DBA Inclusive Design Challenge 2005
Clevername™ / Pearson Matthews
A sticking plaster and its primary packaging that have been redesigned to allow it to be accessed from the pack and applied directly to the wound with one hand.
Background
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. Some aesthetic improvements have been made with butterfly-shaped finger plasters, those printed with comic characters and electro-magnetically detectable bright blue ones for food handling. Products such as liquid skin and spray-on bandages have also emerged but each comes with new usability challenges. None has seriously challenged the pre-eminence of the plaster as a cost-effective and useful product.
In 2001, Johnson and Johnson announced that sales had exceeded one hundred billion but they were still unable to suggest any new, less frustrating ways of putting them on. We use them one-handed and for non-life threatening wounds but removing the secondary packaging and accessing the plaster underneath can defeat the most dexterous.
The Problems
User research with a group of disabled users and emergency workers helped the design team isolate key problem areas:
- Opening the primary and secondary packaging with one hand.
- Selecting a plaster of an appropriate size
- Slippery sterile wrappings
- Wastage due to faulty application - the film turns back on itself
- Plaster wrapped tightly to stem the blood flow but cuts it off instead
- Painless and efficient removal of the plaster to ensure that the wound does not bleed again
- Identification of the leading edge of the plaster to allow for easy removal
- Plasters can stick to rubber gloves used by primary care workers and tear them
- Application of a plaster on a third party while wearing rubber gloves.
How Does it Work?
By eliminating the secondary sterile pouch and redesigning the way it is folded and packed, the plaster can be directly accessed from the pack and the absorbent sterile pad placed on the wound with one hand alone. The plaster has been folded to create tabs and is packed in an easy-access wallet. The upper part of the pack provides an area for graphic first-aid instructions. The design is scaleable - it can be a pocket-sized pack for individual use or a larger one for hospitals and schools.
The user pulls the plaster out by the single flap protruding from the wallet and uses this to position the gauze area over the wound. Both flaps can then be stuck down to the finger and the operation is complete. Removing the plaster is made easier since the leading end of the tape is clearly indicated and is curved to offer a single point at each edge, making it easier to peel off.
The design team have used the same manufacturing techniques as the conventional plaster and thereby not increased its cost. However, significant functional benefit, has been added by changing the way in which users interact with the plaster and its improved design.
Judges' Comments
The judges loved both the presentation and the idea - the first showed humour, humanity and personality. The second illustrated the idea that a good piece of design thinking not only solves a problem that has long been ignored but can generate an alternative that exemplifies innovation in an inclusive context at its most acute. The fact the solution did not rely on the development of any new technology, and the subject was the humble sticking plaster, made it a product with an immediate and global market.