The design process was challenged by the apparently conflicting needs of garment protection, and minimized weight and size.

Starting with core user needs and insights, then research and testing, CDP worked through a iterative prototype path to develop an elegant, lightweight luggage solution which protects and supports expensive office clothing.

A novel configuration of soft compartments and bolsters, dimensionally optimised and integrated into a lightweight compact shell structure enabling protected transportation of everything required for the office day.

Suitpack transforms into a convenient changing station so you can quickly and easily exchange commuting gear for work wear in the shower room.

And it’s not just cyclists who will benefit from Suitpack. Budget flights and the Eurostar means that much of Europe is now close enough for short trips, and frequent meetings abroad. The Suitpack is within hand luggage dimensions as so can avoid baggage check in and is therefore ideal for short business trips.

Skills Deployed
•User Research
•Industrial Design
•Prototyping
•Engineering

Technical Highlights
•Crease minimised folding
•Optimised dimensional configuration
•Integrated high visibility safety LED light
•Solar charging panel to power LEDs

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A significant problem is malnutrition, a condition which initially impacts lifestyle, then health and finally independence. It can drive a series of self reinforcing problems including poor mental state and increasing frailty. These can intensify into preventable medical problems and accidents which require involved support and long term care.

CDP have developed an innovative new food preparation device and smart packaging system targeted at enhancing quality of life through improved nutrition.

A new user-centred appliance interface (focusing on safety and ease of use), smart packaging (communicating raw ingredients and optimising preparation cycle), and concept supply chain are the foundations of an integrated service solution. The system provides a ‘one touch’ route to appetising and economical fast food using fresh ingredients.

Although particularly beneficial for an ageing population, our inclusive design approach means that the concept which delivers soups, stews, purees, baby foods and smoothies has the potential for much wider cross-generational appeal.

Business Innovation
•Opportunities from emerging trends
•New value and supply chain concept
•Merging product and services

Skills Deployed
•User centred and inclusive design
•Industrial Design and product semantics
•Engineering
•Structural packaging design
•Human Factors

Technical Highlights
•Integrated product-packaging solutions
•Smart packaging communications technology
•Technical advances in blade safety

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The challenge lay in making the product easy and safe to install in the meter cupboard – a location that can be unfamiliar to many householders.

CDP quickly came up with an effective design for a clip-on device to measure mains voltage as well as derive power from the connection, eliminating the need for batteries. These clips connect directly to the conductors in the mains cables, unlike the more typical non-contact current sensors found in many energy monitoring products.

Within a few months, a patent application was filed for CDP’s design. This enabled Navetas to introduce their “Energy Monitor” product – a unit that can be installed without isolating the electricity supply to a property, and with no need for a qualified electrician. Once fitted, it monitors how much energy each electrical appliance in the house uses, by analysing mains waveforms at a single point. It does not rely on any sensors or socket adaptors around the home, allowing it to monitor fixed installations such as ceiling lights and storage heaters.

During the same period, CDP undertook another development for a table-top in-home display, to supplement Navetas’ internet browser-based Online Energy Monitor. Using a touch-screen over a vibrantly coloured LCD display, this custom panel indicates total and disaggregated energy use to the consumer, in £, kWh, CO2. The unit is enabled by ZigBee wireless technology, and receives data from the Energy Monitor. It can also provide speech output to the visually impaired.

Less than a year from initial concept, these products are to be trialled in the field, attracting keen interest from prospective customers.

www.navetas.com

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CDP was responsible for inventing the key component of the product – a reliable low-power water sensor made from low-cost electronic components, with the heart of the detection method implemented in the embedded software.

From initial concept to collaborating with the factory in China to develop working prototypes and production processes, CDP was closely involved. Building on an ongoing relationship with the factory, CDP was able to help accelerate the product to market.

What others have said:

“Whether you want family members to spend less time in the shower for ecological reasons, for the sake of basic parsimony or just because of the absurd time they spend in there, this is for you.”
FT: How To Spend It – Oct ‘10

“…we love the Waterpebble’s simplicity and its unique way of teaching users to save water.”
Review on inhabitat.com

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Designed specifically to help people for whom storage space and portability are a high priority, CDP’s integrated team of engineers and designers worked closely with Akzo Nobel Paints to develop a lighter, smaller and more ‘flat-friendly’ PaintPod.

PaintPod Compact, at one quarter the size of its big brother, is more portable and easier to store. When you’re done painting, it’s small enough to fit neatly into the kitchen drawer. By refining the mechanical design and replacing PaintPod’s self-cleaning function with an easy to use tap-rinse system, our design team were able to remove the water container and so vastly reduce the size of the product whilst retaining the performance that has made PaintPod such a success.

The insight behind PaintPod Compact was that first-time buyers and people who live in flats often have limited storage space and do not need to use large quantities of paint. There was an opportunity to offer a new product in the PaintPod range that better suited the needs of these customers by placing greater design emphasis on portability and convenience. By reducing size and complexity, Akzo Nobel Paints are also able to offer PaintPod Compact at a lower price than the original, making this a very appealing prospect to consumers who might previously have passed on PaintPod.

In addition, our design team created an innovative packaging design for PaintPod Compact. CDP designed a recycled pulp cardboard inner pack that doubles up as conveninent utility tray. By designing the product and packaging together in this way, CDP were able to both remove cost and lower PaintPod Compact’s carbon footprint for our client.

Skills Deployed

• Industrial design
• Mechanical engineering
• Packaging design
• Far East supply chain management
• Project management

www.dulux.co.uk/products/paintpod/paintpod_compact.jsp

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For a start-up company, hitting challenging deadlines can be critical for the success of a new product. Navetas Energy Management had a vision to launch their smart energy hub to meet the demand for smart metering. With a key trade show already in the diary, CDP were able to transform Navetas’ requirements into a quality model demonstrating real functionality in a mere four months.

Navetas’ Smart Energy Monitor is a new approach to smart metering for electricity, gas and water metering. It is able to monitor readings from certified utility meters and communicate data wirelessly to a central billing system as well as indicate household energy usage to the domestic user. It incorporates non-intrusive appliance monitoring technology, developed and patented by Intelligent Sustainable Energy (ISE) that identifies the use of individual electrical appliances by interpreting mains electricity waveforms.

CDP’s closely integrated team worked together to design and develop this unprecedented product from scratch. Mechanical engineers and industrial designers created a robust, appealing product to meet all safety requirements. Simultaneously, our electronic and software engineers designed all electronics, and implemented ISE patented technology into a real product.

In addition, our industrial designers created an intuitive user interface to allow users to examine their real-time energy use on a small touchscreen device in their home. The challenge was to take complex, technical information on energy use and communicate it in a simple and practical manner through on-screen infographics.

Our intensive work contributed to Navetas’ success at the Metering Europe 2009 trade show, helping to open up new opportunities in the market. CDP continues to work with Navetas to bring the innovative Smart Energy Monitor to market.

Skills Deployed

• Industrial design
• Interaction design
• Mechanical engineering
• Electronic engineering
• Software engineering
• Design for regulatory compliance
• Project management

www.navetas.com
www.ise-oxford.com

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