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Product Redesign: Children’s Nebulizer
Everything happens for a reason.
Jenny’s experiences as a design student in college left her wanting to make a larger impact with her work. After meeting Hank Richardson and learning about the Masters of Arts in Strategic Design program through Furman University and M.AD School of Ideas, she took a chance and left her small hometown in South Carolina, in order to chase her dreams.
“Since that day, I have never worked harder in my life.” says Jenny “Thanks to Hank and my other instructors in the program, I learned so much about who I am as a designer, but also about what it means to make personal work that can change lives. “
Jenny Thackham: Aria | Product and Design
Transcripts from the interview:
Being in the design track was great. I’ve gotten into experiential design or design that fixates on solving problems or helping people. That’s a very big thing with Miami Ad School. One of the projects that I worked on with Hank in my third quarter was the design prompt of taking a product that already exists and redesigning it. I ultimately landed on redesigning a child’s nebulizer.
I struggled with Asthma as a child, and one thing I remember the most was using nebulizers every single night. These were used to give me 2-3 medications at a time and can be quite scary and loud, especially at a young age. I wanted to tackle that fear and make a product that not only made taking your medicine easier, but more fun as well. Aria is a nebulizer that uses music as a way to encourage children to enjoy life with asthma. It connects to an app so that you can learn different music and track stats like your lung capacity and the different medications that you’re taking. It makes experiences with a nebulizer a lot more fun than sitting at a dining room table connected to a bunch of tubes.
The Process
Because I was a child who struggled with asthma for a majority of my life, I already knew the problems that I had had with nebulizers. There were things that I knew I could change about it and really help somebody. The process was really fun and very personal because I was able to push myself and ask questions about things like:
- “Why am I doing certain things?”
- “Why am I making certain design decisions?”
- “What are the problems that exists?”
- “What are my parameters?”
I was inspired by two main things, the Ocarina from Legend of Zelda, and the grips used for gaming controllers. I used these, to create a form that children would be familiar with, thus making them more likely to pick it up and use it. I had to get into things like learning how to look at manuals for nebulizers, I had no experience whatsoever in that and it really pushed me to learn and do different fun things.
If there is anything I can say to any design student looking for more, its this- everything happens for a reason. One day, I am planning to get a small job in my hometown, and the next I’m moving to the heart of Atlanta with some of the most amazing designers I have ever met. Take advantage of every single opportunity you get and make the most out of it, you’ll never believe where you may end up.
Want to see more of Jennifer’s Designs? Visit her website: