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Haptic heartbeat
Overview
The options for individuals living with a damaged or a missing eye are limited - typically eye patches, adhesive pads, or prosthetics. For those waiting on a custom prosthetic eye, this interim period can be especially difficult, often involving daily use of disposable coverings that can feel clinical, uncomfortable, and deeply tied to a loss of identity.
Dispatch rethinks this experience.
Developed during my Master of Design thesis, Dispatch explores how design in healthcare can move beyond pure function to embrace empathy and self-expression. It challenges the notion of concealment, proposing that visible, expressive solutions can build confidence and shift public perception.
Rather than focusing on mimicry, this project explores an alternative approach, framing eye coverage as a form of personal expression. Using 3D scanning and 3D printing, each piece is custom-designed to the individual’s face, creating a precise, comfortable fit that contours naturally to their features. Rather than attempting to replace prosthetics or eyepatches, Dispatch aims to add to an individual's collection of eye coverings to suit their context of use.
Head and neck cancer can require life-altering surgery, sometimes involving the removal of parts of the face such as the eye, nose, or cheek. These procedures are often critical for survival, but can also profoundly impact a person’s sense of identity. For patients and their families, adjusting to these changes can be emotionally and psychologically challenging.
Facial prosthetics offer a path forward. Carefully crafted by anaplastologists, these silicone prostheses are designed to closely replicate missing features, helping restore confidence and reduce social anxiety. However, it can take months before a patient is referred, and often a year or more before a final prosthesis is ready to be worn. This delay is necessary to allow the body to heal and prepare for the implants that support the prosthetic.
In the meantime, patients are left with few viable options.
Most rely on temporary solutions like eye patches, bandages, or improvised coverings made from medical supplies. These are often uncomfortable, ill-fitting, and visually associated with injury or illness. They offer little in the way of dignity, personal expression, or control.
The gap - between surgery and prosthetic - represents an overlooked part of the recovery journey. One where patients are navigating not only physical healing, but also a disrupted sense of self, with limited tools to support them.
Dispatch was created to address this need.
Through a co-design process, individuals can shape the aesthetic to reflect their personality, offering a sense of agency during a time that often feels out of their control.
The result is a bespoke, protective eyewear system that functions more like a fashion accessory than a medical device, while maintaining the medical considerations.
3D Scan
Most patients already have a 3D scan, CT, or MRI. These datasets provide the foundation for a precise, personalized design.
Co-Design
Designer and recipient collaborate to explore direction, shaping concepts that reflect both functional needs and personal expression.
3D Modeling
A bespoke model is developed directly on the individual’s 3D facial scan, ensuring an accurate fit and refined aesthetic.
3D Print
The final design is additively manufactured, enabling one-off production without the cost and constraints of traditional tooling.
From Concealment to Expression
This process was additionally applied to limb prosthetics and hearing aids for my thesis. Applying a unified design approach, these concepts challenge traditional aesthetics. They reframe assistive objects as visible, personal, and empowering.
By combining medical data, co-design, and rapid prototyping, they explore how personalization and aesthetics can foster dignity, confidence, and a more meaningful relationship between people and the objects they wear.
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