OXO "Good Grips"
Industrial designer Bruce Hannah shares his thoughts the best examples of the Principles of Universal Design.
Bruce Hannah: As with any "Top Thirteen" list (heck, why stop at just ten?) these are just my personal opinions, and I'm sure many wonderful universal design products have been left off. But, alas there is only so much room on a short list, so choices must be made.
The OXO "Good Grips" product line starts off my list. These are the first kitchen utensils to address usability for everyone. Sam Farber, the founder of Copco, had retired to France after selling his company. He was in the kitchen one day and he saw his wife attempt to peel a potato with the usual potato peeler we are all familiar with, the one made out of steel with a bent piece of metal for a handle. Sam's wife struggled and then turned to him and said, "can't you make something that doesn't hurt my hands?" Sam said, "I think I can. How about a rubber handle?" He was on the phone immediately with Smart Design in New York City, and he basically challenged Davin Stowell, Tucker Viemiester, Pattie Moore and the rest of Smart's staff to come up with a better potato peeler with a rubber handle. Not only did Smart Design come with a better potato peeler which changed how we all think about kitchen gadgets, but they continue to add to the OXO Good Grips product line today, 14 years later. As a side note: the OXO peeler wasn't cheaper than the standard product. In fact, it was more expensive. But it was safer, easier to use and more comfortable. People will pay for safety, ease of use and comfort."
Related Links: Smart Design
Designed by Smart Design, Davin Stowell, Tucker Viemiester, Scott Henderson
Toyota F1 Cars
Bruce Hannah: I think that Toyota is the first car company to create cars for every need. It has been the usual practice to adapt cars to specific users. This is an expensive and time-consuming practice. Toyota researched very small markets that other car manufacturers tend to ignore. Toyota's point of view is that they might just learn something that's useful to everyone. They added a seat that swivels, a simpler set of controls, and wider doors that open automatically. The Toyota RAUM will make many accessible features widely available. By providing products for small audiences, many manufacturers could learn something new about the needs of greater audiences. Take Alexander Graham Bell, for instance: I believe he was trying to invent a hearing aide (his father ran a school for the deaf). He succeeded marvelously, and I can now hear Japan very clearly!
Related Links: Toyota Universal Design Showcase
Chief Designer: Toyota; Consulting Designer: Satoshi Nakagawa
Aeron Chair
Bruce Hannah: What a simple thought: design a chair with every feature you might need that comes in small, medium or large. As simple as buying a t-shirt! Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick changed the way we thought about office chairs with the Aeron Chair. With the Aeron Chair, everyone is equal in the office. Everyone deserves the same support, comfort and features. The small manager no longer gets to sit in the big chair while his assistant sits uncomfortably in a small one. This was not always true. In fact, Bill Stumpf's first series of chairs for Herman Miller in 1973 (the Ergon Chair, named for its concentration on the ergonomics of the user) maintained the "chair status quo." If you were a manger you got to sit in a manager's chair. If you were an executive you got to sit in an even bigger executive chair. If you were a secretary you were given a small chair — usually without arms! This wasn't very equitable.
In the 1980s, Bill's next line of chairs for Herman Miller, the Equa Chair, really made an attempt to equalize the office environment. There were fewer models and most used the same size seat and back shell. The Equa Chair set a new standard and really questioned the prevailing logic of chair design at the time. Then came the Aeron chair, which challenged the design standards in the early 1990s. It originally came in three sizes and one color — black — and it was expensive. But it was an immediate hit. Everyone wanted one. And everyone could get his or her size! Again, just like the OXO Good Grips, it's proven that people will pay for comfort, ease and safety.
Related Links: Herman Miller
Designed by Don Chadwick, Bill Stumpf
RISD Kitchen
Bruce Hannah: This re-thinks the kitchen literally from the ground up — so many breakthroughs
in usability that it's mind-boggling. Adjustable counter tops, a built-in pasta
maker, and a breakfast area where you have all the stuff you need
in one place: toaster, coffee maker, counter, etc. The most revealing story
Project Director Jane Langmuir told about the kitchen design process was
when they invited various people to cook a pasta dinner in their own
kitchen, while being videotaped. When a retired Italian lady of short stature
cooked, she periodically went to a closet, pulled out a step stool
and used it to reach various pots, pans and other kitchen
utensils stored in her kitchen cabinets. After completing the meal, she and Jane
sat down to eat dinner and view the videotape. She was astonished at how
many times she went to fetch the step stool, each time returning it to the closet.
Lots of times we are unaware of what we do in order to use what appears to be
a nice kitchen. Sometimes we have to be shown what we do before we fully realize
how inaccessible the simple tools of daily life are. We are extremely adaptable,
creative beings and we use our adaptive skills every day without realizing there
might be an easier way. As Jane and the RISD design team gathered information
they were able to design a kitchen that is very accessible. The Mini Kitchen
is the one we all need and The Maxi Kitchen is the one we all want.
Related Links:
RISD: The Universal Kitchen
Designed by Marc Harrison, Michael Lye, Peter H. Wooding and many others
Signage for the Lighthouse, NYC
Hannah: This is one of the first signage systems that addressed the needs of everyone. It incorporates the use of braille, texture, color, shape, contrast, and even sound to help everyone find their way. Roger Whitehouse and his design team set new standards by researching how people navigate spaces. They created prototypical environments and tested their ideas on real people. Listening to people and learning how they use products, spaces, and services has become more important than the actual creative design process itself.
