Adorable Character Tape Dispenser

I have made a full operational tape dispenser that has multiple functions. It acts as a tape dispenser, pencil pot and mini storage area. It also is a cute design to jazz up and elevate your desk or storage area. With its useful and compact design, this little character will be a wonderful edition to wherever it is used. The mouth is used as an area for the tape to slip through, and is attached to a sharp cutting blade on the character's feet.

1. Autodesk software (CAD)
2. 3D printer (preferably bamboo lab)
3. Tools - sander, pliers, scissors to finalise or modify 3d printed model
4. Access to internet for research
5. Different sizes of tape
6. Pencils for storage
7. Erasers and other small items requiring storage

Image sources:

PLIERS - https://www.amazon.sg/Richer-R-Accessories-Diagonal-Lightweight-Comfortable/dp/B07DZZWY4G

SANDER - https://www.aliexpress.com/i/1005004508153332.html

SHARP SCISSORS - https://www.amazon.sg/Fabric-Scissors-Carbon-Tailor-Shears/dp/B09NZDSCZY?th=1

In order to create a successful and useful product, you must first research the current market product offerings to identify gaps and potential design opportunities for your product. For this product, I researched 3 different designs of a tape dispenser, and then identified their SWOT - internal strengths, internal weaknesses, external opportunities and external threats. This really helped in creating a new design for the tape dispenser.

In order to know all of the essential and desirable needs of the user, it is useful to create a fictional identity of the ideal user that would use your product. It is also essential to create a secondary personae and anti personae, so that you can be aware of the unnecessary features and constraints for your design.

When creating design specifications, its important to be specific and critical about what features the product requires. This will aid in designing a product that is useful to consumers. Keeping these specifications in mind when designing is also crucial, as it can make the design more suited more target users and unique.

Creating a range of ideas can be helpful as they can both address different user needs in a variety of ways. It can also be useful to compare these ideas to design specifications to ensure that your ideas meet the required needs of the user. For this product, I generated two different ideas of a tape dispenser and evaluated each of their strengths and weaknesses to create the most beneficial product. Drawings can be very useful when communicating your range of ideas and concepts, especially to different users who may be involved in the iterative design process.

Low fidelity models are essential in determining how the product actually functions. It is the first time when your idea becomes a physical item. It can be useful for determining dimensions and how to improve your product for the better. Low fidelity models are most helpful when they are extremely specific, so that you can pinpoint exactly which functions work and which ones don't.

User feedback is always essential in the iterative design process as in the traditional design process the designers are always redesigning based on user needs and feedback, in order to further improve their product. The user feedback is best obtained at the earliest stage, so that major improvements can be made at the earliest time instead of having to redo a finalised design. Hence, for the tape dispenser I collected user feedback from my low fidelity models in order to avoid having to change my finalised design. It is best to collect user feedback in a simple format which is clear and easy to understand at a later point in time. This is why I present my user feedback in a table. Having at least 2 users is essential as it provides different perspectives on which functions are effective, ensuring that the product appeals to a wide user group, making it popular.

What I have redesigned for Puzzle Piece Model based on user feedback:

1. Have areas for suction cups on the bottom so it’s stable when pulling (User 2 Feedback Con)
2. Have words on puzzle pieces so can know what function each piece performs (User 1 & 2 Feedback Con)

What I have redesigned for Character Model based on user feedback:

1. Have a bigger storage area in the feet area (User 1 Feedback Con)
2. Made a deeper pencil pot so that the pencils don’t fall out (User 1 & 2 Feedback Con)

In the user feedback, I referred to my designs as design 1 and design 2. Design 1 is the design that I chose to finalise, which is the character tape dispenser. Design 2 is the puzzle piece tape dispenser with storage.

Ensure that all the improvements are checked against the initial design specifications, as you will need to compare the high fidelity models to your design requirements to ensure that ALL user needs are met. In this case, I decided to turn both ideas into high fidelity models as I wanted to see how they both turned out and compared against each other. However, I decided that the character design was the best option so I decided to finalise that one. I created both my high fidelity models using Auto Desk CAD software, a CAD program that easily allows people to bring their ideas to life.

Thank you for reading through my exciting process of designing my cute tape dispenser. Please enjoy taking a look at how my final product turned out!

Happy designing :)