Monday 9 September 2013

Studio Week 7

Today was the first consultation with our new tutors for Project 2. My tutor was Tom, and i presented him with 3 ideas to do with my chosen brief for the RSA Student Awards: Innovation in giving or 
fundraising: how can we encourage people to be more generous with their time and money for good causes.
Feedback From Tutor:
Tom particularly liked the first two concepts, and said that out of the 3 they were the ones with the most "innovation", and i agreed. For my first concept, he suggested i look at ways i could activate sensors from the car: e.g. flashing of lights or beeping of horns. We talked over a couple ideas, but i realised i had to do some research to see if the technology would be advanced enough to do what i needed it to. Tom suggested that for my second concept, instead of putting it in a public place such as shopping centres, i should consider implementing this into places such as the airport. But he liked the consideration that the money could go towards different charities, and donation boxes would be placed in multiple areas along the escalator.

Feedback From Peers:
I talked to Christina Le about my designs, and she liked the concepts, however was worried if maybe working the etag with one hand might be dangerous whilst driving. I also talked to Max Glanville about my designs, and he took a particular liking to my first one. He said i should include a 'fun' factor into donating, by possible uses of a billboard.

Other Tutor Session:
I listened in on Mar speaking with some of his students, and he suggested that a lot the ideas had been done previously. He said that we needed to think of more innovative ways to conduct our project, and suggested we get inspiration from what has already been done, and what needs to be done.

Sunday 1 September 2013

Studio Week 6: Accessibly Packaging - Final Submission

When shopping for groceries, consumers are often frustrated by hard-to-open product packaging on the everyday products they buy, and this can affect what products they choose to buy. Older people and those living with arthritis are particularly affected but most people struggle with “clamshell” wrapping, vacuum sealed jars and toy packaging.

This being said, Arthritis Australia has predicted that seven million Australians will suffer from arthritis by 2050. Currently nearly four million live with the disease and half of those are of working age. Australia’s population is also ageing, with projections that 14.6 million, or 44 per cent, will be over 50 by the middle of this century.

Therefore packaging should take a turn towards being more arthritic friendly for easy access. Arthritis sufferers do make up a large portion of our society, and we should make the change that benefits those in the long run. This is particularly the case with medicinal products aimed at treating arthritis.

Ibuprofen is a common painkiller for arthritis sufferers, as it is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It works by reducing hormones that cause inflammation and pain in the body, and is taken in doses of 1-2 tablets, 2-3 times a day depending on how bad the pain is. It isn’t a treatment for arthritis, but more of “Band-Aid fix”. Ibuprofen is most commonly it is found in “child-proof” jars, which prove difficult for those to open if they suffer from pain in their hand joints. It is also found in the regular cardboard box, packaged inside plastic with an aluminium sheet to be “popped” out upon consumption. Neither of these packaging techniques is suitable for arthritic patients, so there needs to be a redesigning of this to address the problem.

This is where my packaging design comes in. It features an easy round gripped back, along with a larger lid with a slight overhang. Together they prove to make medicine easier to access and dispense. The lid is a bright blue, providing contrast to the white base for elderly people, thus suggesting it is where the container should be “split”. The hole that dispenses the Fioprofen tablets is round, so the oblong tablets can be shaken out with ease, and there is no need for the tablet to be in a specific angle to be tipped out.