Assignment 3

Brief: As the Baby boomer population in the U.S. continues to age, the number of people with arthritis and other mobility inhibiting diseases is going to rise drastically. By 2030, it's estimated that 67 million Americans will be affected by such ailments (source). Because of this, ergonomics are going to be at the forefront of design going forward. 

These sorts of diseases affect people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and therefore products designed to improve usability should be accessible to, whenever possible, the lowest common denominator, yet still be aesthetically acceptable to the majority. In other words, the pen must be very low cost, yet beautiful. 

There are currently not very many unique ergonomic pens out there, and many that exist are impractical or ugly. Most of these pens involve simple modifications to the grip of standard pens, like the HeavyWeight. The result is something that might be alright to hold, but is horrendous to look at. On the other end of the spectrum, the Evo Pen radically reshapes the pen in a beautiful way, but requires even more effort to maintain control than a normal pen. The only pens that really reduce the amount of force needed are the similarly designed Ring Pen and PenAgain. While both of these drastically reduce the amount of pressure required to hold them, their diameter still closely resembles that of a standard pen, leaving them still potentially problematic for those with reduced dexterity. 

My Designs: For my designs, I wanted to play with the way the pen works and feels in the hand. I experimented with everything from glove-like pen slips to different organic blob like shapes that fit into the hand in different ways. 

Prototype:

Initial shape studies:

Final Prototype: