The Travel Pen contains two neodymium magnets — one on either side of the ink cartridge, allowing the pen to easily and securely retrofit onto a standard metal binder clip. The pen was also designed to accept a common Bic ballpoint pen cartridge.

Relevant Skills: Industrial Design, Product Development, Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Functional Prototyping & Testing, User Research & User-centered Design, CAD

The translucency of the injection-molded polypropylene pen body grants visibility of the ink level at a glance, while the living hinge feature afforded by the material allows for ease of disassembly and ink cartridge replacement. Pen length and cross-section depth were minimized to their limits for compactness while also accounting for ergonomics and accommodation of the ink cartridge and magnet envelopes.

Relevant Skills: Industrial Design, Product Development, Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Functional Prototyping & Testing, User Research & User-centered Design, CAD

This production version of the Travel Pen was created with simplicity, manufacturing, and cost in mind — the pen body consists of a single (unibody) injection-molded polypropylene (PP) design. The compliant ‘living hinge’ that unifies the top and bottom half of the pen body and allows for access to the ink cartridge also functions as a lanyard/keychain hole, providing an alternative carry option in addition to magnetic pairing.

Relevant Skills: Industrial Design, Product Development, Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Functional Prototyping & Testing, User Research & User-centered Design, CAD

Development Prototypes (From Left to Right): [A] Foam-board Sketch Models for Ergonomic Verification (100/120/130 mm L), [B] 3D-Printed Compliant Design Prototypes, [C] Notebook with V1.0 POC Prototype

Relevant Skills: Industrial Design, Product Development, Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Functional Prototyping & Testing, User Research & User-centered Design, CAD

Section views of the Travel Pen CAD model illustrating basic design considerations for injection molding, such as pass-through cores for snap-fit features and uniform part wall thickness.

Relevant Skills: Industrial Design, Product Development, Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Functional Prototyping & Testing, User Research & User-centered Design, CAD

Explorative development sketches illustrating early design directions for the Travel Pen. The magnetic/unibody compliant design (Concept B) was chosen based on factors around simplifying user interaction, design for manufacturing, and the abbreviated development timeline of the PD sprint.

Relevant Skills: Industrial Design, Product Development, Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Functional Prototyping & Testing, User Research & User-centered Design, CAD

Sketches for ‘Concept B’ design refinement— iterative design exploration of pen tip geometry, visualization of the pen housing in cross-section, noting the secondary function of the living hinge region, and the dimensional constraints of the ink cartridge.

Relevant Skills: Industrial Design, Product Development, Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Functional Prototyping & Testing, User Research & User-centered Design, CAD

‘Concept D’ was based on a pen design with a bistable compliant cross-section geometry. The pen would be able to ‘transform’ from an ergonomic triangular cross-section (concave) to a convex profile resembling a binder clip — this transformation would be achieved by applying pressure to the flexible (bistable) side of the pen. This direction was not pursued further due to time constraints and design exploration required, but the approach of ‘designed compliance’ persisted to inform the selected design direction (Concept B) and its ‘living hinge’ feature.

Relevant Skills: Industrial Design, Product Development, Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Functional Prototyping & Testing, User Research & User-centered Design, CAD