Optimizing your Bathroom experience — A UX Case study
By using the Design thinking approach to address, analyze and solve underlying issues for users while interacting with the bathroom.
Hey! I am an aspiring UX designer and a Multidisciplinary Artist. As a designer at heart, I have always been fascinated with people, the problems they face every day, and why they behave the way they do. My journey in design and professional practice has taught me that a good design is one that speaks for itself and solves problems while doing so.
My journey with User Experience started when I enrolled myself in the UX Mastery course by Growth School conducted by Anudeep Ayyagari, a UX Designer at Amazon. It was one of the boldest decisions that I ever took. When I kickstarted my UX journey, I was nervous, excited, thrilled, and what-not? :D
The main aim of this project revolves around understanding users better through the design thinking approach. The participants were divided into groups of 6 and worked on their individual cases hence the users were no other than our teammates. For the project, my area was Bathroom, and the goal was to identify existing gaps and enhance the users’ experience in that area.
Project details
We were given to choose a space from our house i.e. bedroom, bathroom, office, kitchen, balcony, utility anything we preferred. The objective of this project was to interact with the users, understand their pain points and come up with solutions by following the design thinking process.
“Ok folks! Without wasting the time: Let’s jump right into them!”
Plan of Action: What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is nothing but a process that helps to understand users in a better way while empathizing with them and identifying the gaps in their experience. This process allows us to find the best possible solution for the problems that the user is facing.
Empathize → Define → Ideate → Prototype → Test → Revise
- Empathize: Talking and understanding my users to come up with the problems they are facing.
- Define: Then came the process of defining where I decided on who I wanted to design for and what I want to help them do.
- Ideate: Came up with different solutions that might be useful to the users, remembering there are no bad ideas!
- Prototype: Quickly make a prototype(that my users can understand), so I can test to get validation & revise accordingly.
Before, going ahead with the stages, it was important for me to understand that I am NOT the user and that I need to keep my personal experiences at bay and not let them cloud the insights that I receive from my users.
1. Empathize
“Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.” — Alfred Adler
Empathy is the ability to emotionally understand what other people feel, see things from their point of view, and imagine ourselves in their place. Essentially, it is all about understanding the user’s perspective. In order to do this the right way, I prepared a questionnaire that helped the users to answer in detail and also assisted me in understanding the gaps in their interaction with the area.
The key here is that while interviewing your users try not to think of problems from your perspective. I ≠ User | The thing I kept in my mind while interviewing
- I conducted one on one video calls with 5 users.
- I kept in mind, that the questions I asked were open-ended and conversational in nature.
- So that Every question will end up giving me insights.
- The idea was to understand how my users interact with their Bathroom and what problems they face while being involved in Bathroom activities.
The Questionnaire:
1. Introduction of the users to understand them. (Just a warm-up to know about likes & dislikes)
2. How many people live with you, Are you sharing your bathroom with others? Your thoughts on the attached bathroom and the separate ones?
3. How spacious is your bathroom, Is it small or big or appropriate size, Can you help me explain how it looks and what is its structure and arrangement? Is it Indian or western. Any specific preference and why ?
4. Do you have enough space to keep your towel and dresses, Is there any cabinet to keep your toiletries placed ?
5. Do you have a cloth hanger? How do you use them? Do your clothes ever get wet?
6. Do you have proper light arrangements? Tell me about the ventilation in your bathroom? Do you prefer ventilated windows or vent fans?
7. How much time do you usually take in your shower? Do you have any specific habits like singing etc ?
8. Is the wash basin inside/ outside your bathroom? What all issues or benefits do you feel ?
9. Any mirrors in your washroom ? How do you shave/trim and throw your hair? Any bin or somewhere else ?
10. Any specific issue you face in particular ? or something special with your washroom you want to share?
11. Is there any dream washroom? What experiences would you like to have in it?
It was really nice talking with you, Thank you so much for your time, Have a nice day
While asking these questions I really had to make sure that I wasn’t trying to put answers in their mouth. I was actually quite confused while taking my first interview but by my 5th interview I got the hang of it and understood that the user will not directly tell me what is wrong, in fact, most of the time people are so habituated to their surroundings that they themselves cannot identify the problem
After every interview, I realized I am getting better at understanding my user’s likes, dislikes, needs, and wants deeply. One insight led to another and it kept getting better.
