Oral Care Studio
Adopting a user-centered approach to create toothbrush and toothpaste solutions for the aging population.
client: Live Well Collabroative + Procter and Gamble
project role: Teaching Assistant / Design Researcher / Senior Graphic Designer
outputs: Design Research / Consumer Research & Validation / Book Design / Poster Design
Procter and Gamble (P&G) partnered with the Live Well Collaborative to design products and experiences that improve the lives of Aging Population through oral care solutions in the Winter Quarter, 2011.
research
During this phase, students focused on obtaining primary and secondary knowledge about oral care. After conducting this research, the team translated their insights to concept ideas.
Students met with consumers in their home environment and interviewed them about their oral care routines, experiences, and products. The interviews gave the students insights on potential opportunity gaps to be solved in the concept phase. It also helped students differentiate between the needs of aging consumers versus the needs of their own age group. Insights gained from these in-hove interviews sparked a dialogue as to how oral care products could possibly improve the lives of the consumers.
Consumer flash cards were created in order to capture the key elements of each consumer. On the front of each card is a picture of the consumer accompanied by a quote which encapsulated their relationship with their oral health.
ideation
In this phase students used the research and opportunity gaps defined during Phase 1 to begin ideating initial product concepts and models to solve their design problems.
During this phase over 150 rough original concepts were created. Over the course of validation and refinement exercises, these 150 original concepts were narrowed down to 10 final concepts.
validation
Throughout the process, students consulted with consumers and P&G to validate their process. These consultations included Co-creation Sessions, Naive Consumer Interactions and Concept Presentations.