Overview

Enabling stroke patients to wash dishes in the sink through user-centred design.

The challenge

How can the experience of preparing food and carrying out daily activities in the kitchen be improved for people living with a disability? Come up with a solution that considers the needs of the users as well as the needs of others.

Finding the problem

At the start of the project, a meeting was arranged with a Stroke Patient who decided to collaborate with the project. The user had hemiparesis - weakness on the left side of his body. Through rehabilitation the user was able to walk again, however, could only use his right arm when performing the majority of his daily activities.

A semi-structured interview revealed the frustrations the user encountered on a daily basis in the kitchen. Weekly meetings were held with the user to present design progress and gain further insights

The user lives alone and doesn’t use a dishwasher as he doesn’t have many items to wash up. Washing up in the sink with one hand, however, can be a challenge, as he can’t keep plates and pans from moving when washing. Not many solutions are currently available which make this job easier. Consequently, we decided to narrow down the focus of the project and updated the brief.

The updated brief

Improve the experience of one handed washing up in the sink, enabling the user to wash plates quickly whilst ensuring items don't move around freely.

Design development

As a team we came up with different concepts for products that could help the user secure plates in the sink or make washing easier.

My main proposal consisted of a V-shaped plate holder which would secure the plates in position. I demonstrated this using a cardboard prototype and after an evaluation of all the different options we decided to take this concept further due to its simplicity and ease of use.

Over the next 3 weeks, we produced a number of prototypes and presented them to the user for testing and feedback. We also carried out tests with people without disabilities as the product should be useful for everyone, comparing one handed washing up using our product vs not using our product.

The feedback resulted in several prototype iterations with incremental improvements being added every time.

Final prototype

The final product improves washing time by over 30% and allows users to wash plates, bowls, pans and cutlery. It works in all standard sinks (We even took the product to Home Base to test in different kitchen sinks!) and can be folded easily with one hand for storage.