Lady Geek

For my 21st birthday I asked my father to buy me a power tool.  I still remember when I got my AEG power drill! I loved it then, and I still love it and use it today, 9 years after. It never let me down and it built my furniture in 3 flats and installed in at least 10 of my industrial design exhibitions.

Unfortunately it wasn’t designed with women in mind, so I often strained my wrist using it or had trouble carrying it around in its big and heavy case. I would have loved if AEG had thought about me, about other women, when designing it.  AEG like so many other technology companies, fail to understand what women want and just ending up producing a ‘pinked up’ and often’ dumbed down ladies version’ like the toolkit featured here.

This kit has probably been designed by men who didn’t want women to ever use tools, and if they ever do, this kit ensures they will have a bad experience. Bad grips, cheap metal, tiny fiddly components all coated in pink! Forgive me for thinking this is not a manicure set, right? It’s a tool set…

If women are not very experienced in DIY, a kit like this should make the job easier, not difficult and patronising.  I would have felt terriblly confused if my father had got me something like this, I would have probably never got closer to the DIY shop anymore.

Nine years on, and on my 30th birthday I would love to say that design is much more female centred.  Unfortunately it is not and according to CES, women think only 1% of designers have them in mind when designing for them.

Lady Geek’s DESIGNWITHME product takes into account women’s aspirations and strengths, not their nail varnish colour…