Redesign the recently designed
about nail clippers
When do you know that it is time to redesign an artifact?
Design stabilization is a casual term designers use to describe an object whose evolution has plateaued. Designs are often made for people, though, and people change too. Sitting on my outstretched palm I have a mundane object, two inches of cold stainless steel and levered mechanisms. An object that I always held in high regard, with an almost fondness, given its simplicity and homogeneous construction. But the more I wonder about it, the more critical I am of it. Is it time to redesign the nail clipper?
To reiterate, I’ve always been fond of the standard nail clipper, especially the little ones. My dad brought one home from the States one time, and I had it for a long time before I lost it in middle school. Both my mother and I were pretty upset. Now that I’m older and understand design and manufacturing better, I know that it’s the simplicity of form and function that I was drawn to.
I also have newer appreciations for it. The object is made from only one material, and is hence recyclable; even though stainless steel isn’t as energy intensive to extract as its alternatives, the process isn’t the best for the environment. Secondly, I am always humbled by an object that states a function and fulfills it, you can clip your nails, file and clean if you wish. That’s all it does and that’s all it claims to do. More often than not, you can even carry it around, the entire levered mechanism is compact and succinct.
All this simplicity makes the shortcomings of a product glaring, especially if you’re looking for them. I was shocked to find, through interviews, that there are a lot of people who do not use nail clippers anymore, and some that never have. Warnings about nail clippers causing your nails to tear and chip, the rough feeling of freshly cut nails has turned people to nail files and manicure scissors. The jagged edge after the three clicks at the keratin that it takes to cut a nail has rerouted users to professional nail salons. This activity of routine and haptic feedback that I once thought was essential isn’t even a part of so many lives I interact with everyday.
If you use nail clippers, you may be wondering how I got through the last four hundred words without so much as hinting at the most commonly complained about consequence of using the little clipper - the flying nail clippings. The hunt for them after. The crouching and peering and general gymnastics. Truth is, there have been nail clipper attachments in most parts of the world that catch the little troublemakers like the fancy sharpener that catches pencil shavings. This solution is more of an attachment, though. Shouldn’t a product itself account for a pain point so potent? In this solution of an attachment, it hides the mechanism and tacks on additional material and manufacturing methods.
Before these nail clippers that we know came to be, the most common way of dealing with long nails was with paring knives. The earliest documentation of nail paring through literary snippets is from the eighth century BC, leading all the way up to almost two hundred years ago. I hear that there’s people in Montana who still use this relatively dangerous method. There’s bloody anecdotes all over forums on the internet. A method for nail trimming with such a high level of danger really did stick around for a frightfully long time. Why, then, do I think it’s already time to redesign this newer, safer object for the task?
Here’s why - we are changing faster as a species now than we ever have before, and so is the world that we build around us. The first cell phone came out fifty years ago, the first smartphone twenty years ago. The phone on my desk right now can do more than a room full of technology couldn’t do seventy years ago. We’re moving fast, and our wants and needs have managed to keep pace.
I think it’s time for a redesign of the nail clipper. One that has a more muted sensation in action, a better fit for your nails and is easier on the nail edge. Something that doesn’t send me on a long winding quest to find a piece of keratin under a bed frame or shower curtain. People change, faster now than ever before. It may be a personal and selfish ask but I like that we still have a little routine of self grooming, and I like the clicking sounds that accompany it. And so, I think it’s time to redesign the nail clipper to better fit our needs today, so we may keep this routine a part of our lives. Do you think so too?