Proposal on the degree of Universal Design

Toshiki YAMAOKA*, Hidetoshi YOSHIOKA**, and Ryota MORI** *Faculty of Systems Engineering , Wakayama University, 930 Sakaedani, Wakayama, 640-8510, Japan **Graduate school of Systems Engineering , Wakayama University, 930 Sakaedani, Wakayama, 640-8510, Japan Abstract: Most of evaluation methods proposed are intuitive and have not criteria to evaluate products quantitatively. The degree of universal design is proposed as an index which measures the degree of achievement of universal design. The degree of universal design is a ratio between tasks designed for diverse users and all tasks. The method to calculate the degree is , as follows . (1) Each tasks (column) for each classified diverse users (row) in a matrix are evaluated from the viewpoint of universal design. (2) If a task is designed well for an user group based on criteria, 1 is expressed in the cell of the matrix. (3) The degree of universal design is calculated as number of '1's / number of all cells. This method is evaluated by 6 subjects who calculated the degree of universal design. The results show the method is useful and quick to evaluate products.