Design Café

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One of the ways that we are revolutionising the approach to disability is through our Design Café, a place where we foster creativity, collaboration, and cutting-edge solutions.

Our Design Café is a space where ideas come to life, where dreams become tangible realities. It's where a diverse alliance of people with disability, researchers, 3D printing experts, industrial designers, educators, and health and social services providers collaborate to invent unique solutions that transform lives.

Design Cafés can be held online or in person. This mixture of inclusive and accessible meeting styles brings participants together from any location

One of the ways that we are revolutionising the approach to disability is through our Design Café, a place where we foster creativity, collaboration, and cutting-edge solutions.

Our Design Café is a space where ideas come to life, where dreams become tangible realities. It's where a diverse alliance of people with disability, researchers, 3D printing experts, industrial designers, educators, and health and social services providers collaborate to invent unique solutions that transform lives.

Design Cafés can be held online or in person. This mixture of inclusive and accessible meeting styles brings participants together from any location into the one place. Usually, the first meeting is in-person and subsequent interactions are hosted online.

The complexity of a product or solution will determine how many Design Cafés are required to develop a prototype that is desirable, practical and economically efficient.

View our short film via our YouTube Channel or below.


Design Café: Video Transcript: An accessible and downloadable Microsoft Word file is provided on the right right-hand side under "Design Café: Video Transcript".

Design Themes

We focus our activities on three major themes: Live, Work and Play across all stages of life. This encourages people with common interests to come together and share challenges and future solutions. We unite efforts from all sectors and fields of research to reach new ways of reducing impairment, increasing participation and building better responses to disability.


An infographic displaying the three design themes. Vector graphic of a house - LIVE (a home for life): Supporting healthy, safe, affordable and accessible homes, farms, towns, cities and transport systems. Vector graphic of an employment ID card WORK (pathways to employment): Creating sustainable employment, entrepreneurship and leadership opportunities and access to education and training. Vector graphic of two people with prosthetic legs, a man is kicking a soccer ball and a woman next to him PLAY (active and engaged citizens): Promoting inclusive sport and recreation, including participation and performance in sport, arts and cultural pursuits.


  • Griffith Design Café is Revolutionising Access Through Co-Design

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    https://news.griffith.edu.au/2023/11/28/griffith-design-cafe-is-revolutionising-access-through-co-design/

  • Lindsay's Story

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    https://inclusivefutures.griffith.edu.au/news/news_feed/design-lab-disability-storieslindsay-nott-on-how-disability-led-design-can-improve-lives

  • Design Café Pilot Event 22 July 2022

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    DESIGN CAFÉ PILOT


    Co-designing solutions people want and need

    Last Saturday, 22 July at Griffith University’s Gold Coast Campus, “Design Lab” Lead - Mathew McShane delivered our first Inclusive Futures Design Café Pilot program.

    The Design Café is a community building and technological engagement project that brings together engineers, designers, and occupational therapists with people with disability, to explore engineering and technology solutions to challenges people face every day.

    Together with people who have lived experience, the program put forward new, co-created solutions for development, and thus provided valuable enhancements to people’s lives.

    “We had an amazing opportunity to collaborate on inclusive designs during this event, truly embracing the essence of co-design. It was remarkable to directly learn from users and understand their unique challenges, while actively involving them in the design process. Such involvement has often been overlooked when designing for disability, but this event showcased a refreshing approach to human-centred design.”


    A montage of coloured images of participants at the design pilot program.

    For more information on future Design Cafés, please contact:


    Matt McShane

    m.mcshane@griffith.edu.au, or


    Inclusive Futures: Reimagining Disability

    inclusivefutures@griffith.edu.au





Page last updated: 28 Nov 2023, 02:11 PM