The kindergarten chair is
Age-Friendly
Design Thinking
We give kindergartners small chairs because kindergarteners are small people, and we don’t ask them to sit in a chair designed for an 18-year-old man about to graduate from high school.
We anticipate growth as children age, and we give them progressively bigger chairs as their bodies change. We use design thinking to provide not just a chair, but a comfortable place to sit.
We know that 20 is not 40 is not 60 is not 80, just as kindergarten is not senior year.
So why do we keep giving everyone the same chair? In homes and communities, in schools and hospitals, at work and in parks—we can do better.
As you grow up and grow older, would you rather have a chair, or a comfortable place to sit?
We are bringing an Age-Friendly lens to every industry. Everywhere.
Join us.
“Design, stripped to its essence, can be defined as—the human capacity to shape and make our environment in ways without precedent in nature, to serve our needs and give meaning to our lives.
Design matters because, together with language, it is a defining characteristic of what it is to be human, which puts it on a level far beyond the trivial.” —John Heskett
Join our movement to bring the lens of aging to the practice of design thinking.
“Design thinking brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable.” — IDEO U
Desirability—design that makes sense to people and for people
Feasibility—design that is functionally possible
Viability—design that is systemically sustainable
Age-Friendly Design Thinking elevates an age-inclusive human point of view.
Join our movement to champion an age-inclusive human point of view.
Where you stand depends on where you sit. - Miles’s Law
We are cross-sector leaders, passionate placemakers, and creative thinkers.
We need you, we need your lens, and we need your expertise.
Like a color wheel, wherever our diverse skills and perspectives overlap something new is created. The larger the community, the greater the synergy and the more potential for inclusive innovation. We stand up the Age-Friendly design lens, starting from where you sit.
We innovate everywhere you are.
Join our movement to sharpen your own Age-Friendly lens.
The Mission