Designed by Roger Whitehouse; Photos courtesy of Courtesy of Lighthouse International, © Whitehouse & Company.
Voice-Activated Telecom Equipment
This Walker Dialogue voice carry-over phone allows users to speak to callers while reading their words on a built-in screen.
Hannah: Back to the future! As a child I remember picking up the phone and asking to speak to my father. Since the phones were connected by hand by an operator, the operator would recognize my voice and calling number and connect me to my father. This is exactly what voice recognition software does, only without the operator.
Walker Amplified Phones
Keyless Entry Systems
Hannah: Cars have had "keyless" locking systems for decades, and I think it's about time this technology was transferred to entry doors in our homes. How many times have you walked up to your door with your hands full and then had to put down the groceries or the baby and fumble around looking for your keys? Keyless entry allows you to walk up to the door and press a button and magically your door is open.
SUNY Buffalo Bathrooms
Hannah: This IDEA SUNY bathroom has appliances that move and relocate depending on the user's needs. Users can customize their own bathing space. How many times have you wanted to sit down and take a shower? Well many of us can't stand when taking a shower. The introduction of a seat in the shower allows us all to enjoy that wonderful feeling of water cascading over those well-used muscles. Adjustability and adaptability should be designed into every appliance and room we use. Children can't reach the faucets in most bathrooms so we buy a stool and hope they don't fall off when they reach for the toothpaste. Wouldn't it be simpler to just adjust the height of the sink? Wouldn't it be safer? We strap our children into car seats every day but we let them loose on some flimsy stool in the most dangerous room of the house!
Related Links:
Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access at SUNY Buffalo
Courtesy Frank Miller, University at Buffalo Reporter; Designed by Abir Mullick
Playworld Systems Play Areas
Hannah: This is one of the first companies to create inclusive play areas for outdoor play grounds. Understanding that physical activities are just a part of play, Kevin Owens and the team of designers at Playworld Systems created play areas for all. Grandma might not be capable of swinging or climbing around a playground like a wild three-year old, but she can participate in other kinds of play. Designers and manufacturers are beginning to realize that everyone should have opportunities to engage in play activities. By observing and listening to the users of products, designers are trying to create more equitable play areas.
Related Links:
Playworld Systems
Designed by Kevin Owens and others
"No Step" Bus Systems
Hannah: Imagine a bus entry system that allows everyone to get on and off seamlessly. No more waiting for the driver to make special arrangements for wheels to enter the bus. Public transportation has made great strides in accessibility, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Many elderly people still find it difficult to navigate. Making transportation seamlessly accessible is one of universal designs goals.
Related Links:
International Centre for Accessible Transportation: Universal design for local transport - some European experiences
Voice of Design: Mobility by the Elderly and Design
Motion Detection Lighting
Hannah: What a simple idea: as you enter a space or environment the lights automatically go on. Again, I go back to the automobile. No one would buy a car that doesn't welcome you with an interior light as we open the door. Why should our homes be any different? No more searching for that elusive light switch. As you walk up to your home, the lights in the yard turn on. As you enter your home, the interior lights turn on. These systems are much more than just convenience. They provide safety and reassurance as we navigate. Everyone's ability to navigate spaces is a giant issue when it comes to universal design.
Adjustable Keyboard Platform
Hannah: This is one of my projects. In the late 1970s, when computers first started to invade the office, keyboards were ponderous monsters. Some were three inches thick, which when placed on a 30-inch high desk surface were basically unusable. A lot of attempts were made to make the keyboard more accessible, from drawers to movable desk surfaces. All of them kind of worked. Coincidentally, we were designing a dental chair and accessories. The dentist work table and arm was just sitting there in the studio waiting to be attached to the underside of the desk. That's what we did. We just mounted the dental arm and tray to the desk and the Keyboard Support was born. The design came out of what was probably just a lucky coincidence, but the keyboard user sure lucked out that day, too.
Designed by Bruce Hannah
Lever Door Handles
Hannah: Lever door handles in some ways symbolize access. In contrast to the typical doorknob there are many ways to open the door with a lever handle. You can use your hand, but you can also use your elbow, your foot, or a towel. The simple extension allows many users to find many ways to open the door. If you can't open the door you don't have access. The Ironmonger Portfolio Series of lever handles tries to take the door handle to a new level by incorporating signage, Braille, and other information into the door handle design. Everyone touches the door lever and it's located at just the right height to include other information. Johannes Potente's 'Handflatter,' designed in 1953, set standards that are still relevant. Design should be blind to culture, age, gender, and ability.
Related Links:
AARP: Lever Door Handles
Designer-in-Residence at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution and the founder of the New York-based design firm Hannah Design. He is the recipient of the Industrial Design Society of America's 1990 Design of the Decade award for his work on the Hannah Desk System for Knoll International. He is the co-author of Access by Design (John Wiley & Sons).
The HVC Lever Handle System from Ironmonger Portfolio. Designed by Tanya Van Cott and Bruce Hannah.