It's not what you know...

When Cefndy Healthcare Ltd asked us to optimise their adjustable bariatric bathboard, we knew we were looking at a multi-dimensional task. First, there were the basic product requirements; a simple-to-use construction, adaptability for a variety of bath sizes, and easy to keep clean and hygienic. Second, it needed to meet the needs of patients in the bariatric category (i.e. with a weight of 30 stone or over). Finally, the design needed to be suitable for hand-assembly by the Cefndy Healthcare manufacturing team – all of whom have some degree of disability.

We began by making contact with a series of Occupational Therapists, to help us understand the needs of the end user. Using their expert advice, we were able to develop a simple, functional design that’s easy to use and maintain at home. The number of moving parts was reduced from six to three – making it easier to operate, as well as easier to build. Our in-house prototyping facility ensured that the finished product was suitable for their manufacturing operation.

The project was a success, and we’re very proud to be working with Cefndy Healthcare on a number of future products, all designed to improve the lives of people living with disabilities.

At Design Reality, we believe success is only possible when you look at a problem from every dimension. If you’d like to talk to us about our approach, click here to get in touch.

Values you can touch

When Scott Safety worked with a leading advertising agency to develop a new corporate identity, they were keen to see it implemented across their entire communications package.

At Design Reality, we believe the most powerful communicator of your company values is your product – the objects people can hold in their hands.

That’s why we have worked with the Scott Safety’s 2D guidelines to develop a comprehensive 3D brand style guide, to be applied to their current and future range. The guideline builds on the original vision and outlines how this can be applied to objects in three dimensions, including colours, shapes and visual identities.

The Design Reality team take pride in making sure our designs live your corporate values. If you’d like to work with a design company that has a truly integrated approach, click here to get in touch.

Innovation. Brought to life

In 2006 Professor Andy Levy – a Diabetes consultant at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust - had a simple and brilliant idea. He came up with a way to make diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy (loss of sensation in the feet and legs) simpler, quicker and more accurate.

For years, healthcare professionals have used a patient’s ability to sense vibration to tell whether diabetic neuropathy has begun to occur. If it’s spotted early enough, patients can be given extra help with foot care – helping protect them from the threat of limb amputation. Until Professor Levy’s invention, the best available tool was a tuning fork. The Vibratip provides consistent vibration while reducing the chances of stimulating other senses (such as cold or pressure sensitivity, or auditory cues). Better detection means earlier intervention. And that can save diabetes sufferers from the need for amputation.

As any inventor knows, getting off the drawing-board and into manufacture can be a complex process. The Design Reality team were delighted to help take the Vibratip invention from concept to prototype, then to realistic 3D renditions for sales presentations, and finally to CAD drawings for manufacture.

At Design Reality, we’re proud to have helped a life-changing invention make the leap from drawing-board to reality. If you’ve got an invention that needs help to come to life, click here to get in touch.

Design. For life

When fire-fighters go into a rescue situation, two factors can make a huge difference to whether they come out again. How well they can breathe. And how well they can see.

When new safety standards in the US came into effect, our partners Scott Safety had one clear objective. They needed to reduce CO2 re-breathe levels to below 1% with minimal component changes, to ensure Fire Departments could meet the new safety standards without excess cost. However, at Design Reality, we believe true success only comes from going the extra mile. We set ourselves the additional challenge to improve the overall wearer experience – better comfort, better vision and better air-flow – all without the need for re-tooling.

Thanks to our on-site prototype facilities, progress was rapid. Designs went from CAD and stereolithography files in our Wales offices on Monday, to working prototypes ready for testing at Scott’s facility North Carolina on Friday.

The new AV3000 successfully exceeded the primary brief – CO2 re-breathe levels were reduced to 0.75%, and the need for a ground-up redesign was avoided. But we also delivered two critical extra benefits; improved comfort in-use, and a better field of view for the firefighter.

