One-Hand Falafel Packaging
Inclusive packaging that makes a beloved street food accessible to people who can only use one hand.
- Year
- 2023
- Role
- Solo
- Category
- Inclusive Design · Packaging
Context
Most of how we eat is shaped by an unstated assumption that everyone has two functional hands. Falafel in a pita is no exception — observation across falafel shops in Jerusalem showed that, in every case, eaters stabilized the pita with one hand while eating with the other. For someone with a hand disability — or whose other hand is simply occupied — that’s a quiet daily exclusion.
Developed in the Intro to Inclusive Design course with Yifat Kinan, the brief was to redesign a familiar object so that one-handed use becomes the default, not the workaround.
Process
- 01
Field observation at multiple Jerusalem falafel shops — documenting eating posture, hand position, the role of the wrapping, and where the existing packaging fails when only one hand is available.
- 02
Iterating in paper: a structured base that stands on a table, holds the pita upright, and lets the user pick it up, eat from it, and put it back down without a second hand.
- 03
User testing with friends in real settings — refining grip, opening behavior, and the moment of the first bite.
Outcome
A small, stackable, structured paper packaging that supports one-handed eating. Stable enough to stay open on the table, light enough to hold and bite from in one motion.
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