COVID-19 Pandemic Inspired Design – An Empirical Study on Maskeeper’s User Experience and Design Ergonomics

Since early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting all aspects of society, including health care, economy and environment, the Design discipline reacted by inventing many new products to combat the spread of the virus. Amidst all the design innovations created under this “new normal”, Maskeepers® has gained mass popularity in Asia and North America since its release to the market in February 2020. Received both design patent and copyright, this origami-folded mask holder aims to provide convenient and temporary storage to keep surgical masks from cross-contamination and reuse purposes. This paper aims to evaluate the performance of Maskeeper in four parameters, namely material durability, user-friendliness, sustainability and emotional design (MD, UF, SU, ED). By statistically analysing survey data from a sample size of 124 respondent participants, the study validates some critical design attributes that have the most significant impact on user experience, product ergonomics and emotional design. The research also identifies limitations and shortcomings in the first production of Maskeepers and highlights some recommendations for future design development. The research is timely for any designer to consider new COVID-19 innovations and methods of evaluation.