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HOW MIGHT WE MAKE AGING MORE COMFORTABLE AND JOYOUS?

Interviews with caretakers and elderly participants revealed that seniors value independence and connection, with cooking as an unexplored avenue. Cooking fosters connections to culture, memories, and those around us, driving our research question: How can we make cooking safer for seniors and those with limited mobility?

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Glove in use to avoid cuts, burns, and drops.

The Multi-Purpose Cooking Glove promotes independence for senior cooks by increasing their safety in the kitchen. Through research, cuts, burns, and dropping objects were identified as the three biggest pain points while cooking. Another key insight was that seniors are less likely to adopt complex or digital solutions because they feel foreign to their routine. Because of this we chose a solution familiar to us all: a glove. The glove is designed to minimize the effect of cooking dangers, while remaining simple and accessible for users. 

BASE FABRIC

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KEVLAR FABRIC

CLOSURE

  • Cut resistant pads on major contact points.

  • Heat and cut resistant.

   

  • Provides heat protection, but is more flexible than kevlar fabric in order to preserve dexterity. 

  • Two layers of silicon insulator on either side of kevlar-thread-enhanced base fabric.

KEVLAR THREAD

  • Provide protection from cuts in areas uncovered by kevlar fabric. 

  • Sewn into fabric. 

  • Enlarged key-ring zipper for limited dexterity.

  •  Easy for individual to wear due to inner-arm zipper placement.

HAND GRIPS

  • Only on contact points.

  • Increase grip and reduce drops.

  • Made of food-safe silicon. 

FEATURES

MY RESPONSIBILITIES  

  • Gather and conduct initial interviews. 

  • Secondary research and insight synthesis. 

  • Journey Mapping.

  • Initial concept sketches. 

  • First prototype creation.

  • Conduct first-round user feedback testing (with prototype 1).

  • Second prototype creation.

  • Conduct second-round user feedback testing (with prototype 2).

  • Third prototype creation and closure sketches.

  • Conduct final-round user feedback testing (with closure placement prototypes). 

  • Create final renderings on Adobe Photoshop. 

  • Create final "in-use" renderings on Adobe Photoshop. 

  • Pitch presentation. 

PROCESS

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INITIAL CONCEPT SKETCHES

The initial design sketches feature a shorter glove that ends at the wrist and a velcro closure on the back of the hand. Material choices at this time were undetermined. ​

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FIRST PHYSICAL PROTOTYPE

The first physical prototype of the glove was utilized in small group testing. Users gave feedback on the comfort of the design, and used the prototype around their kitchen to determine if it was effective for preventing injury. 

SECOND PHYSICAL PROTOTYPE

User feedback from prototype one revealed that the glove was too short on the arm to prevent burns while accessing the oven or when frying foods with oil splash-back. Additionally, the proposed material was too thin to prevent cuts at contact points of the hand. 

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Based on feedback, the second prototype was extended to the elbow and had thicker pads of kevlar on contact points. However, the kevlar was not used on joints to maintain hand dexterity. 

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USER TESTING FOR CLOSURE PLACEMENT

User feedback highlighted that a zipper closer was the easiest to wash. Altering the length of the glove rendered the original back closure unusable. For the third round of user testing we demonstrated three closure placement options using a low fidelity prototype. ​

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Ultimately, zippers on the inside of the arm were the easiest to reach for users. Also, we increased the scale of the zipper handle to ease visibility and use. 

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