Deli - Spice Dispenser

Project title

What is Deli? - Deli is a spice dispenser that makes the cooking experience easier, funnier and more efficient. It helps you to find the spice you need faster, keep track of the amount left of your favorite spices and it even helps you to measure the spice you need. What inspired the project? - In kitchens today, there is usually a cabinet, or a drawer filled with all kinds of spices and dry ingredients. Finding the one you are looking for can be a struggle. This unorganized way of storing ingredients leads to the user not really knowing what ingredients he or she have in store. A lot of products today are designed especially for impaired. These products, are they appealing also to non-impaired customers? Mostly, they are sold as products for impaired. Is that inclusive? This project aims to develop an inclusive design solution to the problem. A product that can be sold in the average store while being bought and used by everybody. But how does it work? - Today, people are living smaller and smaller. To use the space efficient is an important aspect. By using the wall space in the kitchen for your Deli set, you no longer need to use an entire cabinet or drawer to store your spices. Deli is fastened on the wall using a magnetic holder that keeps it in place when being used. It can easily be taken down from the wall and be used anywhere. Perhaps brought outside to the grill or to the dinner table. The design is simple and universal. By placing it on the wall, a blind or partly blind user will be able to reach it without worrying about knocking something else over. It also helps differentiate spices faster and measure the right amount without the need of any measurements. Each time the button is pressed, a specific portion is dispensed. By moving the lever, the user can choose between 3 different portions, tsp, tsp or 1 tsp. The Design Process: - We can all relate to times when we cannot find the right spice in the cabinet, or when we find it and the container is empty. Some people can relate to times when there is no measurements and we decide to freestyle, only to completely ruin the meal with way to much salt or chili. Physically impaired suffering from diagnosis like Parkinson or Arthritis and visually impaired are facing additional problems in this matter. Even if they have the measurements and the right spice, they might not even be able to open the spice container or measure up a teaspoon without getting half the content on the counter. To get a better understanding of the experience and the problems that impaired are facing in the cooking process, a survey was made for both visually impaired and physically impaired. The respondents were asked to explain how they are working with dry ingredients when cooking, what is frustrating, could be better etc. The answers where used as a help when making design decisions during the process. Prototypes were then made to define size, proportions and placement of the button etc. With the aim to design a product for everybody, the design direction used key words such as Inclusive, Universal, Accessible, Timeless and Minimalistic. What makes Deli different? - Deli is a spice dispenser that makes the cooking experience easier, funnier and more efficient. It strives to improve the process of working with dry ingredients, for everyone. The design is simplistic and universal. It works with contrast colours to enhance important features for visually impaired users. Removing the need of measurements is beneficial for visually impaired. It is also beneficial for physically impaired, such as people diagnosed with Parkinson, Arthritis and seniors, that can have a hard time to grip things and experience symptoms like tremor. Deli makes the cooking experience more fun for everyone, even for kids. When a family are preparing dinner, it can be used as a tool to teach children, that want to help preparing the food, how to follow recipes and calculate with new units, e.g. If the recipe says that we need 3 tsp cinnamon, how many times do we need to press the button if it is set to 1 tsp portions?