Functional Design
Design is everywhere. It is found in the size of the bigger spoon I use for my soup. It is the size of the tube of the nail polish that someone designed to fit the customers’ hands. It is found in the design a toilet paper roll has for the functionality of households. Believe it or not those people had to go to the drawing board to test their designs.
I often look at designs in my everyday life to see if they are functional. Here are some issues that I’ve found in my common household items.
One great example, scissors. Scissors aren’t designed for left handed people and this is why my partner is partly ambidextrous. Growing up she had to learn how to do certain things with her left hand and other things with her right because the design of scissor back “in the day” didn’t cater to an accessible function for anyone else but right handed consumers. I’m sure there has been plenty of feedback from the lefties out there so I’m not knocking on any company doors with this feedback at the moment.
Another pet peeve I have with a design is my half gallon reusable water bottle. I drink a lot of water which means I carry it everywhere. However, using one hand is a problem as my hand barely fits around the width of the bottle. This wasn’t a big problem until I tried to drink out of it while driving. The other day I was out hiking and I took my water bottle down some cliffs. While climbing down I decided my water would go first while I climbed down unencumbered. My bottle is made of steel and when I threw it it hit a rock which made a pretty serious dent in the size. It definitely cost me a few ounces from the half gallon jug, but the great news is that I now have a dent that fits a one-handed Christian!
If you design anything in your life just ask yourself if it’s functional for the people that I’m designing it for? What might they be doing with my product when they are using it and how can I make it easier for them to use? A little thought goes a long way from the perspective of the customer, user, or consumer.