Let’s jump into the mapping I did after collecting insights from my 5 users:
Hurray! My Dopamine started to kick in as I finished my first task of the project. It was interesting to see how even if the problems were similar, the way those problems were approached and perceived varied from user to user.
2. Define
Now comes the interesting part, the defining stage. After collecting and segregating all of the data, it was time to identify the problems with respect to the insights gathered.
The idea was to first understand what the problem was and then dig deeper to see why this problem is important to the user. This process also helped me realize why these problems existed in the first place.
No Appropriate Space for Toiletries: To keep all the toiletries is important for the user as they are daily use products. They need to be handy and should have a proper space for that
No extra space to keep more items: One of the user has a pet in her home so it becomes difficult to keep all of its products also like shampoos, soaps etc
Salty water stains on Tap and floor: Due to salty water, Taps and floor get stains and it looks very untidy
Due to chair no more space left: Having less space in the washroom is a big problem for the user. So it is important to have more space
Hairs get clotted in the sink hole: It’s a major problem for most of my users as occasionally hairs get clotted in the pores It’s important for them as cleaning them is a bit uneasy task
Getting ready in the washroom: It’s tough to get ready in the washroom due to the wet floor and other reasons like lack of space
Open space to keep all the commodities and stuff: Keeping all the toiletries open is a big issue as it gets wet with water so it is important for the user
Exhaust fan not there: It is important for the user to have a fan because sometimes the washroom gets very smelly and exhaust fan helps air to ventilate well
Small mirror: It becomes difficult to shave or comb your hairs, with the small mirror it becomes difficult to have a full glance.
In Rented apartments Landlords don’t allow to make changes: It’s an issue for people who rent apartments and have to go on with the same setup . As the landlords don’t allow to make some changes
Light is not appropriate: Not having proper lit up is also an issue as It is important for the user to have a proper light arrangement
Don’t like to use office washroom due to hygiene concerns: The user doesn’t like to use any public toilets as hygiene is a big priority for him. And the toilets over there might lack on hygiene terms
Not having any cloth hanger: It’s important to hang clothes and towel to avoid them from getting wet and fall.
Don’t have a fan , the weather gets very hot: In summer’s it gets very hot and summer sucks So it is important to have a fan
During power cuts the place becomes very dark: As there is no natural light in the washroom so the place becomes very dark and dim lit
Smells remain despite using odonil: Despite using odonil smell exists in the washroom .Soit is important to address it as it is very annoying
When defining the statements, I noticed that some of the problems were common to all users while some were specific. This stage ‘DEFINE’ helps us define the problems in a more refined manner so that we can move on to the next stage.
3. Ideate
After defining my problems, I came to the stage where I tried to solve them with the crazy 8 technique. Where I wrote down all the weird/imperfect/intangible/tangible ideas that came to my mind for 8 minutes. After coming up with at least 40 solutions I realized that only a few of them could actually be executed. Below are those few ideas (out of which 3 top ideas were chosen)
Use the space above and below the wash basin.
Use vertical slick wooden piece to keep all the stuff together ( it will occupy less space comparatively)
A cylindrical rotating furniture can be used to keep all the stuff in place ( it will also occupy less space )
Keep a cloth and cleaning lotion somewhere in an accessible place to clean the spots regularly.
Use filtered water instead of salty water
Use good quality plastic taps ( It doesn’t have this issue)
Dry the floor and don’t allow water to stay for a longer period of time
Use a folding chair instead so that one can keep it on the side after use
Use a smaller chair instead of a big chair.
Chair can be kept under the washbasin.
Use a bin and throw all the hairs directly to the bin
Use a disposable hole cover which collects all the hair inside it and you can throw them
Use a hand gloves to pick up the hairs
While shaving cover the basin with a cloth to collect all the hairs in it
A cabinet can be used to keep all the accessories like comb, hair dryer, perfumes in the bathroom itself
A big mirror with lights on it
A small place to keep your everyday clothes
If the exhaust fan cannot be fitted. A small rotating fan can be used instead.
