My Design nightmares

We've all had them, but design nightmares are there for us to overcome.

I've had ideas which I knew would work but it was a process in getting the design right so that the end product would be practical.

When I first designed the Wrap and Go, I had to keep going to the drawing board, from having to redo my research on push chairs, and keep up to date with the new and evolving all terrain pushchairs.

I had to a step back and focus on something else for a couple of weeks so that I could go back to the drawing board with a fresh pair of eyes.

I'm designing mug

Taking a step back from time is so important in any design project, I find that going back to it refreshed and refocused I can more easily spot where I went wrong and come up with a suitable solution for reaching my goal.

If there's one piece of advice you can take away is to not to give up with your ideas, they will work... eventually. Time and patience is key.

So, what were the problems I encountered?

1. The first obstacle was getting the shape right;

   1. The shape dictates the function and, because I knew what I wanted it to do, getting the shape right was critical in making sure the end product worked as I intended it to.

2. The second was the fabrics;

   1. Because parents can layer baby up in the wrap it had to be able to breathe and not over heat baby.

   2. I didn't want the material to be too heavy as I wanted baby to be comfortable.

   3. And the fabric had to handle adverse weather well, I didn't mind if it wasn't waterproof because parents have rain covers on pushchairs, but I did want the fabric to dry quickly once wet.

3. Issue number three was a safety hazard;

   1. I had made a prototype, used it with my son and was happy with it.

   2. I then made some to order for customers to the same design and they were happy.

   3. I then had 250 units made at the factory in Poland, they did a brilliant job and we started to sell them locally until a nursery outlet pointed out that our design had a potential tourniquet issue.

   4. We had buttons to secure the sleeves using a loop fastening. This unfortunately turned out to be a safety issue which could have resulted in small children fiddling with the loop and getting fingers or thumbs trapped.

4. The solutions?

   1. I found the perfect curvy shape to do the job.

   2. After an extensive search I decided on micro fleece which is light weight and drys super quick.

   3. I replaced the button and loop fastenings for anti snag Velcro fixings whcih don't catch on other clothing when in the wash.

It was an expensive learning curve but it could have been worse.

Wrap and go sleeve