Project Goal:

Redesign a pen style tattoo machine that is easily accessible to new tattoo artists that promotes versatility. It should be able to shade and line effortlessly with benefits like improved control, precision, and ergonomics.

Project Duration: 13 weeks

meet leo

Leo is a tattoo apprentice at Better Days Tattoo that primarily use a pen rotary style tattoo machine. They learned to tattoo using the rotary machine for its convenience due to its flexible nature.

These pen style tattoo machines reduce noise and vibration versus the traditional coil machine. Coil machines have also been thought to have higher maintenance and it not nearly as beginner-friendly as the pen tool.

TASK ANALYSIS

PRODUCT ANALYSIS

Graphite Sketches

STINGER IDEATION SKETCHES

My first concept is based on the pain when getting a tattoo. When doing exploration sketches, I wanted to change the grip of the rotary tool, making a more bulbous shape that then reminded me of a wasp. I also wanted to explore the textures and patterns, possibly adding the knurling you see on coil machine grips. I call this, the “Stinger.”

Graphite Sketches

ADDICT IDEATION SKETCHES

This concept comes from the feeling you get once you have a tattoo. I wanted to play with that “addicting” feeling to want more and more tattoos.

Based on this feeling, I imagined the tattoo pen as both the pill and the pill bottle, calling it the “Addict.”

I especially think tattoo artists would enjoy this as they themselves tend to have a lot of tattoos. When starting out, many artists must practice giving tattoos, a lot of the time using their own body as a canvas.

Graphite Sketches

Design feedback

After conferring with my peers and other designers, I decided that my “Stinger” concept is stronger and more visually pleasing than what I had planned for my other concepts. Compared to the “Addict”, “Stinger” allowed me to explore a nonlinear approach to the grip which many pen style grips have not done.

Due to these reasons, “Stinger” will be the concept I choose to develop.

GRIP EXPLORATION

After 3D CADing various different iterations in Fusion360, I printed them out using a Bambu printer. Some iterations change in the silhouette and some have the same silhouette while changing the grip pattern featured on it

3D Prints

user feedback

Once all my models were printed, I decided to take them to Better Days Tattoo and ask Leo for any feedback.

Once they went through the options, they said the 7th model was their favorite. They said they liked the indentation more, the width was nice but could be skinnier, and when I asked about materiality, they suggested silicone like the ready-to-use grips that other tattoo artists use.