designing for the elderly pet owner.

As the baby boomer generation ages, the world is finding and increased need for products and services that are easier for elderly to use. The majority of products that are used in everyday life are designed for a user that has a fully functioning body without any disabilities or restrictions. It is important that designers identify these product and design new ones that allow seniors to overcome the effects of aging.

We have studied some of the effects aging have on the human body and identified areas in which we could improve upon. Our project brief is centered around designing products that make it easier for seniors to own pets. Pets play an important role in a person’s life as they provide companionship and greatly reduce loneliness, so we want to make them as easy to own as possible.

Seniors who own pets are healthier and more alert than non pet owners. This is because pets keep the owner engaged and give them a companion to live with. The following is a survey taken by the pets for the elderly foundation that shows the benifits of owning pets if your a senior.

All information provided by the pets for the elderly foundation.http://www.petsfortheelderly.org/

Benifits:

-Easier to make friends-Seniors become more active-Pets offer affection and unconditional love-Pets ease loss of a loved one-Pets fight loneliness-Sense of security -Decreased stress levels-Kept them more active-Increased their feelings of personal security.

Pet Ownership

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We conducted several interviews with seniors who were pet owners and although we found very little problems with day to day living, there were a few events that proved to cause some problems. As people age, more day to day tasks become a burden. Basic tasks such as lifting become difficult due to their de-creasing strength. With this knowledge, we looked at existing products for pet owners and identified one that could be optimized for usage by seniors. This product was the pet transporter.

Existing pet transporters are bulky, heavy and awkward to move. Most of them only serve one purpose and don’t have handles or wheels to help transportation. Other design problems include small latches that are hard to operate if you have arthritis. Another concern of ours is the visual language of the carrier which gives off the look of a cage rather than a carrier.

Identify Problems

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solving the problem.our design

Existing forms of pet transportation are often designed to be carried. This can be cumbersome, considering most carriers shape, handles and handle placement are not sympathetic to the human users’ task. Considering both the human and animal users of the carrier when designing our transporta-tion device became the basis for our concepts.

A crucial aspect to the human user portion of the design was to minimise the need to lift the carrier, this greatly re-duces the chance of injury. By adding wheels to the carrier and a telescoping handle, the task of transporting your pet becomes fast and easy.

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Another consideration for the human user was to simplify the task of opening/closing the carrier. Most carries doors have a grip latch opening mechanism, a difficult task to perform for elderly people with arthritis. By simplifying this task to basic pushing/pulling of the handle, this simplifies the door system.

Through interviews and research, most pet owners consider their pet to be more a member of the family, rather than a ‘Pet’. By creating an environment that looks more like a baby carriage or something a human would use, it removes the connotation of a cage.

Concept development

After our sketching, this is the first form we developed. We adopted a 3 wheeled design with a slatted door system. The dimensions were based on existing small dog carriers but the height of the carrier was increased to give the pets more comfort.

Concept development

24”

32”

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Physical models provided incite into the final models dimensions. This was an important step as it addressed scaling issues.

Concept development

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After producing several concepts, we found a form that was sympathetic to both the humans needs as well as those of their pet. This is our final concept. The name “sicuro” comes from the italian word for safe. We want the owner to feel as though nothing can get between them and their pets safety.

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Final concept

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Final concept demensions

21”

35” 19”

15”

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Final concept

The telescoping handle allows the user to both extend the handle for easy pushing, as well as lock it in a shorter position for easy lifting. This also comes in handy when storing the carrier .

note: human model shown at 70” tall.

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Final concept

Sliding lid makes it much easier to open and close when compared to traditional latch systems.

Holes in the lowest panel allow the pet to see out and the owner to see in. It was important not to put to many holes as they would expose the dog to external stimuli and poten-tially cause the dog to act up.

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Final concept pet usage

Designed for smaller pets such as small dogs and cats. This is because the majority of seniors interviewed owned smaller dogs or cats as they are easier to take care of.

Carriers rounded shape creates a larger amount of headroom, giving dogs greater comfort compared to other carries of this size.

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length: 21”width: 15”height: 19”fully extended: 35”collapsed: 23”weight: 8 lbsMSRP: $149.99 Product designed with sustainable materials to reduce its ecological impact.

Final concept spec sheet.

Brian Jeffcock 071169Alex Kehoe 071287

Design Studio 4 Glen Hougan

20 April 2010