SCOPE

Colgate-Palmolive presented this challenge:

Investigate the physical and mental characteristics of the “aging consumer” and translate relevant insights into ergonomic packaging solutions within Colgate Palmolive’s Personal Care category.

LITERATURE REVIEW

In reviewing existing medical research, we found, unsurprisingly, that beginning around 40, Americans begin to report difficulties with physical activities including reading, hearing, grasping, lifting, and carrying. Two particular findings stood out:

USER RESEARCH

Our first-person research focused specifically on Colgate-Palmolive’s Softsoap brand. We explored how soft hand soap was integrated in the lives of aging consumers and what insights we could uncover. Among many observations, we found that reuse and refilling (liquid soap) was a near-universal habit among these aging consumers, most often motivated by a desire to conserve money, time, and physical energy. 

We revised our scope accordingly:  

Given the physical challenges of aging, reimagine the refilling experience to be simple, easy and comfortable.

ITERATION & CONCEPTS

After several rounds of development, prototyping, and refinement, we narrowed our proposals to three final concepts.

Informed by principles of inclusive design, user research, and feedback from our ID counterparts at Colgate-Palmolive, our 2nd design – a fresh, attractive twist on a refillable, reusable cartridge and pump dispenser system – resulted in a patent application by Colgate-Palmolive in 2014. Publication Number WO2015178913 A1

Methods / Tools Used

• Literature Review

• Competitive Analysis

• User Interviews

• Experience Mapping

• Fly on the Wall Observation

• User Personas

• Competitive Analysis

• Usability Benchmarking

• Workflow Diagramming

• Low to High Fidelity Prototyping

• Sketching & Storyboarding