I'm thinking a lot about the OXO vegetable peeler tonight.

A thread about holding onto a clear vision of who you're designing for.

The OXO vegetable peeler is, in my layperson's understanding, something of a legend in product design. The story is that Sam Farber, one of the co-founders of OXO, was in the kitchen cooking with his wife, who had arthritis. (2/n)

She complained that the way their metal peeler was shaped hurt her hand and wrist more, and asked if he could modify it for her.

(I've used this peeler before, too. It gets the job done, but it kind of sucks. It's uncomfortable and exacerbates my wrist problems, too.)

(3/n)

I can't remember whether Sam Farber taped padding and cardboard around it, or modeling clay, but regardless that sparked an idea and he basically didn't let it go until OXO came up with the now-ubiquitous thick-handled, vegetable peeler that's much easier on the wrist. (4/n)

If we're in the business of making things, we don't HAVE to make things intended for everybody (and, obviously, there is a world of difference in implementation in something like physical product design and game design, which is my line of work). (5/n)

But I think, at the very least, being clear-eyed about who is going to use what your making and having some foresight about how they might feel interacting with it never hurts. (6/n)

Let's take some of the redwood butter knives I carved as an example. If you look at this photo, you can see the willowy, long-handled design on the left and the two squatter, thicker designs on the right. (I promise I'm not just talking about carving again haha)

(7/n)

I love the look and balance of the long knife; but it's the squat little shorties I'm going to give to friends as gifts, because some of them have chronic joint pain, or carpal tunnel, or hand cramps. It's a friendlier design that will see more usage. (8/n)

Furthermore the design in the middle, which is relatively symmetrical, is my favorite because it can be used by right-handed and left-handed people. It's the friendliest of the knives I've carved so far, with the widest range of possible use. (9/n)

One wonderful thing about redwood is the more you use it, the you burnish it. It becomes more beautiful with each use. So it's in my best interest AND the recipient's best interest that the knife is comfortable and easy to use. (10/n)

I think the extrapolation between that principle and how it might be applied to game design, art making, and other skills isn't a huge leap. Not every creation has to be universally accessible — but what are the ways you can stretch your range of access? (11/12)

How can you make the creations you're designing more comfortable for people who pick them up to hold and use? Because the more you design to that, the more people will see your work and the more of a chance you have to reach a wider audience. (12/12, end of thread)

Whoops, lots of typos in this thread. I'm so sleepy!

If you're interested in reading more about Sam Farber, OXO, this article is a fascinating deep dive of the history of the Good Grips handle and OXO's design principle: https://www.fastcompany.com/90239156/the-untold-story-of-the-vegetable-peeler-that-changed-the-world