Point Blank was my final year project at university, see here, Point Blank, for more information. The University selected me along with a few other students to exhibit our final year projects at New Designers 2008, the biggest graduate exhibition in Europe.

New designers was just over a month away from when I finished my final year project, I was given this month to improve and tweak my project.

I chose to focus my improvements in the following areas:

• The Brand Identity
• The Sharps Bin Design
• Packaging Refinements

Brand Identity

The logo for Point Blank on the original design was rushed, I was focusing more on the way that the packaging worked and protected the user, so I decided to spend some time polishing the design of the logo and the packaging. I wanted to create a simple logo that represented the product without words, I achieved this by simplifying the idea of the pack acting as shield from the needle. The pack is represented by the vertical line and the needle by the horizontal line. See the final logo in the gallery at the bottom of the page.

Sharps Bin Design

When i originally designed the sharps bin I focused purely on its function and purpose relative to the needles. I now wanted to consider how the user would interact with the sharps bin, and how the sharps bin could help them do there job and reduce the chance of a needle injury.

I created a sharps bin that would enable the user to carry everything they needed to a patient safely, it would then give them a clean familiar surface to work on at the patients bedside, then it would allow them to discard a needle in a safe and convenient manner.

It was designed in a way that would be completely natural to use. I used the typical kidney tray shape in the top of the bin, this was so it would suggest to them what that part of the device was for.
It has two clear handles to encourage correct handling, and the top surface is tilted forwards so that people do not try and carry it backward. It was important to me that everyone used it in the same way, so that i could ensure that when they got the device to the patient it was orientated in a way that would allow them to safely dispose of the needle.

I wanted the device to feel like a hub for their procedure, so i wanted it to hold and do everything much like a dashboard. I felt i achieved this with the design and feedback was positive from the nurses and doctors i spoke to. The updated version of the bin can be seen int he gallery at the bottom of this page.

Packaging Refinements

There were a few criticisms I received during the validation stage of my product that I want to iron out. These were that the packs could be easier to open, this was not just a criticism of my needle pack, but needle packs in general, and the size of the hard plastic protector could be bigger.

I improved the opening of the packaging by creating two large tabs that the user can grab hold of and peal apart. It was important to me that the pack was easy to open, as my research showed with current needle packaging that if the user could not open the pack properly, they would just burst the pack open by bending it and forcing the needle out the top of the pack. If someone were to do this with my packaging, it would render the protective function of it useless.

I then increased the size of the plastic guard the sheath of the needle offered, this meant however that the packs were bigger, so I made the plastic fold down in the pack, this also would help the pack open into the correct protective shape, by using a clever plastic hinge design. These modifications can be seen in the gallery below.