DROWNING PREVENTION BY DESIGN: THE SEMIOTICS OF PROTOTYPING IN LOW-RESOURCE ENVIRONMENTS – CASE STUDY ZANZIBAR

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Design Creativity (ICDC 2020)

Year: 2020
Editor: Boujut, Jean-François ; Cascini, Gaetano ; Ahmed-Kristensen, Saeema ; Georgiev, Georgi V. ; Iivari, Netta
Author: Conrad, Franziska (1); Devall, Lucy (2)
Series: ICDC
Institution: 1: School of Art, Design and Architecture, Arts University Bournemouth, Poole, United Kingdom; 2: AUB Innovation, Arts University Bournemouth, Poole, United Kingdom
Page(s): 184-191
DOI number: https://doi.org/10.35199/ICDC.2020.23

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of an exploratory case study collaboration between Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in support of an RNLI delivery programme for international community management of drowning prevention in low-resource environments. The study focuses on the development of low-volume public rescue throw-lines that can be community made and maintained, the assembly and use of which are supported by a set of RNLI-developed instruction manuals intended for universal dissemination. The study examines the clarity of the instructions in the context of the makers’ interpretation of the manuals within the local constraints of Zanzibar. Preliminary findings indicate that these universally intended instruction manuals, in their current format, are open to interpretation, producing unsafe drowning prevention rescue lines that do not meet safety-critical standards. A re-design of the manuals through creative collaboration in a local context are the outcomes of this research. Discussion is also given as to whether a universal instruction manual should be the desirable outcome.

Keywords: human-centred design, universal design, design for development, interactive prototyping, instruction manual design

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