Most health-related products give themselves away before you even use them: glossy hard plastic, cool white, a clicking sound when opening that brings to mind a drawer in a doctor’s office. At Oxionix, we asked ourselves early on whether that really has to be the case. A box that sits on your nightstand or in the kitchen every day doesn't have to feel like a medical device just because it performs a medical function.
So we started testing materials – more than we initially wanted to. Glossy hard plastic looked cheap and cold, no matter how high-quality the finish was. A rubberized soft-touch coating felt pleasant at first, but after a few weeks of use, it showed fingerprints and small signs of wear that quickly made the object look unkempt. In between were numerous samples that we picked up, put back down, and re-evaluated.
Where we have landed now: a matte, slightly textured composite material in a warm, muted tone that feels more like a well-made everyday object than an assistive device. We are currently running several prototypes through tests to see how the surface holds up to daily cleaning and over several months of use before we declare the decision final.
For us, there is a bigger idea behind this: things you touch every day shouldn't necessarily remind you of why they are there. Good design can achieve exactly that—not by hiding something, but by showing that taking care of your own health can look just as natural as any other well-made object in your home.