We prefer to surround ourselves with nice and practical objects in our everyday life, which we can also enjoy while using. This is no different in the case of the tools related to our health either, quite on the contrary.
May it be a temporary illness or a serious disease, the object helping us heal and treating the symptoms – the same as a chair or mug used during our everyday life – must meet ergonomic criteria, too. In addition, the device designed for such purposes should also gain the confidence of the user – function and aesthetics should go hands in hands with each other, otherwise the experience is undermined: enjoyment, or at least confident use becomes a nuisance, and negative experiences will be associated with the device serving the treatment of the disease diagnosed. This is particularly true for objects like insulin pens or inhalers, which users must use on a daily basis.
As to how important the nature of the experience in the case of these objects is, here’s a very specific and relevant example. In these troubled times, out of the devices used to measure body temperature, we had the privilege of meeting one resembling a weapon: when entering the lobby of the theater, a stranger wearing a mask politely stops us, while holding a thermometer looking like a gun in their hand, and puts it to our foreheads. What feelings does this device trigger? It is practical from the point of the user, as it can be held easily and used simply, yet the “recipient” hardly finds the tool evoking an object fundamentally designed to kill people inviting or trustworthy.
We’ve taken a look around the global market of medical devices and other objects related to our health, from South Korea to Kosovo.
Kitti Mayer
design theorist
PREGNANCY TEST
The present | Seoul, South Korea
Byeongjae Ha
Chi-Eun Jang
Kiho Kim
Jae Heum Lee
INHALER
WellBeings CBD inhaler | Chicago, USA
Scott Wilson
Matteo Iavicoli
Matt Puhalla
Zeeshan Hakkim
Arvid Al Chalabi
TOOTHBRUSH SET
Ideal Match | Zhengzhou, China
Yifeeling Design
Yang Lei
Jinxiang Li
MONEY SANITIZER
UVC money sanitizer | Mexico City, Mexico
NOS Design
Jorge Álvarez
THERMOMETER
TR-01 | Pristina, Kosovo
Fahredin Kosumi
This concrete amphitheater can be the new community spot of Warsaw
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