At Design Reality, we know great design doesn’t always have to cost more. Because of that, we’ll always go the extra mile to find clever solutions that really work. We think it’s what makes us stand out from the crowd. If you’d like to find out what we can add to your business, click here to get in touch.

Game-changing innovation

Patents are one of the most powerful IP protections a company can have. However, their original function was actually to stimulate competitive innovation. By requiring inventors to publish their discoveries, others would be able to build on their work and create even better products.

The Design Reality team have been working with a major Pharmaceutical client on the development of an innovative new device. The challenge was to improve on the existing (and highly protected) designs, and to carve out new IP territory that would raise the bar for the future.

We needed to design an end product that was simple and foolproof on the outside. Unsurprisingly, this required huge amounts of complex, small-scale engineering on the inside. The end result of the project was a new, protectable and – most importantly – user-friendly design that is set to revolutionise this device arena.

Because the design-protection process is ongoing, we can’t share the details of the work we did. But we can tell you that we’re proud of our record in building on existing technologies to deliver protectable innovation that adds value to our clients’ bottom lines. If you’d like to talk to us about what we can do for you, click here to get in touch.

Classified Information

After years of work with DSTL Porton Down, Design Reality were recently invited by the MoD to join a confidential pan-industry development team. The team had one simple, single aim; to develop detection technologies that will save lives.

Design Reality were proud to be chosen to play a part in this vital work. We’re also proud to say that our team members were granted military security clearance, allowing them access to uncensored military research data to better inform the design process. This was made possible by our proven track-record in working with highly sensitive data, in an environment where failure to keep confidentiality can have a terrible price.

Because of the nature of the project, we’re sure you’ll understand why we can’t tell you more. There are no pictures or descriptions of the project outputs on our website, and we won’t be showing off the end results at conferences. If you’d like to work with a company that knows when to keep its mouth shut, click here to get in touch.

A quiet word...

In times of austerity and rising costs, everyone needs more for less. As money grows tighter but consumer expectations remain high, value engineering is the key.

At Design Reality, we believe that the essence of great value engineering is invisibility. Cost removal shouldn’t be the same as value reduction. If customers think the product is worth less than before, then the project hasn’t delivered the brief.

We’ve worked on a number of confidential value engineering programmes for some very big-name customers. Unsurprisingly, we can’t reveal the details of what we worked on or what the results are. But we can tell you we’ve had the pleasure of delivering consumer-invisible change to brands belonging to FMCG giants such as Sainsbury’s, Duc d’O and Unilever.

At Design Reality, we know there are times when you need our work to go un-noticed. If you’d like to have a quiet word about how you can take out cost without removing value, click here to get in touch.

Help. For heroes

For the men and woman of the British Armed Forces, chemical, biological and even nuclear particles are a daily reality. But when Scott Safety gave us the brief to develop a new respirator, incorporating their ground-breaking new filtration system, we quickly realised that keeping out dangerous particles was only half the story. How wide is the user’s field of vision while wearing the mask? How well can they hear their commanding officer? Is the respirator weighing them down, or making it hard to move? Can they keep their fluid levels high enough to avoid dehydration?

At Design Reality, we believe design only becomes great when it works with the end user. Our objective for the new General Service Respirator was to make it as close to invisible as possible – giving army, air force and naval personnel the widest possible field of view, the lightest possible burden, the most comfortable oronasal seal, the fastest, safest and simplest filter changes. Superior speech transmission, high fluid-intake capability and increased wearer comfort were designed in from the start.

We used detailed anthropometric studies and helped design a totally new testing protocol to ensure the finished product worked in-field, not just in-lab. The new General Service Respirator delivers the best protection available for our troops. But it also delivers a design that’s more comfortable, easier to use, and preferred by service personnel.

The Design Reality team believe that great design has to have the end user at the heart of the process. If you’d like to find out how our relentlessly user-focused approach can help your business, click here to get in touch.

