Simon’s prize-winning medical design

A summer in San Francisco awaits University of Teesside student Simon Ritchie, thanks to his success in a national design competition. Simon, 21, from Peterlee, is in the final year of a BA (Hons) Industrial Design degree, and has clinched £1,000 in the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture & Commerce (RSA) Student Design Awards. His prize-winning design is an inhaler for asthma sufferers, created specifically for the RSA’s Medical Products section.

Simon said: “I looked at inhalers from the viewpoint of a young and active person. There seems to be a stigma about getting an inhaler out in public and they’re viewed as rapidly disposable items. My design tries to make the inhaler into a lifestyle accessory, something of personal value like a mobile phone or a pager. There’s a cord, which can attach the inhaler to your watch. Hopefully this will change the perception of the inhaler into something re-useable.”

When preparing his design, Simon consulted local nurses to explore the pros and cons of existing inhalers, and used his findings to suggest an improved model. His deign reached a shortlist of ten and he travelled to London for final assessment by a panel. Simon added: “I was nervous the night before, pacing the room of the hotel I stayed in. Once I got in front of the panel I felt more at ease and confident in my own project. I found I’d won two weeks later and telephoned my parents Linda and George at work straight away, they’re over the moon.”

The RSA prize has to be used within eight months, and Simon aims to fly to San Francisco on a working break, looking at the work of other design companies. Earlier this year he was also one of two Teesside students to successfully design a storage unit for hospital wards, in a competition sponsored by the Audi Foundation.

Simon’s inhaler design will be on display at the University of Teesside’s Design Degree show, along with his final project, a design for an x-ray chair at South Cleveland Hospital. The Design Degree show is open from Monday 11 June-Thursday 14 June, from 9am-4pm each day. The show is free and open to the public. It will be held in the University’s Main Hall, off the main entrance, near the King Edward’s Square junction with Borough Road, Middlesbrough.

On Saturday 16 June the show moves to Lookers Audi showroom at Mandale Road, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees. The show again will be free and open to the public on Saturday 16 June from 9am-5pm, and on Sunday 17 June from 11am-4pm.

For more details on the Design Degree show at the University contact Helen Smith in the School of Law, Arts & Humanities on 01642 384052. Details on the show at Lookers Audi are available from Simon Ginsberg, Business Development Manager on 01642 603444.

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