Sticking plasters are commonplace products that have barely changed in concept or levels of usability since they first came on the market in the 1920s. New products such as liquid skin and spray-on bandages have emerged but none has seriously challenged the sticking plaster as a cost-effective and useful product. In 2001, Johnson and Johnson announced that they had sold over one hundred billion of them but were still unable to come up with any new, less frustrating ways of putting them on. Removing the secondary packaging and accessing the plaster underneath can defeat the most dexterous among us. Pearson Matthews developed a solution that prompted the patent attorney who protected it to declare his surprise that it had not been thought of before.
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sticking plaster, one-handed use, secondary packaging, wound care
Design a mainstream product, service, environment, print, on-line or other communication which deliberately includes the needs and aspirations of currently excluded groups of people
Product design, visual communications, spatial and service design
