Nimble was the response to a problem many disabled people with limited hand function experience around the kitchen: opening poorly designed food packaging.

Whilst there are plenty of solutions out there already that help with opening jars and tins, until now there were very few available to aid in opening plastic based packaging such as packets of pasta, bread and bacon. Those that do exist all have handles and thus require a level of grip strength and dexterity to operate that is simply not achievable by many people with disabilities affecting hand function (such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis or certain types of spinal injury).

Nimble functions differently. Designed to be worn on the fingertip like a thimble (any guesses where its name came from?), it uses a small ceramic blade to cut open plastic and paper packaging with a swipe of your finger. Despite being sharp enough to cut packaging, this blade was specially designed to be safe on skin, removing the chance of accidental injury.

Design Team

Simon Lyons - Creative Director

Just some of the prototypes produced during Nimble's development

Simon discussing Nimble with one of the 150 volunteer testers

Nimble tackling one of the most complained about packaging types... bacon.

Simon Lyons (left) and Alaster Yoxall (right) discussing Nimble and its packaging

Nimble in action easily slicing into a packet of bacon.

Despite being originally designed as a packaging opener, Nimble has many more useful applications.

Simon Lyons, Creative Director at UK based design studio Version 22, developed Nimble with the support of over 150 volunteer testers from around the UK. This group was made up of both non-disabled and disabled individuals to help gain a clearer picture of the daily problems people face with poorly designed packaging in the kitchen, and find out how Nimble could play a role in making things easier.

Alongside these 150 testers, Simon also worked closely with, world-renowned expert in accessible design, Alaster Yoxall of Sheffield Hallam University, who played a key role in evaluating the design of both Nimble and its packaging. Special consideration was taken in selecting the colour and correct form of both of these. This was so that visually impaired people and people with hand disabilities were able to both access Nimble from its packaging and successfully use it. An example of one decision made was to make Nimble's flexible sleeve yellow as this is the best colour for visibility, with the cutting end of Nimble being a dark contrasting colour so it is more discernible.

Despite being originally designed exclusively for people with disabilities limiting hand function, it was quickly discovered that Nimble not only helped people with other disabilities, but made opening packaging significantly easier for many non-disabled people too. This meant that Nimble couldn't simply be considered a disability aid anymore. Following this inside-out design approach of serving the needs of a specific few first before expanding to help others has meant that Nimble's end design is more inclusive as a result.

Additionally, throughout ongoing testing and development Nimble was discovered to be useful in a whole manner of other scenarios too, such as opening parcels and envelopes, wrapping presents and cutting out coupons and press clippings. This further expands the number of scenarios in which Nimble can have a positive impact on people's lives.

Nimble was recently in the finals of the national Inclusive Technology Challenge Prize run by Nesta, a UK-based innovation charity, and received funding towards the development and testing of the design. Through this year-long competition Nimble went through several dozen design iterations alongside the user testing, culminating in a small trial production run at the end of last year.

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