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Prestigious design honour for student’s sugar-coated medicine ideas

A student who used the bitter pill of taking medicine as the inspiration for a design competition is celebrating a sweet success following a prestigious national award from the Royal Society of Arts.

Andrew Coghill, a third year undergraduate in Product Design at the University of Plymouth, received the Aircraft Medical Award for his innovative ideas on how to make the awkward process of taking tablets and medicine a little more palatable.

After discovering that 40% of users struggle to swallow medication, Andrew designed a number of products to enable patients of all ages and abilities to ingest it more easily, through everyday natural activities such as sucking and eating.

The three designs included ‘Parajam’, which is a mixture of paracetamol and jam and is dispensed in wrapped segments which can be applied to bread and cakes. Then there is ‘Penicine’, a lolly-like-stick which invites the user to suck, nibble and chew on its nib, which painlessly dispenses a 1gm dosage of penicillin. And finally there is ‘Ouch’, a small vacuum-sealed container that enables medicine to be downed like an alcoholic shot, in one quick motion.

Andrew, 21, said: “The inspiration for these designs was my grandmother who really struggles to take tablets unless they are crushed up. So I questioned whether there could be a different method of taking medicine that would involve more natural methods such as chewing and sucking.”

Andrew’s ideas chimed with the Royal Society of Arts’ Design Directions programme, which tasks design students and recent graduates to propose solutions to some of the more intractable social and service issues in contemporary life.

Over 800 students entered this year's competition across a number of categories, and previous winners include Jonathan Ive, designer of the iPod and fashion designer Betty Jackson and John Caswell graduate from University of Plymouth 2006.

Professor Roberto Fraquelli, of the School of Architecture, Design and Environment at the University, said: “Andrew’s designs were inspirational and showed great imagination in tackling what can be a real problem for some people. His approach and project outcome is world-class and is a great recognition of a lot of hard work.

“We can all empathise with that feeling of discomfort when swallowing tablets, and he has produced three diverse product designs that have clearly impressed the judges.”

In addition to the award and a prize fund of £1,250, Andrew’s work will go on display at his Graduation Show at the University of Plymouth in June, and at the New Designers Show in London in July. The RSA Design Directions Online Exhibition will go live at the end of May.

Andrew added: “This award is a great addition to my portfolio. It demonstrates that by using a combination of methodologies, we can come up with designs that meet some of the real needs for today. The prize will give me the chance to travel, to experience and broaden my horizons, and knowledge in design.

“And it has absolutely delighted my nan, who is quite looking forward to trying parajam!”