Pursuing Universal Design (Japan)

Since joining the Design Company, Junichi Oshiro who has hearing impairment himself, has been involved with applying universal design concepts to the graphical user interface(GUI)of mobile phones with the objective of making them more user friendly for people with hearing impairments.

People with hearing impairment have not been able to enjoy the use of the telephone, but the development of mobile phone mail services, cameras, and other features is gradually reducing this barrier in daily life. The focus of universal design has thus far has been on improving the physical aspects of using the phone, such as by making the buttons larger. However, people with hearing impairments cannot hear voices or audible indicators, and thus Oshiro thought of using accompanying light and vibrations because "it is important to consider the physical features and ease of use along with the GUI design, and try to make it easy to see, easy to understand, and easy to use."