Key details
Date
- 29 September 2022
Read time
- 1 minute
This Age Thing at the Design Age Institute working in collaboration with the University of the Third Age (u3a) has published the results of a report revealing the most frustrating everyday household objects as we age.
Key details
Date
- 29 September 2022
Read time
- 1 minute
The report ‘Designing the everyday for a less frustrating later life’ highlights the daily struggles that over 55’s face in the home, ahead of the United Nations International Day of Older Persons (1 October) and the UK’s Silver Sunday (2 October).
Working in collaboration with the University of the Third Age (u3a), a collection of 1,000 UK charities, the Design Age Institute surveyed over 2,000 people aged between 55 and 104, and has brought together the findings to create its report; ‘Designing the everyday for a less frustrating later life’.
The biggest stress factors identified in homes were packaging-related, with over 60% of all respondents choosing packaging as their main frustration. Almost 50% identified food packaging as a real frustration, while medical packaging was found to cause irritation and stress by 12.5% of those surveyed.
Packaging wasn’t the only frustration, members also reported difficulties with duvet covers, TV remotes, high cupboards, keys and locks, plugs, too many controls on white goods, vacuum cleaners, and small keys on computers and mobile phones.
To coincide with the report’s release, the Design Age Institute and u3a has launched an online petition proposing an inclusive design standard for packaging, with the aim of gathering 100,000 signatures and triggering a debate in parliament on the issue of poorly designed packaging.
