CCT384 – Universal Design and Access
Case Studies: OXO Good Grips and Smart Design
Week 8
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Research Methods
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Prototyping and Construction
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Overview
• Prototyping and construction
• Conceptual design
• Physical design
• Generating prototypes
• Tool support
Prototyping and construction
• What is a prototype?
• Why prototype?
• Different kinds of prototyping
low fidelity
high fidelity
• Compromises in prototyping
vertical
horizontal
• Construction
What is a prototype?
In other design fields a prototype is a
small-scale model:
• a miniature car
• a miniature building or town
What is a prototype?
In interaction design it can be (among other things):
• a series of screen sketches
• a storyboard, i.e. a cartoon-like series of scenes
• a Powerpoint slide show
• a video simulating the use of a system
• a lump of wood (e.g. PalmPilot)
• a cardboard mock-up
• a piece of software with limited functionality written in the target
language or in another language
Why prototype?
• Evaluation and feedback are central to interaction design
• Stakeholders can see, hold, interact with a prototype more easily
than a document or a drawing
• Team members can communicate effectively
• You can test out ideas for yourself
• It encourages reflection: very important aspect of design
• Prototypes answer questions, and support designers in choosing
between alternatives
What to prototype?
•
•
•
•
Technical issues
Work flow, task design
Screen layouts and information display
Difficult, controversial, critical areas
Low-fidelity Prototyping
• Uses a medium which is unlike the final
medium, e.g. paper, cardboard
• Is quick, cheap and easily changed
• Examples:
sketches of screens, task sequences, etc
‘Post-it’ notes
storyboards
‘Wizard-of-Oz’
Storyboards
• Often used with scenarios, bringing
more detail, and a chance to role play
• It is a series of sketches showing how a
user might progress through a task
using the device
• Used early in design
Sketching
• Sketching is important to low-fidelity
prototyping
• Don’t be inhibited about drawing ability.
Practice simple symbols
Card-based prototypes
• Index cards (3 X 5 inches)
• Each card represents one screen or
part of screen
• Often used in website development
‘Wizard-of-Oz’ prototyping
•
•
•
The user thinks they are interacting with a computer, but a
developer is responding to output rather than the system.
Usually done early in design to understand users’ expectations
What is ‘wrong’ with this approach?
User
>Blurb blurb
>Do this
>Why?
High-fidelity prototyping
• Uses materials that you would expect to be in the final product.
• Prototype looks more like the final system than a low-fidelity
version.
• For a high-fidelity software prototype common environments
include Macromedia Director, Visual Basic, and Smalltalk.
• Danger that users think they have a full system…….see
compromises
Compromises in prototyping
• All prototypes involve compromises
• For software-based prototyping maybe there is a slow response?
sketchy icons? limited functionality?
• Two common types of compromise
• ‘horizontal’: provide a wide range of functions, but with
little detail
• ‘vertical’: provide a lot of detail for only a few functions
• Compromises in prototypes mustn’t be ignored. Product needs
engineering
Construction
• Taking the prototypes (or learning from them) and
creating a whole
• Quality must be attended to: usability (of course),
reliability, robustness, maintainability, integrity,
portability, efficiency, etc
• Product must be engineered
Evolutionary prototyping
‘Throw-away’ prototyping
Conceptual design: from requirements to
design
• Transform user requirements/needs into a conceptual model
• “a description of the proposed system in terms of a set of
integrated ideas and concepts about what it should do, behave
and look like, that will be understandable by the users in the
manner intended”
• Don’t move to a solution too quickly. Iterate, iterate, iterate
• Consider alternatives: prototyping helps
Is there a suitable metaphor?
• Interface metaphors combine familiar knowledge with new
knowledge in a way that will help the user understand the
product.
• Three steps: understand functionality, identify potential
problem areas, generate metaphors
• Evaluate metaphors:
How much structure does it provide?
How much is relevant to the problem?
Is it easy to represent?
Will the audience understand it?
How extensible is it?
Considering interaction types
• Which interaction type?
How the user invokes actions
Instructing, conversing, manipulating or exploring
• Do different interface types provide insight?
WIMP, shareable, augmented reality, etc
Expanding the conceptual model
• What functions will the product perform?
What will the product do and what will the human do (task
allocation)?
• How are the functions related to each other?
Sequential or parallel?
Categorisations, e.g. all actions related to telephone memory
storage
• What information needs to be available?
What data is required to perform the task?
How is this data to be transformed by the system?
Using scenarios in conceptual design
• Express proposed or imagined situations
• Used throughout design in various ways
scripts for user evaluation of prototypes
concrete examples of tasks
as a means of co-operation across professional
boundaries
• Plus and minus scenarios to explore extreme cases
Generate storyboard from scenario
Generate card-based prototype from use
case
Case Study: Smart Design

