Archive

Plural Futures

Sabrina Rufino e José Roque

SEMINAR
APRIL 15TH OF 2024, 3PM
GREEN SPACE IN FRONT OF THE LIBRARY – ESAD.CR

Bring your picnic blanket, beach towel and parasol!

The Curricular Unit Seminar of the Industrial Design Degree is once again taking over ESAD.CR’s informal spaces to welcome guests to debate “Plural Futures” and the changing thinking and matrices of intersectionality in the discipline of design, questioning its implications in the contemporary world and using design and its creations to inspire emerging reflections. Each seminar is a space for meeting, listening to and discovering the guest and their work, but also for projecting these contributions to the next steps in the students’ journey and to design research.

Sabrina Rufino
Through the creation of objects, this research aims to mitigate the stigma associated with visually impaired people and promote their independence and access to information. As a basis for the work, a study was carried out with the blind and low vision community through interviews with visually impaired people, family members, mobility technicians and the management of the Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired of Portugal (ACAPO) in Aveiro, in order to gather their experiences and develop projects according to their needs. Three projects were created: a word game, which brings normal people into contact with people who are blind or have low vision, encouraging them to discover the world of people with visual impairments by sharing experiences and reflecting on the barriers of everyday life; a set of tactile syringes, which allow small quantities of liquids to be measured, enabling autonomy and self-determination in health care as well as in the care of others; an exploratory study of tactile labels for the identification of allergens for general use without using Braille. The results confirm the importance of including people in the design process in order to generate solutions that meet their real needs.

Sabrina Rufino has a degree in Design from the University of Aveiro, a Master’s in Product Design from ESAD CR. and is currently completing her Master’s in Design for Health and Wellbeing. After completing her degree, she worked as a product design trainee at the Irish company WASP, where she was able to explore the capabilities of additive manufacturing using 3D printing. She has a research grant from LIDA – Laboratório de Investigação de Design e Arte (Design and Art Research Laboratory) in the INOV.AM project and was also a fellow at ciTechCare – Centre for Innovative Care and Health Technology in the co-design for Independence and GRASPon projects. Her interests lie in rapid prototyping methods, inclusive design and the relationship between design and the quality of life of people with disabilities.

José Roque
Portugal is the fifth country in the European Union with the highest prevalence of mental health problems, the most prominent of which are depression and anxiety disorders. This research aimed to propose auxiliary objects for the mental health area, specifically for anxiety problems. The project aimed to materialise various theoretical studies. The aim was to develop objects, functional and applicable to real cases, that help deal with some of the disabilities linked to this illness.

My name is José Almeida, I’m an Industrial Design professional from Aveiro, with a Master’s Degree in Product Design, completed in September 2022. I’m particularly interested in 3D modelling and product innovation. I previously worked as a Product Designer at Next Light, where I gained significant experience in the field of industrial lighting. Subsequently, I became a Technical Designer at Solancis SA, where I looked after various client projects. As well as checking the quality of the projects, I worked closely with different teams to ensure that everything went according to the client’s request.