Our favourite projects combine innovative design with impact, which is why we enjoyed working with St John Ambulance.
St John is a self-funding charitable organisation with a 140-year legacy of helping people in sickness, distress, suffering, or danger.
St John approached us with a unique problem: their current CPR dummy took up too much space and cost too much to store and transport.
This presented an opportunity to not only improve the training experience but also to significantly reduce operational costs.
Our first step was to understand the design of their existing CPR dummy and its limitations to identify key areas for improvement. Because the dummy’s back was fixed, it could not be easily stacked or stored.
Based on our research, the back could be made removable, allowing dummies to be stacked. This simple yet effective change dramatically reduced storage and carrying space, reducing the number of duffle bags required from 12 to just two per dummy set.
We developed a comprehensive financial model to estimate the costs and potential savings. This included:
Our research was developed into a pitch deck and presented to the organisation.
Our analysis showed that in the best-case scenario, the investment would pay off in just 17 months, while the worst-case scenario still promised a return on investment within three years.
Every project comes with unique challenges. For St John, we took a very detailed approach with feasibility to ensure that even before the product was manufactured and considering global volatility, the future cost projections were as accurate as possible.
Our suggested redesign addressed several key issues:
By making the back removable, we enabled dummies to be stacked, significantly reducing storage and transport space requirements.
We reduced the number of duffle bags per dummy set from 12 to 2, with each bag capable of holding two stacked dummies.
The new design was inherently more portable, reducing the storage and logistical costs St John had been facing.
Even in well-established areas like CPR training, there's always room for innovation that can lead to significant operational improvements.
Addressing a product design challenge requires looking beyond the product itself to consider its entire lifecycle and operational context.
When designing products for nonprofits, it's essential to balance immediate costs with long-term savings and operational benefits.
hone.pd doesn’t just design products—we develop comprehensive solutions that address real-world challenges.
Our design recommendations for St John’s CPR training logistics could save the organisation hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years. More importantly, it will streamline their operations, allowing them to focus more resources on their core mission of saving lives and helping people in need.
This case study demonstrates our ability to innovate, our thorough approach to product development, and our commitment to creating designs that make a tangible difference.
Good design stands out. Get in touch with us today to kick-start your new product design project!