Designer Shows How To Make Kitchen Gadgets More Accessible

In the video Formosa critiques a pineapple slicer, corn stripper, watermelon windmill, clever cutter, slap chop, apple peeler, and strawberry huller. He first tries to use each gadget to see how well they perform. To really test the gadget’s ease or difficulty of use, he oils up his hands and tries to use them left handed (he’s right handed). He then explains how he would improve each gadget, along with a sketch.

It’s really intriguing to listen to him explain how even the most simple changes can make a device so much easier to use. Such as a handle with a slight curve that better utilizes torque when twisting. More than once he mentions how some of the devices would be difficult to use for people with small hands or disabilities such as arthritis. He would then suggest a change such as making a button slightly higher that would be easier to push in.

I really like at then end when he tells how he would respond to companies wanting to design for the average consumer, “I don’t care about the average person. I need to know the people who are the weakest and strongest. I need to know the tallest and shortest. I need to understand the spectrum.” What he’s talking about is Universal Design.