Scissors. Where are they not?
What a random topic to talk about right? Scissors? But just think about them, it’s like they are omnipresent. Desk? Obviously. Wash basin? Yes. Kitchen? Yes. Toolbox? Yes. Bathroom? Yes. General-purpose-dumping drawer? Hell yeah. Garage? Yes. School? Yes. Hospital? Yes. Studios, offices, anywhere, everywhere? Yes. I think it’s only a no when it comes to cabin luggage in airplanes. Yeah, I bet most of you have lost your precious pairs of scissors there. That is the only time you must’ve felt the value of those near and dear, invaluable scissors and oh how could they?!
Invisible Design
A pair of scissors never shouts its existence, but its absence is always felt, isn’t it? And that is what Joe Sparano meant when he said, Good Design is obvious, great design is transparent.
I remember as a kid being fascinated, by the way the wavy bladed scissors cut the paper giving it various patterns. And now, as an industrial design student being fascinated by its functionality, form, affordances, mechanism, and its design. A product so timeless, so classic, yet so simple. Just two blades pivoted at a point, cutting every sheet, in this cutting-edge technological world.
Systematic Semantics
It is interesting how well the product communicates its use to the user. The rings telling us to adorn them on our fingers, the blades waiting for signals from their respective handles to me across slicing the paper, with a clean satisfying sound. Has anyone as a kid faced any issue while learning to use a pair of scissors ever? You ever felt the need to explain how the scissors works or explain how to use a scissors? Highly unlikely. This intuitive nature of our humble scissors makes it universally functional. Yes, I know, lefties do face an issue while using the right-handed scissors, but don’t worry we have left-handed scissors for you. Does a scissors have any correct side? Both sides work, don’t they? Of course, they do. You see these unnoticed features have been included in the design of this product in such a subtle manner, that it becomes subconscious.
Details in the Design
Ever noticed the small protrusion along the edge of the scissors handle. It is called a silencer or bumper; it prevents the blades from crossing over and the scissors from getting damaged. If you ever see a barber’s scissor it has tangs to fit the finger. Your kitchen scissors mostly have a bottle cap opener. If you are into embroidery, you must’ve come across applique scissors who have duckbills to protect the fabric from any damage. The list does not end here, there are various scissors having such thoughtful affordances making the user’s life a tiny bit easier every day.
Iconic design
Every household has an orange handled scissors. Well, this is a result of a fortunate accident which took place at Fiskars where orange paint was accidently introduced for making the plastic handles. But oh the design was no accident but a well thought, clear intentioned, move to come up with a user friendly and ergonomic product by Finnish industrial designer Olof Backstrom for Fiskars. It was the first time, plastic was introduced in a scissors making and the orange was just a symbol to represent this evolution.
But apart from the Fiskars scissors, the nature of this product in general is also very symbolic. Like when you make a cutting action with your index and tall finger, what do you refer to? A scissors! You see a scissors with tangs icon and you know it’s a hair salon. Thus, a pair of scissors, is an archetype. It is a symbol. It is an icon.
Have you ever cut the air with a sharp pair of scissors? or even a paper? The sound it makes, is the sound of satisfaction, sound of precision. Fun fact, the quality control team listens to the sound of each pair of scissors as they’re closed. The two pieces of metal and the sound they make is an indicator of how well they’re honed together.
Such everyday objects, which we never pay any head to, have beautiful stories hidden amongst them. Design makes me learn them, explore them, appreciate them and make more of them. And I think that’s beautiful!
Rock, Paper, Scissors?