The art of simplicity

The “kick-count” is a simple but brilliant way for mothers-to-be to keep an eye on how their unborn baby’s doing. Pregnant women monitor their baby’s activity, timing how long it takes to feel ten movements. If they notice a significant change or decrease in movement patterns, it’s time to call a healthcare professional for a check.

The method’s simple, but many expectant mothers find that keeping a reliable count – while also juggling work, family life and preparing for the baby – can be a challenge. When Design Reality company director Caroline Baker found herself regularly losing count, she saw an opportunity to make life a little easier. The team designed a deceptively simple solution; a moulded wristband with a clear plastic “cursor” that’s moved on one number for each movement.

“It’s simple to be happy, but hard to be simple”

Although the concept was straightforward, delivering the reality required a tight manufacturing tolerances and a deep understanding of the materials. It took several prototypes and a lot of careful design thinking to develop a cursor that was easy to move on, but wouldn’t slip around between movements.

At Design Reality, we know that simplicity can sometimes be the hardest challenge of all. If you ‘d like to work with a team who understand the fiendish challenge of simple solutions, click here to get in touch.

Right first time

Sometimes you have months to take a design from concept to manufacture. Sometimes, you have less than three weeks. When the Convatec team from Bristol Myers-Squibb came to us with a healthcare body-wash dispenser that had failed at the final-tooling stage and a seventeen-day deadline, their brief was simple. Make it work.

Experimentation and research in our design facilities soon revealed that we would need to re-design the entire project, from scratch. Sometimes you have months. Sometimes you have less than three weeks.

Because the Convatec range is designed for healthcare environments, our key priorities were simplicity and ease of use. We built in a large push-bar dispenser that can be operated with either the hand or the elbow, and a clutter-free outer casing that allows multiple units to be grouped together without interference.

And because our clients needed us to, we took the entire job from design to completion in just seventeen days.

At Design Reality, we take pride in always delivering what we’ve promised – even when the odds seem overwhelming. If you think our flexible approach might be right for your business, click here to get in touch.

Re-invented

The Balance Master - a unique and ingenious exercise machine to help rehabilitation after lower-limb injury or loss – was acquired by Niagra Healthcare in mid 2007. Their ultimate objective? To make a great product even better. Their first requirement? To deeply understand every part of what they currently had.

Design Reality were chosen to perform a comprehensive reverse-engineering of the Balance Master machine. Using state-of-the-art measuring techniques, we measured and documented each component of the Balance Master, then re-created them in the SolidWorks CAD package. Niagra were so happy with our work that we’re now working with them on their improvement programme.

At Design Reality, we believe that before you start changing things, you first need to understand what you’ve got. If you think our approach could work for you, click here to get in touch.

Fitting a quart into a pint pot

When Airdri, the undisputed world leaders in washroom hand-driers, came to us with their brief, their objective was fiendishly simple. Fit the new, more efficient motor into the space that used to house the old motor, without interfering with any of the delicate electronic components nearby. In a project where millimetre precision is only the beginning, supremely accurate models and prototypes were critical.

Our team first built a 3D CAD model of each individual component – including a comprehensive 3D scan of the motor. Using this, we came up with a design that made the best possible use of every part of the available space.

The new component was a triumph of space-efficiency. In fact, it worked so well that we were ultimately able to fit two motors into one housing. Two motors means two drying outlets - allowing twice as many people to try their hands at each drier.

If you’d like to work with a company who love to make every millimetre work as hard as it can, click here to get in touch.

A friendly face

A hospital bed can be a lonely place. For patients with highly infectious diseases or compromised immune systems, measures that prevent the spread of pathogens can make it even tougher. Barrier and isolation nursing means face-protection for medical staff – and face-protection makes communication that much harder.

That’s why the Design Reality team have been working with Scott Safety to try and square the circle. The project objectives were to deliver better protection from pathogens. The objective from the medical team was to develop a mask that helped them care for their patients better.

