Jonathan Larkworthy

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University of Nottingham > Engineering > Departments > Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering > PDM Exhibitions > 2023 > MEng students > Jonathan Larkworthy

Applying inclusive design to a fridge-freezer for an ageing population.

Hey! I’m Jonathan, a designer & maker who loves solving the types of problems that are often overlooked as ‘just the way things are’.

In my five years at Nottingham, I’ve studied for a semester in China; interned for the summer with UST (a sustainability focused structural engineering firm) and spent a year at Dyson for my industrial placement. In China I experienced a new culture, learnt how that affected their interactions with products, and was exposed to local manufacturing centres. At UST and Dyson, I applied my design thinking to other disciplines – structural engineering and research respectively – and saw how design and business processes work at differing organisation sizes.

My design expertise and interests lie at the intersection of aesthetically pleasing and functionally intuitive design. I believe the best products have the end users as the focal point, to give the final design a clear and meaningful purpose. This was largely informed from my time at Dyson, and I was able to put this into practice for my final year project where I used a co-design process to gain empathy and understanding of an ageing population to reimagine a more accessible fridge. To ensure my designs are desirable I balance both form and function equally. I have a strong gut sense of proportion and style and will iterate through as many designs as is necessary until it sits right with me.

If you’re passionate about user-centred design, crafting thoughtfully considered forms or are solving novel problems, I would be really interested in getting involved and hope to hear from you!

Jonathan Larkworthy, MEng Product Design and Manufacture

Student's LinkedIn

Frontier Fridge

The Frontier Fridge is an accessible fridge-freezer designed for an ageing population. It has two pull-out pantry fridge cabinets and two freezer drawers - both mechanisms that bring items out to you instead of you having to reach for them. Additionally, it features a fully modular shelf layout, easy-clean design and soft close runners that reliably seal the door every time.

My project was to improve both the accessibility and functionality of a refrigerator for an ageing population; with the intention that the benefits would be felt by the wider population. To facilitate this, I used a co-design process with 13 residents at a local retirement village. Across four weeks we defined their problems, ideated designs to address these and refined down to a singular design. This was fundamental in ensuring that my final design matched my target markets needs and allowed me to challenge my assumptions, one of note being that the elderly market actually have very full fridges.

I grouped my findings into accessibility problems including difficulty reaching the back of the top and bottom shelves; lack of sufficient lighting and difficulty opening the door, and functional problems including lack of shelf adjustability; difficultly of cleaning and door not shutting correctly. The latter functional issues were faced by all users as corroborated by my interviews with working age adults.

My solution to address these problems is the Frontier Fridge, a 60/40 fridge-freezer with two pull-out pantry style fridge cabinets and two freezer drawers. Both mechanisms improve accessibility by bringing items out to you instead of you having to reach in for them. The design has large, easy grip handles for users with reduced dexterity; feels lightweight to open - even at full Christmas capacity and uses a soft close mechanism to ensure the door closes reliably every time. The fridge cabinet is split 2/3 - 1/3 to reduce the distance needed to reach any item and gives the added benefit of allowing quick access to items at the front, such as milk, without the having to open the entire fridge.

The shelves are fully modular, lock into place using simple male-female geometry and can be located at any 20mm increment. There are four shelf module options – deep and shallow drawers, a wire rack and an interchangeable Tupperware shelf – all of which feature easy-clean designs. The fridge is illuminated by strip LEDs on either side, lighting the entire fridge volume even when full. The freezer drawers are split to reduce the distance needed to reach any one item and the bottom drawer is taller reducing the amount of bending down required. The fridge is counter depth to be suitable for both freestanding and built-in kitchen arrangement. Lastly, whilst the design is suitably counterbalanced to not topple over when open, the fridge is still mounted to the wall for peace of mind.