Redesigning the water bottle brush
People take their reusable water bottles everywhere; it's convenient and sustainable. However, many users aren't satisfied with their experiences with available cleaning products and thus, avoid cleaning their bottles as much as possible. This is unsanitary and could result in health concerns. Although bottles usually only hold water, they still accumulate germs and bacteria.
The goal: to create a product that would allow water bottle users to better maintain proper water bottle hygiene.
Preliminary User Research
After interviewing college students who regularly use water bottles and researching online, we drew 5 key insights:
1. People think that the small necks of the water bottles makes it difficult to clean.
2. People think that water bottle tablets are “not easily accessible”.
3. People think that it’s hard to clean water bottles because they’re “too long and heavy”.
4. Many do not use sponges to clean because it’s easier to just rinse the water bottles. 5. People who use a brush think that the “crevices” of water bottles aren't cleaned properly.
Persona Creation & Journey Map
User Persona
Storyboard
Journey Map
Ideation
Low-fidelity prototype
Mid-Fidelity prototype & Insights from Usability testing
Final product
Important new features-
1) Flexible rubber grip: prevents hand sliding, can reach all angles
2) Solar-powered: energy-efficient
While creating this new and improved water bottle brush, I thought about users who have less dexterity in their hands. With normal brushes, people have to vigorously scrub with one hand, while holding the heavy metal bottle with the other. This brush does the scrubbing for you -- all you have to do is hold the bottle still and angle the brush.
While still having ultimate control over the cleanliness of your bottle, you have the reassurance that it is much cleaner than manually scrubbing (see regular toothbrush vs. electric toothbrush). With this brush, you save time, effort, and money. All you would have to possibly replace in the future are the sponges.
