sharps disposal service design
My Role
Service Designer
Team
Service Designer (2), Project Manager (1), UX Researcher (`1)
Timeline
Sep 2023 - Dec 2023
Project Type
Graduate Studies
This speculative service design project critically examines the self-administered medical sharps problem space and outlines a possible solution.
Many individuals use self-administered medical sharps for injecting life-affirming or necessary medication (ie: hormones, insulin, epipens). Users of medical sharps often encounter stigma and difficulties in disposal. Improper disposal of sharps waste causes risk for environmental contamination, physical injury, and spread of infectious diseases.
pain points when disposing sharps
1
Drop-off sites are inconvenient, uncomfortable and reinforce stigma
Local public drop-off sites (University District, Othello Park, Bellevue)
2
Disposal frequency is situational to each user
3
Disposal information can be difficult to find and confusing
8 out of 14 survey participants reported using internet searches to find how to dispose of sharps. Healthcare providers and pharmacies tended to lack information or accessible drop off methods.
“I actually don’t know where to take the bins.” (Survey Participant 2)
“I have full sharps containers and don’t know what to do with them.” (Survey Participant 8)
Nicer Needles: making sharps disposal painless
Our final design was a mail-in disposal service concept that provides users with an accessible and customizable way to dispose of sharps discreetly.
What I did:
drew the storyboards to visualize use cases
after the conclusion of the group project, I took it a step further by designing the UI kit, branding style, mockups of the website, and instructional brochure
Storyboards
A friendly branding and design system
Core values of friendliness, painlessness, and reducing stigma
Teal blue brand color >> emanate calmness
Rounded corner aesthetic >> softness, painlessness
Shark mascot >> friendliness, reducing stigma
A kit that provides all the necessary parts
Users will receive a kit in the mail or can pick it up at a pharmacy.
A kit contains:
a shipping box
a sharps container
a pre-paid shipping label
tape to seal the box
an instructional brochure
Simplified instructions with visuals
subscription
Users can register and manage their subscriptions online and dispose of sharps obscurely without going to public drop-off sites.
Custom options
Users can customize frequency of kit shipments and size of kits to fit their diverse personal needs.
Other Considerations
Users without a mailing address
Pharmacy pick up is to include people who may not have a mailing address. The houseless population was considered as potential users, however we lacked time and access to resources for adequate research.
Accessibility & language barriers
A QR code on the instructional brochure will lead users to our web page with additional language options and videos.
This speculative design process helped me learn to refine a very ambiguous problem space into a service concept that considers accessibility from multiple angles.
Continuing to design (web and brochure assets) was a helpful exercise in pushing my creativity and visualization skills.
