I started with the question: What's a product in my life that I use often, but sometimes wish it worked better? Well, I came up with water bottles. They're an important product, and a vital part of a busy college student's life. But sometimes, water bottles can pose some functionality struggles.
I made a Google Form asking for 9 basic questions:
1. How old are you?
2. What's your gender?
3. Do you use a water bottle / coffee mug?
4. What brand do you use?
5. How many water bottles / coffee mugs do you own?
6. How often do you use your water bottle / coffee mug?
7. How often do you wash your water bottle / coffee mug?
8. How often do you get a new water bottle / coffee mug?
I had 39 responses. Based off of this, I interviewed five people about their opinions on water bottles.
I found that the strengths are a large market audience / customer base and a prominent market that will not shrink. Some weaknesses, however, are that there are many competitors, and consumers do not buy the product frequently. There are opportunities in this market because of the recent trend in eco-friendliness and consciousness. The threat is the incumbent companies that are large competitors. From my survey, I found that 30% of respondents use Camelbak and 13% use Hydroflask.
I first made a list of pros and cons of current popular water bottles, and listed out the features that would be benefitial to keep in my new design. I found that the main points of improvement would be to improve hygiene and increase the capacity of the water bottle.
The new water bottle, Hydrologic, will keep a simple, streamlined designed that is minimalistic and functional. The cover will be unscrewable like many water bottles, and have a raised lip opening similar to that of a plastic water bottle. This will get rid of the issue of having struggles cleaning a bite straw but still make it easy to drink from. The cover of this opening will have a clip-on functionality that can be locked to prevent spilling. The key feature is that the rubber-like cover will be infused with lotus leaf particles, which exhibit extreme hydrophobic characteristics and is self-cleaning.
There are a still a few key questions to be addressed in the actual production of Hydrologic, but the simplicity of the bottle appeals to many users.
