Process
Empathize
Key Activities: Secondary Research · User Research 1 · How Might We’s · Tensions · Pain points · Journey Map · Insights & Frameworks
Using our consumers’ current product habits, standards of success and standards of failure, we were able to build empathy with their experience.
We synthesized their feedback into insights and tensions which drove our How Might We statements.
Define
Key Activities: Narrow Scope · Brainstorm · User Research 2 · Prototype Sketches · Storyboards
Our team was given a very broad area of home cleaning to tackle. Comparing P&G’s current product line and the needs, pain points, and workarounds of our users, we found a focused opportunity in the shower and bath.
Following our How Might We statements, we brainstormed and sketched, down-selecting to 12 products with a variety of features to show to our consumers.
These sketches were presented to our consumers as a sorting exercise, ranking exercise, and mix & match exercise.
Ideate & Prototype
Key Activities: Sketch · Storyboard · Minimum Viable Prototypes · User Research 3
Many of our users have arthritis or general aches and pains so we created a range of prototypes which would be held at different angles and positions, both one handed and two to understand what would be most comfortable with our users.
We presented 12 physical prototypes to our consumers through 1st person videos. These three rounds of user research culminated with a final list of emotional and functional requirements. Each of these requirements was backed by a user need.
We began to imagine a broader ecosystem for the consumer, creating an app-connected experience and building out consumables, packaging, and storage.
Iterate & Test
Key Activities: CAD (Part & Assembly), 3D Printing, Electronics Design, Color Material Finish, Branding
Over the course of a week and a half I rapidly iterated, testing multiple shapes, sizes, and placements of key components for our prototype, testing these prototypes internally within our 20 person cohort and with professors using preference data to drive the final prototype’s form.
Final Deliverables
Key Activities: Insights · User research frameworks · Concept sketches · Prototypes · Renders · Final project presentation · Client pitch video · Executive summary
Due to the limited time we had to physically prototype due to COVID-19 restrictions, there were a number of color, material, and finish (CMF) decisions that had to be made after.
I considered our emotional design requirements when making decisions on the CMF of the product. I also designed mechanisms and clear indicators for the replacement of consumables in the product.
The renders in Solidworks Photoview 360 brought our product to life, showing it in context, as we imagined.
The project is now in its next steps for development with P&G.
Reflection
- Be scrappy, find new ways to solve roadblocks and drive the product forward
- Explore, being broad allows you to know know when you’ve found rich insight and a path forward
- Ask why to solve problems and to find root cause: users, teammates, professors
- Following the voice of the user leads to a strong product
- Collaborate with interdisciplinary perspectives, no silos!