EDITOR
Allison Druin
allisond@umiacs.umd.edu
strategy can be developed to generate broader
appeal. At Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design,
we recently concluded a two-year research
project with GE Appliances in Lousiville, KY, that
explored the attributes of current and emerging
elder populations to identify opportunities to
promote sustained autonomous living. What we
(re)learned in the process was that most of the
advantages designed to empower elders actually
increased usability and appealled to a much
broader audience. As noted educator and author
James Pirkl describes, this is a transgenerational
approach. Through our various research methods
aimed at better understanding aging from an
elder’s point of view, we learned that elders
expressed views on features, complexity, and
materials that were similar to those of much
younger consumers (identified as first-time
appliance buyers). So our strategy was to focus on
the form language, behavior, and interaction with
appliances to serve as a primer for GE designers
to use as underpinnings for enhancements across
their product lines. Creating a new “geriatric”
line of appliances would be demeaning—no one
wants to be told they’re old—but establishing new
interactions that would empower elders, yet appeal
to a wider audience, made a lot of sense.
Working within existing kitchen-cabinet
standards, we developed the StrikeZone concept,
which defines a “right-size” approach and situates
appliances in the kitchen at optimal locations
for reach, access, and movement. This more
advantageous configuration promotes greater
access into and around each appliance and was
determined by establishing a relationship of the
user’s physical interaction and movement with
each primary cooking/cleaning activity, as well
as the relationship of the appliance form in situ
within the kitchen space. The appliance forms
were designed to express behavior and capabilities
in simple and intuitive ways. Through observation
and anecdotes, we learned that there are common
human experiences with appliances; the risk is the
same when reaching into a hot oven, and everyone
bangs their shins on the dishwasher door. Focusing
on design solutions from the elder perspective
enabled a more conscious focus on enabling
features that would address risk and hazardous
scenarios that translated to a broader audience.
Establishing a common visual interface across
all products (microwave, dishwasher, fridge, oven,
cooktop, laundry pair) was incredibly important
in promoting user confidence through consistent
visual language and feedback. A combination
of analog and digital display serves as the
basis for establishing a narrative interface that
66”
UPPER REACH ZONE 63”
54”
S TRIKE ZONE
36”
[ 25min ]
TimeRemaining Temperature Options
Heated Dry
Rinse
Pre-rinse
[ 25min ]
TimeRemaining Temperature Options
Heated Dry
Rinse
Pre-rinse
28”
March + April 2008
LOWER REACH ZONE 17”