Inclusive gardening tools for children aged 3-8

As part of my second year studies, we where divided into teams of four designers and tasked with creating a brand and idea to answer a brief of our choice. Once these hd been decided on, we would split up and go our separate ways, each coming up with their own solutions. The idea was to bring together as many of the skills that we had learned up to this point together in one project. Collectively we identified a problem with the way that children play and learn in our modern society. Far too much time is spent 'playing' games on tablets and smartphones and not enough time spend outdoors; playing and learning as previous generations have, which has been identified as one of the main causes of obesity amongst children. Our brief, create a tool to make gardening and learning about the environment fun for children between the ages of three to eight.

As part of my second year studies, we were divided into teams of four designers and tasked with defining a brief and creating a brand and solution in response. Once this had been decided on, we would split up and go our separate ways, each coming up with individual solutions.
 
The idea was to bring together the skills that we had learned up to this point together in one project.
 
Collectively we identified a problem with the way that children play and learn in our society. Far too much time is spent playing games on tablets and smartphones and not enough persuing outdoor activities as previous generations have, which has been identified as one of the main causes of obesity amongst children. 
Our brief, create a tool to make gardening and learning about the environment fun for children between the ages of three to eight.
Brand Development

The name grow arose from the core philosophy of the company; that is the inner ambition of every child to grow within themselves and mimic the older generation.


Logo Development

The grow logo began life as a few hurried sketches on a page in a notebook, although all different, they all shared the same design ideas; bold, organic shapes with no sharp, angular lines; mimicking the well know saying,

“there are no straight lines in nature”.
Ideation
Logo development
Chosen logo
Let's grow Africa
 
The grow Africa initiative focuses on providing the most vulnerable children in the developing world with the chance of an education and teaches them how to cultivate crops effectively in order to look after them selves and the environment in which they live.
 
With every purchase of a grow product, a proportion of the revenue is donated to one of our affiliated charities to help with their projects.
 
This association allows grow as a company to give something back and gives the consumer a tangible benefit outside of their child’s personal development.
Whilst observing children aged between 4 and 5 using a range of existing gardening tools it was noted that a few of the children would occasionally stop digging and stretch their wrists as if in discomfort.
 
When asked what the problem was they commented on the fact that their arms and wrists ‘hurt’.
 
It was also mentioned by the members of staff on duty that some of the children found it difficult to remove the soil from the ground, some children even resorted to using their hands to remove the soil to make way for what they were planting…
Observation
Sketch development
Prototyping
Presentation renders
The holes found along the length of the handle help to reduce the overall weight of the product whilst adding a touch point to the product
The detachable tool head allows the product to ship with a single handle and multiple tool heads; reducing the amount of packaging required and allowing the child to choose the colour of the handle when the product is purchased, further adding to the individuality of the product and allowing the child to foster a sense of ownership and responsibility for their possetions
Presentation board
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