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Sustainable Packaging Design with Procter & Gamble
Completed at Northwestern University, 3 months, team of 4 designers.
How might we create a breakthrough cold, cough and flu package?
As part of a project with Procter and Gamble (P&G), we were tasked with improving the experience of taking over-the-counter medicine. This project was completed under a non-disclosure agreement. The details are omitted for confidentiality.
Skills Gained
User Interviews
My Strengths
Conducting Interviews
Identifying Opportunities
Testing and Prototyping
"Out there" Ideas
Inclusion of Team Members
Design Process Highlights
Conducted 6 user interviews personally out of 24 total through DScout.
Generated 40+ low fidelity, 13 medium fidelity, and 1 high fidelity prototype.
Created a product presentation, pitch video and presented the MVP to P&G.
Research Plan
The Goal
How We Did It
Empathize with user journey and understand pain points
8 user interviews
Store visits
Personal experience
Understand solutions to pain points in the market
Online research
Store visits
Determine desirability of solutions
2 rounds of 8 user interviews
User Research
We used DScout to do 3 rounds of user research. We started with interviews to understand our consumers' behavior. This allowed us to create a journey map and identify the pain points in the current process.
I learned how to synthesize insights from observations across interviews. We also were able to draw conclusions from observing the users as they showed us how they interacted with medicines.
For example, while there is a trend toward display worthy consumer goods, we noticed that our users kept their medicines in a cabinet. They were motivated to do this because they needed to keep the medicines away from their children.
Users also gave us direct feedback on our prototype sketches.
Ideation and Prototyping
We brainstormed individually and then as a team in Mural, focusing on quantity. I sketched ideas over a week, and found that the long time frame combined with drawing out ideas was effective in helping me to generate more ideas.
Most prototypes were sketches to illustrate a broad range of prototypes that did the same job. This medium was especially effective for sharing during online interviews. We eventually narrowed into alternative mechanisms and features, creating higher fidelity prototypes made from foam core and other materials.
Our final prototype was 3D printed. We used CAD renderings as well as Adobe Photoshop to create a realistic visual for our presentation as well as troubleshoot some design details. Beyond contributing to the final design, I was able to leverage my experience in plastics to recommend a material of manufacture. I also used Adobe Photoshop to create the label design.
Result
After focusing on one prototype, we presented the findings to P&G representatives. Our design received positive feedback - specifically that it generated excitement for their team and was a step-out and well considered design. They commented that it would "serve as a lighthouse" for their development efforts.
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