Uniforal

Uniforal is a medical water bottle designed for people who suffer from pill dysphagia. It is designed to have a non-medical aesthetic to make users forget that they are using a medical product. I partnered with two fellow Purdue students, who respectively study industrial design and electrical engineering. The project was pitched at the 2022 Purdue Design and Innovation Competition, where we won the “Top Innovator” award. Our group has been respectively awarded by the Design and Innovation Competition and the John Martinson Entrepreneurial Center a total of $2,000 that goes toward project funding.

  • February 2022 - December 2023

  • UI/UX Designer

  • Lauren Hersh and Ju Na Lee

    • “Top Innovator” Recipient for the 2022 Purdue Design and Innovation Competition

    • Purdue TECH 340 Finalist

    • John Martinson Entrepreneurial Center (JMEC) Recipient

Mission Statement

“To facilitate oral ingestion and dispel anxiety for a healthier world.”

Statistics

About 40% of Americans experience discomfort when swallowing pills, which is known as pill dysphagia

That is 131.8 million people. This is also a problem that expands globally, with 30% of the European population suffering from this condition.

Primary Research

Insight is key

To further understand the condition, we created a research plan where we faciliated 1:1 interviews with 5 individuals, 3 of whom have severe pill dysphagia, as well as professors from the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, who specialize in assistive technologies.

Our Findings

After completing our interviews, we organized our findings and identified common themes from our subject groups. We discovered that the individuals with pill dysphagia have tried a variety of options, such as a pill crusher, to make the ingestion process easier, but to no avail. Because of that, a lot of time and energy are wasted to attempt pill ingestion. The professors we also spoke to backed these concerns as well, adding that a potential cause for this is due to more medicines being in a liquid form.

College Students with Pill Dysphagia

  • Have used options such as a pill crusher to mix with their food (don’t find it to work very well)

  • Pill size catches them off guard

  • Want a solution that makes them forget that a pill is going into their mouth

  • Frustrated with the amount of time and energy wasted to attempt ingesting pills

Biomedical Engineering Professors

  • Agree that pill dysphagia is a significant problem

  • Suggest that the current generation has more anxiety due to medicines being in a liquid form

  • Lack of effective over-the-counter alternatives

  • Suggest a solution that can be seamlessly integrated without too much maintenance into the daily lifestyle

Ideation

A sketch frenzy

As we transitioned into the design stage, we sketched various water bottle forms to brainstorm potential ideas that properly address what our users are looking for.

The Solution

Introducing Uniforal

Culminating our research findings and sketches, we developed Uniforal, a product that effectively assists those with the pill ingestion process.

About the Product

How does it work?

What makes our product unique from the current solutions on the market is its mouthpiece and mechanism. The mouthpiece is designed to hold a pill, serving as a pathway for water and the pill to simultaneously meet to help mitigate contact with the throat. The diagram below simulates the user process.

Figure 1 (Left): User puts pill into mouthpiece.

Figure 2 (Right): User bites down on mouthpiece, releasing pill and water simultaneously.

Details

Specifications

Size: 12 oz

Diameter: 2.8 in.

Height & Weight: 9 in. 2 lbs

Materials

Lid: ABS Plastic

Body: Aluminum

Mouthpiece: Food-safe Silicone

A Holistic Experience

The Uniforal App

The product comes with an assistive app that tackles a user’s pill dysphagia to the next level. It helps track medications, as well as logs information regarding a user’s level of anxiety when taking their pills with the product. The incorporated features are based on feedback from our users.

Initial Wireframes

To map out the app’s experience, we created wireframes sketches to use as a foundation for components and features to be included in the high-fidelity prototype.

Home & Schedule

As soon as users open the app, they are presented with the homepage that provides a daily schedule of the medications they plan on taking. Users update their schedule throughout the day after each pill ingestion.

My Medicines

Users can create a list of their medications and go through a customization process, such as the type of medication and the amount of capsules they have to take per day.

My Progress

In conjunction with a schedule, users can document their progress after each pill ingestion through a digital journal. A graph of the user’s progression is also generated after each journal update.

Shop

Users have the option to buy additional Uniforal bottles through the in-app shop.

Next Steps

Moving forward

We plan on continuing user testing with our product and finalizing the app development process for our subject group. We also plan on pitching to potential investors to continue funding and discover ways to bring Uniforal to the next level.

The Uniforal Team