Behind the scenes of our device and packaging prototypes!
By: Gabbi Di Marino - content manager and fellow allergy sufferer
We’ve been working hard on something super exciting, and it’s finally ready for us to share it with you! The working prototype of our revolutionary device and the proto-packaging for it are done! You might be thinking, “why is that so exciting?” Well, we’ll tell you!
Breaking down the prototype process
We might make it look easy, but creating these prototypes was a whole lot of work. As consumers, it’s hard to know just how much goes into the packaging and making of your favorite products. We might take a moment or two to appreciate the eye-catching designs or the sleek packaging, but personally, my mind doesn’t go much farther than “Oh, that looks nice!”. Behind the scenes, though, the process of completing such a thing is quite complicated. Even something as seemingly simple as creating a user manual can become a tedious task. And when a product has to comply with FDA labeling requirements (which is just as important as it sounds), things get even trickier!
The device that you see in our short animation is a 3D printed, 100% functional prototype, meaning that the technology in the device works properly but that the design itself isn’t final (we’ve still got some tweaking to do). The brilliant folks at Kaleidoscope created our packaging. They made ten hand-assembled boxes containing proper labeling, a device, charging cable, carrying case, quick how-to guide, and a user manual.
While this may not be the product in its final form, we’re still proud of how everything came together to meet the specific requirements from the FDA and showcase our personality and how different Fluo Labs is from standard over-the-counter medical products.
Why we created these prototypes
Both the device prototype and proto-packaging you see in the video above were made to undergo a Human Factors study, a critical step in our FDA accreditation process. This study focuses on the usability of our product, ensuring that the packaging, labeling, and instructions for the device all allow an average consumer to use our product safely. This study is an excellent tool for making sure everything about our product is easy to understand!
Chosen participants will be unboxing and using our product as researchers watch and evaluate everything from unboxing to understanding how to operate the device, charging, cleaning, and storing it. The boxes have shipped for testing, and we can’t wait to share the next steps with you - stay tuned!
Head here if you want to learn more about Human Factors studies for medical devices.
If you found this behind-the-scenes article about our prototypes interesting, check out this post we created about our recent study into why light therapy is such a champion for nasal health!
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