Design for every body: The evolution of accessible design

As society becomes increasingly aware of people’s diverse needs, accessible design has become the hot topic. Years ago at Michael Graves Design, our president Donald Strum, our chief design officer Rob Van Varick, and I were reviewing student portfolios. All the designs were about sustainability. Today, we see a lot of focus on accessibility. We love it. This makes sense, because gaining empathy for your products’ future users is at the core of product design. The design community is ready for accessibility. Our challenge today is proving that it makes great business sense.

At Michael Graves Design, we have long embraced accessible design; our North Star is activities of daily living (ADLs), a term used to describe the fundamental skills required to successfully live independently. Guided by our “Delight for All” philosophy, and with the ADLs prioritizing the most impactful objects to design, we’re dedicated to designing products that people love and products that enhance lives, regardless of age or physical ability. To do that, we look for product opportunity gaps—unmet consumer needs—and fulfill them with new product designs. By definition, this is pioneering, creating solutions that previously have not existed. We embrace pioneering as a cherished value that we want to share.

Our true mission has been to design everyday objects in a way that works for the widest audience possible. At the same time, the products should look great and make users love them because the products enhance their lives. Brands want to make emotional connections with consumers and helping someone do something that was previously a struggle is the best way to fall in love. We understand that expanding the addressable market size is fundamental to growth and that people always want a better mousetrap. We’re designing products that give equal focus to style and safety.

Democratization of design

Michael Graves, an esteemed architect and designer, founded our firm with a visionary mission to shift design from abstract modernism to a human-centered approach that puts the person at the center of all design decisions. This philosophy brought color and art back into the built environment, and prioritized human comfort, understanding, and joy. This approach provides cognitive accessibility. Later, Michael Graves Design’s partnership with Target defined America’s expectation that great design should be affordable to everyone. Design became a corporate strategy. The democratization of design was born, and our company delivered financial accessibility. Over his last decade, after becoming paralyzed, Michael discovered the indignities the built environment imposed on people, and he became a passionate advocate among the disabled. This moved our company to focus on physical accessibility, directing the power of design to improve lifestyles and healthcare experiences for every body. Michael transformed the role of the architect in society and left the world a better place than he found it.

Delight for All

Now, our mission is Delight for All, to create moments of joy through products that are visually appealing, full of character and purpose, and designed to enhance people’s lives. We take pride in being one of the most accessible design brands, creating functional, beautiful products for every body and encourage other companies and designers to do the same.

We’ve brought over 2,500 products to market, from our iconic teakettles to healthcare products that transform the acute care experience, to home products that prioritize universal accessibility and appeal. We create products with purpose and personality, safety, and style, so that no one has to choose between living with one or the other—the concepts can coexist harmoniously. This approach is rooted in empathy and an understanding of how profoundly good design improves quality of life, making everyday environments more intuitive and enjoyable for everyone.

“Design for All” led to good design becoming a “cost of entry” consideration for most companies. Our brand ethos is now pushing other companies and designers to consider physical accessibility from the onset of their design processes rather than as an afterthought. Once this reaches critical mass and competition is everywhere, the promise of universal design will be achieved and we want to get there together.

How is this done? To design any product with a Delight for All vision, a rigorous ethnographic research process, known as “Design With,” is essential to the discovery of novel functional enhancements. We start each design project by generating insights based on the lives of real people. We conduct interviews and observations with a diverse range of potential users, including older adults and individuals with disabilities. By understanding the unique needs of these communities, we ensure that our products are not only aesthetically pleasing but also practical and empowering, making them suitable for every body.

Human-focused ethos

This human-focused ethos guided our recent collaboration with Pottery Barn, where consumer preference testing feedback informed the designs for our new products. By prioritizing user feedback, companies can create designs that blend safety with style, showing that accessibility is as essential to great furniture design as are aesthetic considerations. Design has the power to enrich all of our lives and this collaboration allows us to make beautiful and purposeful furniture available to everyone.

We also focus on collaborating with design schools and advocacy groups to raise awareness about the importance of accessibility in design, ensuring this ethos spreads. Our goal is to set new consumer expectations with products that seamlessly blend safety with style, proving to the world that accessible design makes great business sense by broadening the total addressable market.

We remain committed to redefining accessible design, ensuring that innovation and empathy continues to shape a more inclusive world and want to see more brands do so with us. Accessible design is part of our ongoing mission: to create functional, accessible, and beautiful products that enhance the lives of every body, paving the way for a more inclusive world.

Ben Wintner is CEO of Michael Graves Design.

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