Mouth-writing pen for special populations

What it does

This design is an accessible signature pen for mouth-writing users. It aims to improve the comfort of their writing and enable them to easily and independently complete the entire process of using a pen (such as changing refills) with just their mouth.

Your inspiration

The design inspiration comes from a news report about a unarmed student who used his mouth instead of his hands to get into college. So, I personally experienced writing with my mouth and found that using existing pens with my mouth has many inconveniences ,such as easy shaking, dripping saliva and difficulty in replacing the refills.Therefore, I hope to design a signature pen specifically for people who write with their mouths. On the one hand, it will improve the comfort of writing, and on the other hand, simplify the entire process of using the pen. I hope they can use the pen as conveniently as normal people with just their mouths.

How it works

Firstly, this design achieves the function of replacing the pen core with only the mouth through the design of the pen core and stopper; Secondly, the form of contact between this group of people and the pen was reconstructed based on the baby pacifier, which solved the problems of the pen easily shaking and saliva dripping onto the book during the writing process; Finally, a pen cap structure was designed that allows for flexible switching between the base and cap.

Design process

Firstly, I experienced the process of writing with my classmates and summarized the inconveniences and pain points they pointed out. We extracted the needs of the design object, such as improving the comfort of the mouth and pen while reducing shaking, solving the problem of drooling, and optimizing the way to replace pen refills. Secondly, I conducted research on signature pens designed specifically for the armless community on the market and found that these designs only address the comfort issue of writing with the mouth. Therefore, I focused my design on "how to achieve the entire process of using a pen with only my mouth" and generated many creative ideas. Considering the limited economic ability of this group, a low-cost design scheme was chosen, based on the structure design of using a pen with a mouth. The composition structure of the pen and the shape of the pen core were reconstructed, and a prototype was made through 3D printing to verify that the structure can achieve the goal of completing the entire process of using a pen with only the mouth. Finally, we enter the stage of form design and use 3D printed models to test whether it is human-machine and optimize the materials of each part.

How it is different

Firstly, this design is a low-cost solution, and users can create the product themselves through 3D printing. Secondly, compared with other accessible pen designs, this project not only improves the comfort of writing with the mouth, but also further considers the entire process of using the pen, including how to change the pen core with the mouth, open the pen cap, and quickly change pens of different colors. At the same time, attention is also paid to hygiene issues when saliva drips and is placed. In short, the mouth writing pen is a comprehensive design solution that enhances the dignity of people who need to write with their mouths, such as those without arms, and enables them to complete the entire process of using the pen simply and independently like normal people.

Future plans

I hope that this design can be personally used by people who write with their mouths, to verify whether it can be used for a long time and obtain more authentic feedback, so as to continuously optimize the design.

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