Inclusive app design supporting visually-impaired users to apply make-up independently and confidently wins Helen Hamlyn Design Award 2026

The awards were presented during a ceremony held at the RCA Battersea campus on Thursday 10 September to coincide with the international INCLUDE Conference on inclusive design. The Helen Hamlyn Award was presented by Lucy O'Rorke from the Helen Hamlyn Trust with Professor Hua Dong, Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, and the Julia Cassim Fixperts Award was presented by Professor Daniel Charley, with Laila Cassim.

The annual Helen Hamlyn Design Awards recognise creativity in people-centred, inclusive design across all disciplines of the College, and celebrate the most visionary, inclusive and innovative graduate projects. The awards are organised by the RCA’s Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design (HHCD) – a global leader in inclusive design, design thinking and creative leadership, endowed by the Helen Hamlyn Trust.

In 2026, three awards have been presented: the Helen Hamlyn Design Award, The Helen Hamlyn Fixperts Award and the Julia Cassim Fixperts Award. The Fixperts Awards recognise projects developed through Fixperts’ collaborative model of bringing designers together with a Fix Partner to address a real-world challenge through creativity, practical making and people-centred design. The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design has a longstanding relationship with Fixperts, reflecting a shared commitment to inclusive and participatory design.

Helen Hamlyn Design Award

Winner: Check My Look by Hanming Xu (Royal College of Art | MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering, 2026)

Check My Look is an accessible mobile application that helps blind and visually impaired people apply make-up independently and confidently. Make-up can be an important part of self-expression and identity, yet most beauty tutorials and tools depend heavily on visual demonstrations and mirrors. Developed through interviews, co-design and prototype testing with blind and partially sighted people, Check My Look translates visual information into clear, actionable feedback using computer vision and voice guidance. Rather than recommending how users should look, the app helps them create their own preferred make-up styles. A user can save a familiar daily, work or party look that has previously been applied or verified with support from a make-up artist, friend or family member. The app can then guide them through reproducing it independently. Research showed that users valued consistency, confidence and control more than AI-generated beauty recommendations.

Helen Hamlyn Fixperts Award

Winner: Ziv’s Bicycle by Shai Shinfeld & Roi Apter (Holon Institute of Technology)

Industrial design students Shai and Roi designed adaptive bicycle attachments for Ziv, a five-year-old boy with hypertonia in his left limbs. The team’s focus was to help Ziv gain an independent, confident and enjoyable bike riding experience. The project features an adjustable pedal add-on that provides an easy, intuitive mount and steady grip to keep Ziv’s foot secure, while allowing a quick-release for safety, alongside a handlebar extension that brings the grip closer to his body for better control. By addressing these specific ergonomic challenges, the attachments eliminate the need for constant adult assistance, turning Ziv’s riding experience into a continuous, safe and joyful journey.

Julia Cassim Fixperts Award

Winner: Mind the Yap by April Clough, Diana Osisigu Ndubuisi, Brook Shields, Yang Song, Zhixuan Zhou & Talia Stollman (Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London).

Working closely with their Fix Partner, Edward, the design team developed a bespoke board game, Mind the Yap, inspired by Edward’s life story and interests. Together, they created a playful way for people to share experiences, exchange ideas, and build confidence through conversation, encouraging others to learn from Edward’s journey and from each other.

The Julia Cassim Fixperts Award honours the legacy of Julia Cassim, a pioneering figure in inclusive design and a longstanding member of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design community. Julia was a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for 11 years, from 2000 to 2011, and later a Visiting Fellow. Her work played an important role in expanding inclusive design practice and education, including through the Challenge Workshop programme, which brought designers together with disabled people and other participants to develop solutions grounded in lived experience. Following Julia’s passing in June 2024, the award carries forward her commitment to ambitious, collaborative and genuinely people-centred design. The award was presented to the winners by Julia’s daughter, Laila Cassim, who continues her mother’s legacy of pioneering inclusive design.

The Helen Hamlyn Design Awards were preceded by the Design for our Future Selves Awards scheme which ran at the RCA from 2000 to 2008. It aimed to encourage inclusive design projects from graduating RCA students that were responsive to human behaviour and based on real insight into social need. The awards grew out of the DesignAge Competition, which ran from 1992 to 1999, addressing the needs and aspirations of older people.