Design Direction of the Furniture and Products in the Bathroom Space in Aging Societies

고령화시대 욕실공간에서의 가구 및 제품 디자인방향

In this study, I wanted to propose the design direction of the furniture and products in bathroom space so that the elderly's life is well supported to meet such aging societies that are getting older. Therefore, I have drawn the elders' needs by investigating their characteristics through literature research and used such needs as a frame of analysis to analyze the bathroom furniture and products made in Korea and foreign countries. The analysis results indicate:First, the elders need entertainment, health care, environment-friendly, convenience, good accessibility, chair-based bath and space separation; second, both Korean-made and foreign-made bathroom products are difficult to be controlled, invisible of font, hard to sustain the elders' bodies, inconvenient to be used and etc; and third, the design to solve such problems should be with intuitive user interface, easy control, better accessibility, the elders' moving patterns and living habits considered, health care, pro-environmental product. This study puts emphasis on the reflection of socio-cultural characteristics in designing bathroom furniture & items for aging society and requires more bathroom products with various designs in the foreseeable future.