Case study: High density foam tablet holder

The client

Aaron Bennett is a web developer and product designer.

The challenge

Aaron recognised a problem with using tablets such as iPads. If you’re sitting down, it’s difficult to position and hold the tablet comfortably while touching the screen. As a furniture designer, Aaron could see that trying to lean an expensive device against legs or furniture could result in slippage and damage. Surely there was a simple solution…

And the concept of the Padprop was born.

Aaron developed a prototype by cutting a flat foam kneeling pad – the kind often used by gardeners – with a knife. He created a shape which fitted around both sides of the tablet, with a wider section at the rear. Further iterations led Aaron to the best profile, and he realised that this really was a solution to the problem of tablet comfort and slippage.

The next challenge was to find a manufacturer with a suitable skill set in finding and working the best materials for the job.

How it worked

From the outset, Aaron had a retail price in mind, and all our development work focused on ensuring we remained within the unit budget. The entire development process took less than three months, by which time full-scale prototypes were available for market evaluation.

As well as the developing and manufacturing of the product itself, we were also able to design the Padprop’s packaging – including shelf-ready packaging, bags, artwork, bar-coding and shipping cartons.