Self Health

An at-home cervical cancer test kit for women by women. 3D modeling in Tinkercad and printed on MakerBot.

Problem

Thousands of women get cervical cancer every year; it only has a 63% survival rate yet 100% of cases could be prevented by screenings (NHS website 2015).  But women aren’t attending their potentially lifesaving screenings:

  • 40% of women in developed countries attend screenings
  • Only less than 5% of women in developing nations do
  • Women cite discomfort and embarrassment as main reasons for not screening

Solution

Self Health, 3-step self-administered kit that is comfortable and affordable. The Self Health kit had the following components:

  • A sterilized cotton swab encased in an applicator for sample collection
  • A sterilized test tube to place and seal the sample after collection
  • A paid postage box for mailing in the sealed sample to the lab
  • A box for each of the aforementioned items and an illustrated set of directions to follow the Insert, Seal and Post method

Packaging prototype
Mockup of illustrated directions
3D printed prototypes of the applicator and test tube

Design Process

Secondary research was performed on cervical cancer research and screening rates. A competitive analysis was done to understand the product designs, distribution channels and price points amongst the three key entrants in the market. With an understanding of both the pain points women face in attending their cervical cancer screenings, and the strengths, weaknesses and gaps in competitor designs, product design concepts were initially sketched out by our team.

Product Design. Iterative prototyping through sketching and 3D modeling and 3D printing was informed by feedback from guerrilla testing amongst women across various age ranges and professions. The design went through a six design refinements to fine tune the shape in order to improve appeal and usability.

Package Design. The illustrated directions and packaging went through two rounds of design iterations as a result of the guerrilla testing as well. Testers found the supporting illustration detailing the transition between the first and the second step (inserting the sample into the test tube) to be unnecessary; however, it did not deter them from understanding the overall concept for the 3-step process (Insert, Seal, Post).

Team

Alex Douglass-Bronner, Lead Product Designer and Design Researcher; Jackie Chang, Visual Designer and Product Designer; Jackie Antig; Design Researcher and Package Designer.

Award

The University of Melbourne’s Research Bazaar hosted the Shark’s Den Innovation Challenge. As part of the challenge, participants from a diverse range of backgrounds (students, researchers, professionals) attended four weeks of 3D modeling training on Tinkercad. At the close of the training, groups of newly minted 3D modelers presented their designs at the 3D Printing Showcase to a panel of judges and a crowd of a few hundred people. Our team won the challenge with Self Health.

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