How David got rid of his pain
David Carlsson is an industrial designer and works primarily with 3D visualizations. Two years after his graduation, he could hardly move his right arm. He got a tip about RollerMouse and tried it. Since then, the pain is gone.
David Carlsson
Industrial designer
David Carlsson
”The RollerMouse provides even distribution between hands and relieves arms and shoulders. I never need to raise my hand like I do with a mouse. My arms are completely still when I work and I can sit straight."
The problem was gone from day 1!
David Carlsson is a trained industrial designer, but today he primarily visualizes architectural solutions in 3D, such as new houses and buildings.
3D visualization involves a lot of precision work that is controlled by means of a mouse, touchpad, drawing board or similar controls. David’s working days are often long and the work is performed exclusively in front of the screen:
”I started with a regular mouse, switched to mice specially designed for 3D work, tried drawing boards as well. Nothing worked well for 3D work.”
In addition, the pain in David Carlsson’s arm was getting increasingly worse. As a freelance 3D designer, this was disastrous. To do his work and be able to make money for his company, David Carlsson needs to be able to control his work on the screen using his hands and fingers. In the end he was not able to raise his arm. Then his printer supplier mentioned RollerMouse.
”The problem was gone from Day 1. A few months later, I tried again with a regular mouse, but I immediately felt how the tendons were strained,” says David Carlsson.
The rollerbar is the solution
As an industrial designer, David Carlsson states that the rollerbar is 95 percent of the product: ”That’s the solution. The rollerbar functions very natural in relation to the work surface on the screen, without the hand having to move the corresponding distance.”
However, in order to arrive at a solution such as the rollerbar, solid preparatory work is required. An industrial designer begins by looking beyond the product itself: ”It is important to first get a true picture of the customer and the end-customer’s requirements and expectations of the product. It is a lot about functional analysis.” Industrial design is a complex discipline, which contains a lot more components than visual design. ”Should you only consider the aesthetic shape as a designer, it would only be artistic,” David Carlsson explains.
The function decides the design
The degree of design freedom when a product is designed is governed by the context and what the function is: ”An object with a simple function gives more space for a different design. Everything except the basic function can then be embodied in just about any kind of way.”
Frequently other aspects than form are far more important when designing a product. The choice of material is one example: ”You have the entire sustainability issue and how the product is to be assembled to make it easy to disassemble for recycling. It is easier to take into account sustainability requirements if it is a top-of-line product. If it is all about making a cheap product, the environmental concerns will often suffer. Another important aspect is that the product should be customizable, the users should be able to configure it for their specific needs.”
Ergonomics is the biggest challenge
David Carlsson believes that ergonomics is the biggest challenge when designing a mouse or other devices for professional use: ”You must first understand the user and the situation and problems. In addition, to design a mouse you need to dive into the field of ergonomics.”.
That the design team behind the RollerMouse has succeeded becomes clear when David Carlsson talks about how the mouse differs from regular mice and other controls. ”The RollerMouse provides even distribution between hands and relieves arms and shoulders. I never need to raise my hand like I do with a mouse. My arms are completely still when I work and I can sit straight. This makes allows for greater accuracy and I can work faster. My hand is actually what limits me. With the RollerMouse I brake with one hand and steer with the other instead of doing all the movements with one hand. I cannot think of anything more ergonomic.”.
Details are controlled with the mouse
Although David uses the keyboard a lot, the commands carried out with the mouse dominate David’s working days: ”You can imagine how many areas a house has in detail. Each lamp, each handle must be drawn. Sometimes the design goes down to where the screws are fastened.”.
Architecture in 3D has become David Carlsson’s niche. That is perhaps not so strange since he really wanted to become an architect. But then he was accepted into the industrial design program of Gotland University College instead: “And now I’m working with what I wanted after all, but as a designer instead!”
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