Fixperts is one of the required milestones for every student in the Department of Industrial Design: all students must complete it at least once during their studies. At the heart of the course lies a unique working method: students seek out a “Fixpartner” -someone facing a daily functional challenge, often related to a physical disability – and develop a solution together, through ongoing dialogue, that solves the problem or brings substantial functional relief.
What makes the course distinctive comes through in two ways. First, the work is done one-on-one with a person who has specific needs – not an abstract target audience, but a real partner in the process, whose needs, habits, and feedback shape the product at every stage. Second, unlike standard design work intended for a broad audience, the final result must genuinely work at the end of the process, the product is given to the partner and continues to serve them in daily life. In addition, the entire project – through all its stages – is documented and made available as open-source content on the program’s website, ready for anyone who encounters a similar problem and needs a solution.
The course is led by Prof. Gad Charny and instructor Katie Levine.
The latest submissions featured five projects, each telling the story of one such partnership:
A personalized everyday bag for Anna, who gets around using a walker. The bag lets her carry the items she needs day to day, access them easily and comfortably, and – most importantly – hang and remove the bag from her walker completely on her own. A handle attached to the bag allows for quick, intuitive attachment and removal, and the hook connects to the walker’s existing screws, positioned on the folding hinge so it doesn’t interfere with folding the walker. The bag includes accessible compartments -for a water bottle, for walker accessories, and for a wallet – all designed for one-handed use.
Team: Shira Linav, Yuli Horowitz
Lavi, a boy who gets around in a wheelchair, loves playing boccia (a ball sport played by athletes with disabilities), but needs help throwing the ball each time. The team designed a custom ramp for him that attaches to his wheelchair at a comfortable height, letting him throw the ball and play independently. The ramp breaks down into compact components for easy carrying.
Team: Liron Zlait, Eliaz Otrer, and Yuval Tesler
For Adi Wollnerman, the project’s partner, passing through a doorway required opening and closing her wheelchair’s footrests – a task that needed another person’s help. The team developed a simple, clever mechanism: pull straps connected to a rod that slides out from the tray in front of her, letting Adi fold the footrests herself – an important step toward daily independence.
Team: Liel Simor and Shahar Bella Boruch
A portable seat cushion for Maayan Nachmani, the project’s partner, who was wounded in the war in the tailbone area and had to carry a special, bulky cushion everywhere. The team developed a cushion that relieves pressure in that area and allows comfortable, long-lasting seating anywhere. The cushion combines a layer of TPU polymer with foam for support and comfort, in a folding design that makes it compact, lightweight, and easy to fit in a bag – suited for full daily use.
Team: Ofir Levy and Shiri Levy
Nadav relies on a walking cane throughout his daily routine, but standard folding canes aren’t stable enough and are cumbersome to fold and carry. The team designed a stable, compact solution for him – a cane that’s easier to fold, carry, and use.
Team: Ruslan Fatykhov and Liad Wald-Cohen
Across all projects – from a bag for a walker to fitness accessories – they all share one common thread: each was born out of listening, tested against real life, and, at the end of the process, moved from the studio to real life, into the hands of the partners they were designed for.
