Designing Garden Hand Tools
The design of two ranges of garden hand tools for two brands which target different user types
The first range of garden hand tools I worked on in 2020 was for Magnusson, a Kingfisher OEB brand, it was all bought off the shelf from a variety of different factories, the challenge then was to align the various vendors so that the range looked cohesive. This time around we were developing two ranges, One for Magnusson and another for Verve (Trade vs DIYer). The research for both ranges was conducted concurrently, and the design & development work was a collaboration but my focus was on the Verve range.
In order to meet the 24 month CPA for this project, much of the front end research was conducted in advance of the official project launch. Initial sketch work was based on a list of products in the range and around the existing visual design for the Verve brand and the existing watering range. The Magnusson products utilised a newer design language which evolved during this project. Not every sku in the range would require new tooling, for these products the task was to implement the design languages to donor products. The process involved iteration, first in 2d then in 3d, using 3d prints to confirm design and ergonomics. The final selection of vendors allowed for more detailed refinement through off tool samples.
