9 Jul 2019
Design students commended by industry experts at New Designers
Rumyana Dancheva with the Cambridge Consultants Prize for Excellence in Consumer Health
Many final-year students and their projects have been highly praised by a selection of judges at last week’s New Designers Show.
Rumyana Dancheva was awarded the Cambridge Consultants Prize for Excellence in Consumer Health. Rumyana’s product, Level, is a glucagon autoinjector which aims to reduce the fear for users when providing lifesaving medication to a diabetic patient with extremely low blood sugar.
It has intelligent technology which allows it to talk through each step of the procedure to the injector using audio and visual aids and it can also provide feedback.
As a result of winning the award, Rumyana has been presented with a £500 cash prize to support her career as well as an opportunity to spend the day working at Cambridge Consultants.
Fellow Industrial Design and Technology student Hannah Raynor was commended by representatives from Kingfisher, Kenwood, 100% design and Winnovate Wilko.
Her product, alarmclock, aims to tackle the issue of households which do not check their smoke detectors on a regular basis. Around 10% of UK householders don’t have a working smoke detector, and only 7% test their alarms once a week as recommended by the UK’s fire service.
On appearance, the product looks like any other clock. However, every seven days the glass on the clock face goes opaque meaning the user can no longer check the time. The user must pull an attached tab to clear the clockface, which simultaneously tests the smoke alarm.
Speaking about her experience at New Designers, Hannah said: “I feel incredibly honoured to have had my design acknowledged by numerous organisations. The response from industry experts has made me feel incredibly proud of my design and I’m optimistic about graduating and life after Loughborough.”
Fellow student Claire Thompson’s product, Cycle, was also shortlisted by Joseph Joseph, John Lewis, Cambridge Consultants and winnovate Wilko.
Cycle is a reusable pregnancy test and fertility monitor which tackles both the cost and environmental impact of single-use tests. The product works by inserting biodegradable pregnancy or ovulation strips into the device, which is supported by an app that provides insightful data for the user, such as prime ovulation periods.
In addition, Tom Bryant was acknowledged by Kenwood for his product Koko – an ecosystem designed to help people switch off from their smart devices – and Matt Peers was also shortlisted for the Pentland Brands Ltd Award with Stride, an advanced physiotherapy aid for transtibial amputees.
Fourteen students from Loughborough Design School were selected to attend New Designers, an exhibition which presents the work of more than 3,000 graduating designers from across the UK and is attended by experts from the sector.
Two Loughborough Textile students also won awards at Week 1 of New Designers, more information can be found here.