Designing for the pandemic: individual and collective safety devices

Isabella De Souza Sierra,Márcio Fontana Catapan

doi:10.4013/sdrj.2021.141.22

Isabella De Souza Sierra, Márcio Fontana Catapan

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4013/sdrj.2021.141.22

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Abstract

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has generated a demand for health-related safety equipment. The development of these emergency products raises several questions, in particular the possible lack of concern for health, satisfaction, and safety of users in addition to the immediate safety against the COVID-19. Considering these issues, the objectives of this work are to categorize, identify trends, and propose strategic approaches to the development and alteration of individual and collective safety solutions for facing the pandemic. For that, we conducted a review and categorization of industrial design products developed during the pandemic using the database Behance. We found 171 developed products. Of these, we classified 99 as individual safety solutions, with the majority being masks and face shields, 59 as being collective safety solutions like disinfection booths, physical transparent separators, and sanitary dispensers. And 13 were solutions geared to hospital use such as hospital furniture, testing solutions, and medical safety procedures. From the analysis of these products, we noted four major themes: protection from the infection, isolation, and physical barriers for enabling safe interaction, disinfection, and testing that can be used as a strategic guideline for the development of new solutions for this context.

Highlights

The pandemic caused by the rapid spread of the Coronavirus COVID-19 has generated a demand for health-related safety equipment (Javaid et al, 2020)
Persson (2016) indicates that some of these solutions may be closely related to iteration, cooperation through the internet, simulation, virtual prototyping, and additive manufacturing. This is an investigative paper based on the review and categorization of industrial design products developed during the pandemic to solve individual and collective safety concerns related to the Coronavirus COVID-19
We found solutions geared to hospital use such as hospital furniture, testing solutions, and medical safety procedures in a total of 13 products or systems (Figure 3)

Summary

Introduction

The pandemic caused by the rapid spread of the Coronavirus COVID-19 has generated a demand for health-related safety equipment (Javaid et al, 2020) This caused scarcity and lack of equipment even for essential health activities like the use of such equipment by health professionals. In this context, a wide proliferation of individual home solutions has been noticed (Ishack & Lipner, 2020). A wide proliferation of individual home solutions has been noticed (Ishack & Lipner, 2020) These try, using available materials and equipment, to supply the generated emergency demand. It is clear that with the progress of the pandemic and the perception that its effects will be more constant and difficult to mitigate, there is an increase in the development of collective transition solutions for the attempt to reinsert people in face-to-face activities (Ham, 2020; Kim & Lee, 2020)

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