The NHS have run campaigns specifically designed to encourage young people to donate and have shown that it isn’t a scary experience.
One of the most influential reasons for giving blood for the first time was influence from a friend.
The most commonly reported reason to continue to donate was altruism and social obligation.
The target user group was young people, as 81% of young people have never donated blood. Young people are needed to replace the ageing population of donors that can no longer donate. Many young people have a fear of donating blood, a way of reducing their fears to get them to donate is needed. Young people are very technologically adept and very well connected through various social media platforms. Utilising this to allow young donors to share their donation experience via social media, will help reach more potential young donors.
The development for the project progressed well. The controller innovation focused on being a useful functional part of the design. Supported by an app, the controller allows donors to navigate the interface whilst in the donation chair. The controller was developed to encourage donors to regularly squeeze their hand, improving the blood flow when donating.
The development for the project progressed well. The controller development focused on being a useful functional part of the design. Supported by the app the controller allows donors to navigate the interface whilst in the donation chair. The controller was developed to encourage donors to regularly squeeze their hand, improving the blood flow when donating.
The dedicated app guides the donor through the process providing the best experience possible.
The product has a simple modular design allowing it to be easily dismantled for transport.
For mobile donation sessions the product can be placed within a case for protection and easy storage.
Due to Covid-19 and the closure of university facilities, I was unable to create the final appearance model for both the controller and the arm rest. Fortunately, before the workshops and 3D printing labs closed, I was able to produce and prototype some early interactions and test them out. This aided in the development of my product which has been designed in full in Solidworks. From the parts I was able to prototype I am happy with the design and feel confident on its usability and feasibility.
The font chosen is the system font provided by Apple for its iOS devices. The flexibility of the system fonts helps achieve optimal legibility at every point size and giving the breadth and depth needed for precision typesetting throughout the app. Blue was chosen as it provides a calming effect and was matched with a pink to get away from the blood red that is in the current NHS Give Blood app.
