The design company that helps startups to standout in saturated markets has designed a new-look COVID-19 test. Morrama are the award-winning industrial design studio who have designed products for Wild and Elvie. Their latest product is the ECO-FLO, a concept test to replace the bulky and invasive lateral flow with a sleek and sustainable product that removes the need for a nasal swab.
“Plastic has been at the front line of the pandemic - face masks, lateral flow tests and sanitiser bottles,” Morrama's founder and creative director Jo Barnard said. “With new COVID-19 variants constantly evolving, active testing has been and will remain to be an important part of living with COVID-19."
"At Morrama, we were inspired to create a test kit that doesn’t contribute to the amount of plastic ending up in our landfills, so ECO-FLO was born.”
The test kit has been simplified down to four parts (test kit, test strip, absorbent pad, and a sachet), which removes the need for multiple pieces of single-use plastic including the outer package of the test, swab and test tubes. ECO-FLO uses a recyclable paper pulp for the packaging and a biodegradable Nature Flex film for the sachet meaning that it can break down within approximately 4-6 weeks.
How does ECO-FLO work?
Eased user navigation: With step by step instructions printed directly onto the test, the user is guided on how to use it without the need for a separate leaflet. Additional details can be provided through a QR code if required.
Activation of the test: An incorporated push button functionality signals the start of the 15-minute countdown until the results are ready. The button function also ensures all the saliva sample is transferred onto the absorbent pad part of the test strip.
Reading the results: By removing the scientific notations of using S for Sample, T for Test and C for Control, ECO-FLO presents the results in a comparable tick box style that is clearer to understand without having to refer to an instruction booklet.
Andy Trewin Hutt, Associate Director at Morrama added: “Existing lateral flow tests were a reaction to the threat of the pandemic and were rolled at-speed to enable at-home testing. As a result, there were almost no considerations about the ease of use and the impact on the environment in either the production or disposal process. Now we have an opportunity to correct these mistakes."
