How concepts of ageing and design approaches can combat the fashion industry’s limited accessibility to an older generation

Twigg, J. (2013) Fashion and Age. Dress the Body and Later Life. London: Bloomsbury

Featherstone, M. & Wernick, A. (1995) Images of Aging: Cultural Representations of Later Life. London: Routledge

Gullette, M. M. (1999), ‘The other end of the fashion cycle: practising loss, learning decline’, in K. Woodward (ed.), Figuring Age: Women, Bodies, Generations, Bloomingdale: Indiana University Press, 34–58.

Higgs, P. & Gilleard, C. (2015). The Cultural Turn in Gerontology. In Twigg & Martin (Eds). The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology, London: Routledge

The project description is Through a topic of your own choosing critically analyse what concepts of ageing underpin design practice engaged in that area. Within this you should consider the implications of the approach(es) adopted for older people and propose possible alternative approaches that respond to the issues raised in your analysis. This should include a consideration of the ethical issues involved in designing for and/ or with older people. You will need to work autonomously to identify relevant scholarly sources as well as use design research strategies to develop your research and analysis. For example, this could include visual analysis, annotated images, person-centred methods like interviews or focus groups, cultural probes, co-creation or co-design techniques, speculative design etc.

The submission should be 3,500 words long and include a bibliography.

The learning outcomes are VERY IMPORTANT

1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the key theories of ageing and the ways in which they relate to design

2. Apply design research strategies alongside secondary research to develop a critically informed response to an identified issue relating to ageing.

3. Evidence reflection on ethical approaches to researching with people

4. Communicate complex ideas and resolutions through well articulated arguments intergrated with visual methods

I need to talk about the social model, cultural model, positive ageing and the decline ideology 

My general plan is 

 Title

Introduction – Set the context

What have you chosen to analyse – what area of design, what issue – it may be appropriate to give some contextual background

What kind of research are you using to base your analysis on and do any research ethics arise from this

Main bodies of the essay – Set out your key arguments ensuring that you consider

How older people are framed by the design approaches taken in the examples you are looking at (what theories or models of ageing are employed consciously or unconsciously)

How design could approach the issue / problem / topic in alternative ways

What ethical issues arise from your analysis – thinking about your own research and also

the ethical turn 

Conclusion

Summarise key points and conclusions

It can also be appropriate to reflect on how you might approach the topic again if you had more time or on the basis of what you have learnt this time round.