How Design for One Turns Into Design for All – The New York Times

Art & Design|How Design for One Turns Into Design for All

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/arts/design/cooper-hewitt-access-ability.html

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How Design for One Turns Into Design for All

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Design with a difference: Details from the exhibition “Access+Ability” at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.Credit…Photographs by Vincent Tullo for The New York Times

By Michael Kimmelman

• Jan. 24, 2018

Matthew Walzer was a college-bound teenager with cerebral palsy when he sent a letter to Nike several years ago. He explained that he had trouble tying laces and slipping into shoes without help.

But he didn’t want sneakers that looked clunky and clinical. He wanted Nikes, stylish ones like other students wore that worked for him.

In response, the company introduced a line called FlyEase. They’re slip-ons with a zipper that seals the back and then Velcro-ties the top in one simple motion.

Not incidentally, [...]