In 2006 the ResMed S8 sleep apnea flow generator and humidifier received the Australian Design Award of the Year. Senior industrial designer Perry Lithgow spoke to the Powerhouse Museum about the industrial design goals and details in making the device more appealing to the user.

'The S8 system is the latest in a series of systems. It encompasses a number of different levels of CPAP, from AutoSet down to a very basic level of CPAP. It also includes as part of the system humidification that can be attached to it and become a fully integrated device. It also includes data acquisition type modules that fit onto it to help the clinicians with assessing patients and seeing how they're going.'

'The S8 system came about when there were indicators in the marketplace that the flow generators of the future were going to be needing to be a lot more compact to fit into people's lifestyles a lot more so that they weren't burdened when they needed to travel. The S8 is really aimed at fitting into the lifestyle more and one of the ways is through reduction in size, another way is through improving the usability of the product.'

'We did a lot of work to keep it compact and still achieve the performance requirements that we needed. Some of the other areas of challenge are the connections between the flow generator and the humidifier. The complexity there was that although it is a mechanical connection between those two devices there are also a lot of hidden connections going on.'

'The best part of the process for me was the end result. From an industrial design perspective I was really happy with the level of detail that we were able to put into the design. Our goal as we started out was to create an object that looked crafted rather than manufactured. So we wanted there to be a lot of detail for the end user to enjoy over the life of the product. We also wanted the end user to really create an emotional bond to the product so that they were very satisfied with their choice in purchase.'

'With the S8 we wanted to take it an evolution further on in the design. So for example we have done a lot of work with the surfaces around the user interface to highlight various areas like the buttons and the LCD screen. We've also put little details on the handle for example to show the user where to interact with the handle, to assist them to lift the handle. And also around the back area of the machine where they need to change a filter every now and then, we've designed that not only with the engineering aspects in mind, because the filter cover is important for the reduction of noise coming out of the machine, but we've also designed it with usability in mind so there's a little area that the user can grip and remove the cover. So just lots of little details like that, highlighting features that the user needs to interact with and also just a lot of work with the surfaces to make the product look somewhat crafted by hand rather than just done on a simple CAD machine.'

Perry Lithgow, interview with Powerhouse Museum recorded June 2006

+ Australian product design
+ Australian Design Award

Images on this site are reproduced for the purposes of research and study only. Whilst every effort has been made to trace the Copyright holders, we would be grateful for any information concerning Copyright of the images and we will withdraw them immediately on Copyright holder's request.