REMO
Lipstick design for women with rheumatoid arthritis
PROJECT DETAILS
A user-friendly, comfortable, and unique cosmetic lipstick helps makeup lovers minimize the pain caused by twisting the cap, gripping the thin tube, and applying makeup more pleasantly.
MY ROLE
I designed the physical product and performed the following tasks:
-
Ideation and User Research
-
Market Analysis
-
Sketching and Modeling
-
Creating User Flow
-
Prototyping in Rhino
-
Usability Testing
PROJECT TYPES
Product Design
Design for Health
PROJECT TOOLS
Rhino 3D
Key Shot Rendering
3D Printing
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Arthritis is a chronic disease that has a devastating and debilitating effect on the lives of more than 4.6 million Canadians. Arthritis is a complex disease with a hundred different types. It is characterized by inflammation, which can happen in any part of the body. And women are more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than men. The pain and disability that arthritis brings let those living with this disease face every day. For women with rheumatoid arthritis, the simple task may become more difficult than it used to be. For women who have RA, applying makeup may take longer than usual.
Lipstick is one of the cosmetic products that people usually will wear when going out. Even though the pain may not let the user apply whole makeup, applying lipstick can let women feel good and confident for themselves.
RESULT
The creation of the REMO lipstick aims to help women with rheumatoid arthritis apply with less struggle. The shape and appearance of the lipstick are considered the ergonomics and think about the comfortability. At the same time, I am trying to create unique and stylish looks.
Taking the lipstick from the table
Breaking the magnet cap with a little force
Twisting the squared bottom or the tube
Hold the concave lipstick tube in varied ways
Applying the lipstick
THE PROBLEM
Challenges for those who have rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that will affect dexterity and grip strength by the inflammation of the joints and other parts of the body. It will affect the joints on both sides, like the hands. The loss of finger flexion, stiffness, swelling, deformities, and lack of grip strength is all the common symptoms that RA patients have, which cause the problem of doing everyday tasks, such as combing, wearing clothes, etc.
Simple tasks like applying makeup (ex. lipstick) can take longer than usual as it involves using hands. Such tasks need dexterity and grip force. However, the pain that arthritis gives to the users may let them to have difficulties applying lipstick.
Severe RA
Moderate RA
Early RA
EXISTING PRODUCTS
There are varied lipsticks on the market with different sizes and widths of the tube. Some of them are long and skinny, and some of the lipstick is small to grab and twist. One of the common problems that most lipsticks have is the tightened cap and small/thin tube that is not easy for people with arthritis to use.
PAIN POINTS
Lipstick is one of the cosmetic products that people usually will wear when going out. However, applying lipstick involves using the hands and fingers. Therefore, grip force and dexterity are needed. The sizes of the lipstick and the ways it opens are all the factors that will influence users' experience when applying makeup.
Hard to grab small things
Hard to twist by using fingers
Hard to open lids
THE TASK
How can we design a user-friendly and appealing lipstick for people with rheumatoid arthritis?
IDEA GENERATION
How I get there?
Before the final design, I started brainstorming and sketching out lipsticks on the paper. During the idea generation process, some of the criteria that are considered include shapes, size, ergonomics, materials and ways of opening/applying.
MOCKUPS
A pair of gloves were made to simulate the stiffness, swelling, deformities, etc., that people with rheumatoid arthritis have. During the testing period, gloves have been used for every mockup to ensure better understanding and for further refinement.
DESIGN CRITERIA
The design needs to minimize the pain caused by RA, and it must be user-friendly and focused on ease of use, where people must be comfortable to grip and easy to hold/apply the lip. In the meantime, minimize the difficulties when opening the cap or twisting the lipstick. And lastly, design should be considered aesthetic and could use and attract most makeup lovers.
PROTOTYPING
The lipstick form is considered ergonomic, where comfortability was an essential element to think about. The way the cap opens and how people can hold and grip the tube in varied ways are considered carefully. After that, the second round of testing was started before the final prototyping stage.
FINAL PRODUCT
1:1 scale model
The final form of the lipstick contains a concave surface that fits the shape of the hands, which will be easy to grab and use. The magnet lid of lipstick is easy to open and easy to close without too much strength needed. The bottom of the tube is easy to hold and twist with both hands or a single hand. The final product was made in Rhino and rendered in Keyshot, and produced by 3D printing.
Reflection
This was a studio course project, which have limited time and resources to do research and prototyping. The original plan was to design a lipstick tube with an actual mechanism. However, due to the lack of the materials that make lipsticks as well as the lack of knowledge on how the actual mechanism works. I choose to use the existing lipstick and put it inside of my design. Despite the plan working, the size of the lipstick is affected and it might not present in an ideal way.
User testing and User feedback
Due to the limited time and other factors, we cannot have user testing and user feedback. I could only test my mock-ups and prototypes by using simulated gloves. However, it might have differences compared to actual testing with actual users. And the user feedback only appeared on the last day when presenting the final products.
Future plan
Makeups are something that helps people to be more confident, show their beauty and try to bring themselves and others joy. There are designs started to help people with arthritis. And this could be significant for those who need and want to apply makeup or even help others (makeup artists). At this stage, REMO is an initial design concept, the refinements of the REMO might need to consider more about the shapes and styles and expand to other makeup products.
