Student wins design award

Student wins design award
A Coupar Angus student's design for an after dinner mint that helps fight plaque has won her an internship worth �7,500 with GlaxoSmithKline in the RSA Design Directions 2004.

Katy Buchan (21), a BDes (Hons) Consumer Product Design student at Napier University's School of Design and Media Arts, won the prize in the medical products category of the competition, which attracted 1,500 students from all over Europe.

Her brief was to design an oral healthcare product that would re-engage consumers.

Katy said: "The aim of the concept was to alter the perception of oral healthcare and make a product less clinical than the options already on the market. I wanted to bring dental hygiene to the dinner table.

"My product has a digestible, transparent gum to fight plaque, mint particles to freshen breath and a toothpick. It also combats the social stigma of chewing gum as the user does not need to find a means of disposal."

Rupert Sherwood, lecturer at the School of Design and Media Arts, said: "This is a superb achievement of Katy and I'm sure the travel award will prove invaluable. Napier students won �18,500 worth of prizes overall which demonstrates the quality of the courses and the students at the university."