Tanning mate

Ed Phillips, a final year Product Design student at Brunel University, has designed an innovative, handy-sized tanning mate called mytan.

The device accurately measures sun strength before providing the correct strength of sunscreen to protect the user. As if this was not enough, the handy tan mate warns a sunbather if he or she is in danger of getting sunburnt. mytan could be set to revolutionise the way we tan.

mytan determines a person’s skin type, the sun’s intensity, the time they plan to spend in the sun and dispenses the necessary strength sun lotion to prevent them from burning.

Skin type is determined in three steps. Firstly, the user enters information about their skin colour, hair colour, eye colour, quantity of freckles and colour of skin when tanned. Secondly, mytan measures the sun’s intensity with an inbuilt UV index sensor. Finally, the user enters the amount of time that they plan to spend in the sun. Using this information, mytan dispenses the necessary strength sunscreen to help people tan safely.