Six engineering students to showcase innovative products at New Designers show

A group of six product design engineering students are to descend on the capital this month where they will showcase their innovative designs to industry experts.

New Designers is the longest running and leading design showcase in the country. This year is its 37th anniversary and will bring together 200 flagship university design courses, with LJMU proudly among them.

The work of 3,000 design students will be showcased across the first two-weeks of July at the event in Islington, London.

Flying the flag for LJMU will be Matthew Wah, Joe Bromley, Nic Morgan, Samuel Ward, Cian Holliday and Michael Gotfryd from the School of Engineering. The six students are set to graduate this summer and have been specially selected to represent the university at the show.

Biggest opportunity of their lives

Matthew, the student lead, is coordinating the groups’ efforts as they prepare for the biggest opportunity of their lives so far, to present to industry employers, buyers, members of the media, trend predictors and the design hungry public. Companies in attendance include Made, John Lewis, and Joseph & Joseph to name but a few, all with prizes ranging from cash to industry experience up for grabs.

The LJMU students will present to the experts before sharing their designs with industry scouts as well as schools, friends, family and the general public as they visit the show.

Maritime safety

Matthew’s project focuses on safety in the maritime sector. “It’s a total redesign of a ships bridge system called Ocean CTRL. It aims to reduce the likelihood of maritime accidents and disasters - 80% of which are attributed to human error,” explains Matthew.

His design takes into consideration multiple factors that can lead to accidents at sea such as fatigue, high cognitive load, and a lack of experience. He hopes that by simplifying and improving upon the ships bridge system he could make a real difference to maritime safety.

Health innovation

Other designs focus on health and use innovation to better support health care providers and individuals to live better lives. Samuel has designed a virtual and augmented-reality headset concept to prevent the development of medical phobias, while Cian is working on a portable ECG chest strap with 3D-printed elements to enable people to better monitor their cardiac health while exercising.

Joe has come up with a novel new kettle design that could benefit more than 10 million people in the UK alone that have arthritis or other, similar conditions that affect the joints.

“The design includes a support at the base of the kettle which helps reduce the weight, thus reducing strain in the users’ hands and wrists,” explains Joe.

“With this design challenge, it was also important to make sure that the product would be desirable, as many users with these disabilities find that accessible products are not aesthetically pleasing. Therefore, with user-centred design and industrial design techniques, I was able to produce a practical and beautiful piece of kitchen equipment.”

Tackling environmental issues

Meanwhile Michael has homed in on the ever-increasing demand for home deliveries but looks to combat the associated environmental concerns associated with increased road traffic. His autonomous drone delivery service aims to reduce fossil fuel emissions by creating an easy, effective, efficient and clean drone delivery service that cuts out the final miles of road travel for everyday deliveries.

Remaining in the environmental realm, Nic’s 3D printer monitoring system aims to reduce the amount of plastic waste that is sometimes produced through the printing process.  

As the team put the final touches on their product displays and rehearse for their presentations, everyone at LJMU wishes them the best of luck this month in London.

The show

The LJMU display can be found on the main show floor at stand FP32 from Wednesday 6 July to Saturday 9 July.

Interested in studying product design engineering at LJMU? Course details are available on our dedicated webpages.

More about the New Designers show.