Accessibility problem of Shower products solved using — DESIGN THINKING
Starting my UX career with a design thinking project- To solve the user experience problems faced by us in our BATHROOM, this was a problem Statement given to us as a part of KICK STARTING OUR UX BOOT-CAMP
Why design thinking?
For solving a problem, simply using our common sense will be suffice, there is no rocket science involved. To do it more deeply and to make huge impact among users we have follow some steps/process to achieve the goals. For that we have some names and process to go through and finally we have put it under one name called “DESIGN THINKING”
lets see how i made use of the DESIGN THINKING process to SOLVE MY PROBLEM
EMPATHIZE 💜
I interviewed 3 of my peers for user Research to understand their Bathroom usage and find out their challenge, one thing i realized while working on this Problem statement, we don’t really realize our day to day difficulties we face in our home since we are so much used to do it in a way it is done.
Questions I asked the users to understand the problem better
1. How accessible are your shower products from your shower area?
2. Is there proper ventilation in the bathroom?
3. How often do you clean your bathroom?
4. Do they use any specific fragrance for the bathroom?
5. Any unwanted/excess space in the bathroom to use?
** I did not stick with these questions, kept improvising as the interview flowed and asked more open ended questions to empathize more with the users
DEFINE 🔍
66% percent of the users lack in the space for separate cabin for keeping their bath products nearby the showering area
The problem statement is “Present bathrooms are not easily accessible to shower products near the shower area,as the user needs to reach other end of the room to access their shower products during their shower time”
IDEATE 💡
The ideas i came up after the research and defining the problem, i simply jotted down the ideas that came up to mind
The ideas you came up are
1. Buy a separate wall mountable cabin(thin and less weighted) and nail it near the shower place
2. Buy a ready made bathroom cabinet from the shops available
3. Tweak in a build a little space in the existing bathroom
4. Make a custom made cabinet according to your bathroom
5. Existing options with mirror or without mirror cabin
From the above ideas i picked up top 3 ideas with rational that could potentially solve the problem and help users🥇🥈🥉
1. Buy a separate wall mountable cabin(thin and less weighted) and nail it near the shower place
2. Buy a ready made bathroom cabinet from the shops available
3. Tweak in a build a little space in the existing bathroom
PROTOTYPE ✈️
From the top 3 solutions above i choose to buy a ready-made bathroom cabinet from the shops available to fix in the bathroom
amzn.to/3nXfeWF — amazon link to the pro
The reason for choosing this solution is,
1. Easy to install
2. Wall mounted includes all parts for installation
3. No drill and screw required, super adhesive wall stickers.
4. There will be no damage in the walls even after removal and consume less space as the bathrooms lack in space
This products suits all the expectations and needs of the users i interviewed
TEST 🛫
Tested above solution with two users whom i interviewed earlier, here are the feedbacks from the users…
Pooja👧
Didn’t know this product before and this will help me to keep my shower products near the shower and make super easy accessible
Indrakshi👧
Never thought about this product, so useful and doesn’t damage and no stain marks are left in my walls
KEY LEARNINGS 🤯
- Empathizing more with users, is the most important thing to solve the problem
- Before solving, define a proper problem statement with valid research to solve
- Focus on the root of the problem for high impact instead of solving for surface level problems
- Ask more open-ended questions to empathize more with the user
- Your Perspective is not as same as the perspective of your user(makes sense)
HEY READER 😎
Thanks for reading, i would love to get your views on this article and design hinking — connect with me on LinkedIn.
