting from empathy, complex problems were identified, and ideas were generated. As a skin-protective home textile, chitosan, a natural antibacterial material, has been suggested for development. By using iterative processes, the spinning problem was tackled; the biological and physical characteristics were studied; design, sizing, patterns and printing were created and refined to fulfill the needs; mass production of bedding, apron and handkerchief were successfully achieved; a pre-posttest trial was conducted to determine the satisfaction level and potential help of the prototypes. The feedback was generally positive and highly satisfied. Hence, this study indicates that the design thinking approach may provide an effective method of understanding empathy and discovering solutions most likely to meet the needs of the users.