Dear Fellow Consumer,

Have you every bought a product and them become frustrated because it was difficult to use? You probably don't have to think back very far to remember having difficulties using one or more of the products you purchased. The reason so many products you buy are difficult to use is that many product manufacturing companies focus product design with the goal of achieving manufacturing efficiency rather than ease-of-use. In other words, the end user's needs become secondary in the design.

Our mission at Tripod Design is to restore and improve the relationship between products, their design, and their users. With the goal of designing products that have superior ease-of-use, we have been developing a concept we call Human Centered Design. The Human Centered Design process takes a product from concept through final design by researching the ergonomic usability needs of people of all ages and physical abilities.

The goal of HCD is to make sure that every person at Tripod involved in designing a new product account for the needs, both physical and psychological, of each and every individual consumer who might interact with the product. Particular focus is given to those consumers with physical disabilities.

A Better Approach to Product Design

Why focus design on the needs of those consumers with physical disabilities? Our contention is that segmenting people with and without physical disabilities, as the vast majority of consumer product manufacturing companies do, is in many cases unnecessary. In addition, product development based on such segmentation is disadvantageous to both groups of consumers because many products on the market today cannot be used effectively by those with physical disabilities, and since the products were not developed based on the needs of persons with physical disabilities the products are actually more difficult to use for persons who do not have physical disabilities (more on this below.)

Most of the consumers who are not physically disabled are not even consciously aware that many of the products they buy every day are difficult to use. This in spite of the fact that difficult-to-use products sometimes cause them pain, either immediate or long term, or are so difficult to use that they cause stress from frustration.

For example, most people without a physical disability would not put the standard cylindrical pen or pencil in the "difficult-to-use" category. However, most of these same people have probably experienced "writer's cramp" in their hand at one time or another, and almost all probably have a callous built-up on the side of the middle finger that holds the pen or pencil in place as they write.

It's not until a product comes along that challenges the status quo do we consumers pick up on just how difficult-to-use the existing product was.

For example, not many consumers questioned ease-of-use in kitchenware until an upstart company called OXO International (www.oxo.com) introduced a new product line called OXO Good Grips in 1990. The design concept was simple: Make kitchenware products that are comfortable and easy-to-use no matter the user's physical abilities. Usability needs for those consumers with physical disabilities was the primary focus of design development. OXO's designs incorporated large resilient handles that were oval in cross section which enabled better distribution of forces on the hand and enhanced gripping capability, even when the user had wet hands.

By the year 2000, OXO product lines were being produced for specialty stores like Bed Bath and Beyond, Bloomingdale's, Crate&Barrel, Linens N' Things, and department stores such as Target (Soft Works) and Wal-Mart (Sensables), as well as direct mail-order catalogues.

The key point of this success story is that a large number of customers who buy OXO's products have no particular physical disability.

What OXO discovered was that a product designed so that it can be used effectively by those with physical disabilities also becomes much more comfortable and easy to use for those who are not physically disabled.

OXO has been successful because all consumers naturally gravitate towards useful products that are easy-to-use. In addition, by making its products aesthetically attractive OXO recognized that all consumers have a psychological attraction to products that not only work well, but also look nice.

To learn more about Tripod's Human Centered Design process please click here.