Bananarama (The Banana Stand)
The Brief: A Blue Sky brief that simply wanted to capitalize in the popularity of bananas.
We already had a product that cut bananas, so we focused on preservation. After researching and testing a wide range of options, we settled on a banana stand as our primary design direction.
The key was to develop one that was interesting, unique, and could stand out in a saturated market
Our solution was to make a banana stand that could collapse for storage when not in use
Based on an existing product in the Chef’n line...
that collapsible idea quickly evolved into the shape of a banana
Stability was a big concern
We made an adjustable Prototype to find the best way to manage a changing center of gravity
We finally settled on a tripod version that the user could "peel" to transform the banana into a stable stand
Once we settled on the basic idea of a peelable banana, we worked through how to best fit the pieces together
We wanted a nice, clean look in both the banana form, and the stand position
Smoothing the side panels was a step in the right direction
We also wanted to make it as easy as possible for the user to switch between the forms
We realized that with very careful attention to the space available, we could fit a few gears around the hingepoints
By adding internal gears and a spring-loaded locking mechanism, pulling on the “tail” can automatically move the front legs into position and hold everything in place. This allows the user to fully activate the transformation with one, simple action.
Any project where I need to learn a lot along the way is incredibly rewarding. For the banana stand, I began by deepening my knowledge about the effects of temperature and ethylene gas on the ripening process. I upgraded my CAD skills by creating file structures that allowed me to adjust a variety of important angles and distances as we tested subtle changes to the form which in turn changed the center of gravity when hanging bananas on the stand. I also studied gear and gear tooth design in order to make sure the tail and legs rotated at the correct ratios to maximize stability when fully extended. I take particular pride in the fact that most users will never fully appreciate all of the effort that went into a product that, for them, is simple to use and works just the way it should.
