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The Hippo Roller's re-design

By Rain Noe - April 27, 2009

in Object Culture

Last year we printed a design manifesto by Emily Pilloton of Project H Design in which she mentioned the Hippo Roller. To refresh your memory, the Hippo Roller is a simple polyethylene barrel that African villagers can fill with water and roll back to their homes by means of a handle, rather than having to carry it all the way back. Nearly 30,000 Hippos were produced and distributed thanks to the largesse of donors. Check out this video to see them in use:

But while the design of the Roller was sound, manufacturing and delivery logistics were getting in the way--the seemingly simple device was costing $100 each to make and ship, meaning the donations of so many would only go so far.

The San Francisco chapter of Project H then went back to the drawing board, redesigned the Roller in two pieces that could be nested, drastically reducing shipping costs; adding a cap to the barrels and making both stackable means more than 250% more of them can be shipped in the same container.

Of course, that also means re-tooling the molds, which isn't cheap. Project H is now trying to raise the remaining $5,000 to cut new steel by putting out a call for 200 people to each donate $25.

via changed by design

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af

15 years ago

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How can the design be 'sound' when it cost so much to be shipped?

Surely a 'sound' design would have included transportation requirements at the start of the project and avoided the expensive tool mods?

I know it sounds dull; but when developing something as useful and exciting as this product you still need to get the basics right!
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Luke

15 years ago

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"Largesse" has a negative connotation that I don't think is intended in this article.
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