Customer feedback the starting point

As Shaun Ridley, one of five product designers at the specialist supplier of doorsets, door, and window hardware to the mental health and education sectors, explains, it is the latest product to come out of the company’s comprehensive design process; the starting point is invariably undertaking customer research to determine needs and requirements before even starting to think about designing potential solutions.

The award-winning Safehinge Primera en-suitedoor is revolutionising mental health environments – enhancing safety and improving the patient experience. The product is the result of many months of painstaking research and development, involving more than 120 stakeholders across 20 NHS and private providers, and a team of our own in-house designers and engineers. 

The Safehinge Primera design process is different to that of many other companies, as we avoid taking existing solutions and merely trying to make incremental improvements. Instead, we look at the problem we are trying to solve with a blank canvas, and decide the best approach based on the design brief. The design brief is one of the most important aspects for Safehinge Primera, as we believe it ensures that the end solution is right for the customer, and doesn’t just make use of an existing component, potentially compromising the outcome.