Social Responsibility Through Design
 “The true basis of Universal Design is not “one
product for everyone.” It is about treating people
equally.”
Social Responsibility Through Design
 “Design should not systematically exclude people
who have physical or cognitive challenges, or
cultural or gender differences, simply because the
design team did not consider these variables in
their work.”
The Role of Segregation
 “While typically attributed to separation by race,
ethnicity or social class, in our work it has direct ties to
Universal Design.
 Segregation is a strong word in the Unites States, and
certainly a factor affecting the radical youth culture that
developed in the United States in the 1960’s. In the early
1980’s when we were first exploring the topic of
Universal Design, our goal was a simple, single principal:
Eliminate segregation by designing to include everyone.”
“Design is about people”

Smart Design was started in 1980 by a small group of industrial designers, most of
whom had been in college together. Children of the 1960’s, our goal was to use
design to make lives better for people. Smart Design began with a number of ideals
based on the principle that design should be focused on the end user. The ideals
were fueled by a number of successes we had in the 1980’s.

In 1990 they helped pioneer the concept of Universal Design when four designers
from Smart — Davin Stowell, Tucker Viemeister, Michael Callahan and Dan
Formosa (the author of this paper) — designed the original line of OXO GoodGrips
kitchen tools. The line accommodated as many people as possible, including
people with challenges such as arthritis and poor vision. This venture was a
significant risk at the time.

“While our previous products more quietly accommodated wide ranges of ability,
with this project we directly expressed a point of view that design should
accommodate everyone.”
“Design is about people”
 The OXO GoodGrips line of products has become
highly successful, and often emulated. As of today,
Smart Design has responsibly developed over 700
products for OXO. The company has grown
exponentially as a result. Design work for our other
clients has been approached with this same point of
view. Our approach was similarly applied to the
products we designed for companies such as
Johnson & Johnson, Corning Glass Works, HP, and
others.
Social Sustainability
 This includes a commitment to universal design,
and looks beyond that to include many aspects of
design that work to improve quality of life globally.
These include social, cultural, family and gender
issues. Design, for instance, has historically been a
male-dominated field. Exploring where, how, and to
what extent females in the consumer market have
been made to adapt to male points of view.
Social Sustainability
 “At Smart Design we are exploring unique design
methods that originate from a female point of view.
These methods are resulting in products more
naturally suited to female’s physical, cognitive, and
emotional needs.”
Public Bathrooms Reinvented
 Smart Design examines the intersection between
Universal Design principles and public restrooms
in Manhattan.
 http://www.smartdesignworldwide.com/news/artic
le.php?id=1097
Case Study: OXO Good Grips

