Assistive drawing devices help Cerebral Palsy children to communicate and express themselves. This case study introduces the design of a unique assistive drawing device for a Cerebral Palsy child with upper limbs disability using the USERfit framework for user-centred design. The product design includes three parts: (1) hand-grip assistive device, (2) arm support assistive device and (3) moving drawing board. To further clarify the feasibility of applying this assistive drawing device design, a comparison experiment is performed for another Cerebral Palsy child. This study concludes that: (1) Hand grip, arm movements and body posture must be considered when designing assistive drawing devices for Cerebral Palsy children with upper extremity disabilities to improve drawing movement. (2) In terms of drawing agility, stroke, hand (or body) posture and stability, the assistive drawing device presented here can improve drawing range and drawing movement and is superior to currently used assistive drawing devices.
Since Taiwan government has aggressively promoted its national capacity of innovative design in recent years, the need for designers with professional knowledge and skills has been increased significantly, and many colleges have established Department of Design accordingly. However, it was found that the fluctuation of mood of students from Department of Design is more significant than that from other Departments. The change in mood influences students' recognition of shapes and colors. This study applied CES-D (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression) scale to test the current mood status of 120 freshmen from Department of Design and further find out the depression factors. From the factors of the study, six of them have been independent. These factors include "negative affect", "interpersonal problem", "physical and mental fatigue", "sadness and crying", "sleep disorder", and "inappetence". In fact, students from Department of Design appear to have Atypical Depression physically. They conceal the melancholic symptoms so that other people can hardly be aware of their depression. The study results can be the reference for current teachers of design education.
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