I-Zoom

red dot
red dot award: design concept 2008

design:
Chen Wei Ping	Liao Chia Han

 
Designed to make life easier for diabetes patients, the I-ZOOM needle is suitable for use by all age groups and has paid particular attention to the vision impairment that often results from diabetes.
 

Research by the designers of I-ZOOM has discovered that over the past ten years, there has been significant growth in the number of diabetes patients – including 70% growth in those in their 30s. Experts suggest that this is because of the stressed, office-centered lifestyles of the 1990s. The increasing rates of diagnosis have occurred across races and ages, but have been especially noticeable in 30–39-year-olds. Presently, more than 230 million people are diabetic patients, with the figure expected to grow.
 

Caused by an insulin disorder, diabetes mellitus may cause blindness, kidney decay,amputation and heart disease. In the United States, diabetes takes 18 thousand people’s lives every year. Many patients suffer blindness or damaged eyesight as a result of the disease. How can a patient with impaired vision inject their insulin treatment on their own? Since the injecting of insulin is less complicated than blood vessel injection, most diabetes patients can inject themselves. But it would be difficult with impaired vision.
 

I-ZOOM has a flexible buffer tube that creates distance between the needle and skin. It also has a wide base where it comes into contact with the skin to make injection easier. As the needle is pressed down towards the skin, the buffer tube is compressed to reveal the needle. I-ZOOM also has a digital display, which can be programmed to emit an alert when it is time for a shot. Its large format display has been sized with impaired vision in mind. A wheel control makes it easier to set up and adjust the dosage. The sliding cover resolves the problem of losing a cap.