OXO Company
 OXO launched in 1990
 Winner of over 100 design awards
 Over 500 products developed
 625 employees worldwide
 35 percent growth in sales between 1991 and 2002
 Average age of OXO employees 31.8
OXO Uplift Kettle Design
 Video:
 This video provides a short overview of the Uplift
water kettle's design. The Uplift water kettle was
launched in 1999 by OXO and in the 10 years since
has achieved sales in excess of 125,000,000 USD.
 http://www.youtube.com/v/rP0W1jdJEHQ&hl=en_
US&fs=1&
OXO Good Grips
 Design that everyone can use
Before
Traditional metal peeler
After
OXO Good Grips peeler
OXO Good Grips
 Design that everyone can use
 Problem: Why can’t kitchen utensils be designed to
be easy to use by people with arthritis?
 Response: Extensive user research and innovative
design create comfortable tools for all
 Result: Sales increase by 50% year on year
OXO Good Grips
 Design that everyone can use
 Problem: Why can’t kitchen utensils be designed to
be easy to use by people with arthritis?
 Response: Extensive user research and innovative
design create comfortable tools for all
 Result: Sales increase by 50% year on year
OXO Good Grips
 “OXO International was established by Sam Farber
in 1989 to develop the Good Grips range of
comfortable, easy-to-use kitchen utensils. Today,
OXO International manufactures over 500
innovative products and has brought the principles
of universal design to the global marketplace,
proving that design for all can be innovative,
appealing and profitable.”
OXO Good Grips
 There are an estimated 66 million arthritis sufferers
in the US (Arthritis Foundation research 2002) and 8
million in the UK (BBC Health), which, combined
with even greater numbers of the elderly and
infirm, represents a sizable potential market for
easy to use products. But OXO International, the
company that Farber established to develop his
idea, could see from the outset that the real
potential for Good Grips lay in creating universal
appeal for the tools.
OXO Good Grips
 OXO approached Smart Design, a New York based
industrial design firm and commissioned them to
develop a range of kitchen tools that were
comfortable in the hand, dishwasher safe, high
quality, good looking and affordable. Smart Design
was keen to demonstrate that attractive design
could be ‘multi-generational’, easily used (and
enjoyed) by people of all ages, including those with
limited dexterity.
OXO Good Grips

Although OXO International has diversified its
product offering, and now produces a complete
range of household and garden solutions, the
company is still focused on the guiding principles
of innovation, quality and universal design. In
addition, OXO International’s work has brought the
concept of inclusive design into the mainstream,
proving that design for all can be innovative,
appealing and profitable. How has the company
been able to grow – and expand its market reach
– without compromising on the values that
consumers have come to appreciate and expect
from the brand?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cbDVL57Wvs
Activity

HOW TO SELL A BEAUTIFUL BASIN

Link: http://www.omvivo.com/basins.htm

1) In a group of 3 or 4 apply the UD Principles to evaluate ONE of the following
sink’s universality (visit the link above), then 2) Brainstorm some sure-fire
“marketing copy” to sell it. A few clues (specifications) for example: “Sink is wallhung; available from 36 to 60 inches wide; 24 inches front to back; one drain on
the right; and comes in any color you want! “

Here's your chance to create a magazine advertising layout that extols the sink's
beauty and universality, illustrated. Decide whether it's a residential or public-use
sink (could be either), give it a savvy name, then create your marketing concept.
For comparison and ideas, similar sinks may appear in upscale Canada, U. S. or
other international plumbing suppliers’ media. Surf away!

If you're artsy, paste up the photographs or use line drawings to portray the sink,
then add your print copy about its uses and advantages. Your slick final layout
should be the size of a typical magazine page (9" x 12"). Feel free to take your
glossy masterpiece to a bathroom designer (a classmate from a different group) for
a critique before turning it in. Afterward, re-do your layouts based on his/her
suggestions IF you want to reinforce the knowledge and shove your self-esteem up
a notch!
References

The Principles of Universal Design‚ Version 2.0 (1997) by North Carolina State University
(as cited in Preiser & Ostroff ‚ 2001)

Center for Universal Design (US) Home of the Principles of Universal Design, Exemplars
of Universal Design, universal design history, the Design File, Center for Universal Design
Newsline, publications, and more.
http://www.design.ncsu.edu/

CAST (US) Home of Bobby, the web accessibility analysis tool, Universal Design in
Learning and the National Center On Accessing the General Curriculum, and eProducts.
http://www.cast.org

DO-IT: Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology,
http://www.washington.edu/doit/

Adaptive Environments Center (US) Home of the South Boston Waterfront Project,
Designing for the 21st Century Conference, Access to Public Schools, New England ADA
Technical Assistance Center, universal design education and consulting, Access to Design
Professions, publications and more. http://www.adaptenv.org

Accessible Electronic & Information Technology: Legal Obligations of Higher Education
and Section 508, Cynthia D. Waddell, J.D., 1999, http://athenpro.org/node/54
Next class
 Next class: Case Studies: Technology Design
 Readings:
 Follette, Mueller and Mace, Chapter 4, Case Study 4