ID 401 - Advanced Industrial Design Studio
Fall 2021
Professor: Kathryn Wozniak
Sponsor: Eastman Chemical Company
This studio was sponsored by Eastman Chemical Company, who prompted us to expand one of their new materials, Tritan Renew—a durable, eco-friendly plastic that looks like glass—, into a range of emerging markets. I chose reusable packaging, and, within that, shower product bottles, doing market and user research to determine best approaches for enhancing function and flow of shower product bottles within a target user market.
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This was a swing studio into the industrial design majors' class, and I was grateful to have the opportunity to learn from the ID students and faculty! I enjoyed doing some physical model tinkering and learning about new programs (SolidWorks, Blender), and interacting with my work and peers in a different way than I have in graphic design studios!
Initial Planning & Research
Current Market Standings
My first step in the research process was to analyze current market trends in the reusable shower product packaging realm. My main takeaways from this research were three: (1) there's currently a saturation of independent wholesalers who mass produce low-quality bottles from cheap and problematic material; (2) more sustainable options are prevalent in popular subscription-based services; and (3) there has been a rise in "no-packaging" models as of late.
Gaining User Insight
In order to highlight some painpoints users were experiencing with their existing shower product bottles, I conducted an anonymous survey over the course of two weeks, asking users from all demographics what they liked and didn't like about their current shower bottles and systems. My main takeaways were that people preferred pump top bottles, disliked inconsistent and oddly-shaped bottles, and wanted more effective ways to distinguish between similar-looking bottles.
Defining the Target Market
The broad idea of designing a shower product bottle—something anyone can use since everyone bathes!—was hard to tackle in the beginning before I narrowed my target users. Considering that Tritan Renew is lauded for its diverse aesthetic value, and that a reusable shower product bottle likely warrants purchasing unpackaged product refills, I determined that my target market should be eco-conscious upper-middle class people who buy higher-end product refills.
Iterative Designs
Early Iterations
Upon organizing and analyzing my research findings, I came up with a few main painpoints to tackle:
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Modularity/space-saving bottle system
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Pump dispensing that doesn't jam/break
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No-waste, get to the last drop of product
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Distinguishability between similar bottles holding different products
I tried to go about iterating designs that took these issues into consideration while also upholding the ideals of my target user market.
Developing Flexible Concepts
Flexible system of parts; users can purchase as many pieces of the modular system as they want and can combine in any fashion; gives users freedom
Ergonomic wide pump dispenser protects against jamming/breakage; inner funnel concentrates product—maximizes product usage to the last drop
Modular system which slots together easily with flat walls so volume isn't lost from cylinder shape; differing sizes/shapes provide distinguishability
Integrating for a Single Design
Based on the flexible concepts, I pulled the parts of these that were the most successful in studio critiques and combined them into one basic model for a shower gel dispenser that has a wide pump top that is damage-resistant, flat sides for space-saving storage, and an internal funnel to gather product for last-drop usage.
The flat outer walls and internal funnel demand the bottle to be double-walled for production purposes, which also allows for stylistic customization and aesthetic intrigue.
With the basic components of the bottle design in place, I began coming up with ways the bottles could be customized in order to differentiate between different types of products. Utilizing Tritan Renew's broad range of color and texture finish options allowed me to explore different colors for opaque lids and transparent bottles, as well as combinations of matte and glossy textures of the inner and outer bottle walls, as laid out in my final design renderings.
Final Designs
Final model highlights
Lid color customization
Size options (32 oz., 16 oz., 8 oz.)
Texture / finish options (Glossy, half-matte, matte)
Suggested bottle use in a shower setting
Suggested brand partnership for refillable product