As well as outstanding filter protection, the design also incorporates a “health shield” that directs the wearer’s breath downwards – a simple but clever way to dramatically reduce the risk of passing on airborne pathogens. The “voicemitter” system helps improve speech clarity. And because up to ninety-three per cent of human communication is non-verbal, the halfmask is designed to leave as much of the face clear as possible.

The Design Reality team believe that great design is human-centric. If you’d like to talk to us about how we can put people at the heart of your project, click here to get in touch.

The freedom of a tight brief

When Nexan approached us to talk about how we could bring stronger branding and aesthetic values to the fronts of their stackable servers, we were keen to take on the challenge.

First, we spent time with the Nexan team to deeply understand every detail of the physical characteristics of their servers. Where would the fan-cuts fall? Where were the LEDs and under what circumstances would they illuminate? What were the stacking characteristics? Where were the attachment points and were they able to be moved? And how would the panel design need to adapt and flex to fit possible future products?

Then, we set to work, to prove that this highly specified and critically functional component could also be branded, and beautiful. The results are available to the consumer now.

At Design Reality, we’re passionate advocates of the freedom that comes from a really tight brief. If you’re looking for this kind of attention to detail from your design partner, click here to get in touch.

The right perspective

When Kent Periscopes asked the Design Reality team to manufacture a short run of a pre-existing tank sighting system, it’s fair to say that the materials available were fairly limited. There were no design drawings, no manufacturing data and no CAD files. What we had, in fact, was one (rather well-used) original, and a deadline of just two weeks to complete the project.

Projects like this are the reason we set up our short-run manufacturing capability. Using our in-house 3D laser scanner, we began by creating an accurate 3D model of the original sight-piece. From this, we rapidly manufactured the necessary soft tools to produce prototypes.

We also believe it’s our job to add value to every project we work on – even when time is short. That’s why we also made several improvements to the original design that delivered greater user comfort and better in-field performance. The original design included a detachable component that, if lost, would allow the lights inside the tank to be seen from outside. Our new design made this component integral. It’s a small change, but for tank operators in the midst of night-time combat, it could mean the difference between life and death.

At Design Reality, we believe it’s often the little details that make the difference. If you feel the same, click here to get in touch.

Use your head

When a more stringent safety standard triggered a re-design of Scott Safety’s pioneering First Base head protector, we were determined to go beyond the obvious. Good protective gear works hard to keep the user safe. Great protective gear works with other safety gear, not against it. And outstanding protective gear also works hard to keep the user comfortable.

Because First Base headgear is often used in manual environments, we designed the shell from a new, patented micro-porous material that provides exceptional breathability. We added a wickable sweatband to draw moisture away from the skin, and an indirect ventilation system on the top of the shell.

Manual environments are often noisy, so we added shaping over the ears to make it compatible with ear-defenders. And because every wearer is an individual, the shape of the shell is designed to adjust and adapt to the user’s head, ensuring unparalleled levels of fit and comfort.

At Design Reality, we believe you can only get the best solutions by looking a project from every angle. If you’d like a new perspective on your project, click here to get in touch.

Speed. Accuracy. Zero stand-out

Covert surveillance has become a vital tool for the police and security forces in helping to reduce and protect against crime. When ISS approached the Design Reality team to develop a new short-range thermal imaging tool, they needed precision-perfect designs, rapid timelines...and a design that wouldn’t get its users noticed.

Appropriately, we began with some serious intelligence-gathering. We took the time to deeply understand the new technologies being incorporated into the thermal imager, and the conditions under which it would be used. Thanks to this groundwork, we were able to get the design right on the very first iteration.

We then used our in-house laboratory to produce ultra-precise, vacuum-cast prototypes. The prototypes were produced to such high tolerances that they were able to be used to manufacture finished production versions of the imagers – dramatically reducing lead-times and giving a significant saving on tooling costs. Most importantly, the finished camera is easy to handle, simple to operate...and very, very discreet.

The Design Reality team believe that great design doesn’t always mean standing out. If you’d like to talk about a project that needs to blend into the background, click here to get in touch.