If there is no mirror One can carry a small mirror with them
A small mirror can be kept with other items in the cabinet and can be used whenever required
If there is no enough space on the wash basin wall. A bigger mirror can be placed on some other wall. Mirror on the cabinet can be sticked
Use a bigger bulb instead of a smaller one
Use two bulbs instead of one
Carry a sanitizer spray with you.
There are different devices in the market to pee without using the washroom seat, use them.
Carry some tissue papers and lay them on the seat first and then use it.
Use a cloth hanger on the door to hang clothes.
Use an extendible hanger which occupies less space and more clothes to hang.
A full sized sheet cover can be used on top of it so that clothes don’t get wet
Clothes can be folded and kept in the cabinet.
Keep a torchlight in the washroom and use it
Use your mobile’s flashlight to lit up the washroom
Use exhaust fans more often.
Use double odonil if needed.
Keep the door open after the washroom is used for better ventilation.
Phone can be hanged in a plastic cover to avoid it from getting it wet
While listening to the music, Keep the phone inside the cabinet so that it doesn’t get wet
From all the solutions stated, 3 ideas were selected on the basis of priority:
IDEA A: Use a disposable hole cover that collects all the hair inside it and you can throw them afterward: I picked this idea because most of the users were facing this issue and I would like to find a solution to this problem as hair clotting is a very common issue.
IDEA B: A cylindrical rotating furniture can be used to keep all the stuff in place (it will also occupy less space): If the washroom size is not big enough It becomes very difficult to keep all the toiletries in place. So it will solve a big issue.
IDEA C: Use an extendible hanger that occupies less space and more clothes to hang. A full-sized sheet cover can be used on top of it so that clothes don’t get wet: One usually carries clothes and towels in the washroom, but it may get wet at times So it will be great to have a solution to this problem.
I chose Idea A to go ahead with the prototyping, so I can test it with the users and understand where am I lacking.
4. Prototype
Once you have an idea of how to solve the problem, you’re ready to enter the prototype phase. A prototype is an early model of a product that demonstrates its usability. Again, you do not need to perfect the prototype at this stage. Just build a basic model that shows how you’ve solved the problem statement!
The problem statement: Optimising one’s experience in the Bathroom
The Idea: Use a hole cover that collects all the hair inside it and you can throw them afterward, the solution focuses on providing and solving the users’ main concern of blocking hairs in the basin. By providing this solution, the user will be relieved, provided they will be able to use the basin more efficiently.
I created some sketches to start with and ended up making prototypes.
IDEA A: Use a disposable hole cover that collects all the hair inside it and you can throw them afterward: I picked this idea because most of the users were facing this issue and I would like to find a solution to this problem as hair clotting is a very common issue.
Iteration 1 | The holes will be very small so that all the hairs and all the dirt can be collected on them and the remaining water can drain off
Iteration 2 | The cover should stick on top of the drain hole and is accessible for any size of the drain hole
The aim of the whole solution was to have a clean basin.
So keeping the users in mind I made sure that users should not use their hands to clean and pick up all the hairs clotted keeping that in mind I focused on using disposable sheets ( that can be thrown afterward). Now how can the sheets be fitted? this was the major question for that we used an adjustable ring model that can be used to keep the sheets intact and in place and it will not allow the sheets to move. This will be further explained in the following illustrations
The sheets used have some qualities in common. First of all, it's made up of many fine pores so that only water can flow throw it and all the small dirt, as well as all the other stuff, can stay on it. Secondly, it's disposable and also can be used at least a couple of times.
Now coming to the adjustable rings. The ring's main objective is to keep the sheets in place and doesn't allow the sheets to move. These rings will play a major role
1 There are 2 rings one on the top and the other on the bottom
2 There is a handle on both sides to give it a good grip and a good hold
3 To stick — There are many sticky knobs that can stick on any surface
To further dig into the solution. The ring has sticky knobs attached to the bottom ring. The main purpose of these knobs is to actually stick on the basin (and on any other surface as well). It's inspired by Octopus :D
This is the explanation of the whole process of how one can open the Ring and place the sheet on top of it. After putting the sheet in place one can close the ring and walla! It's workable All the hairs along with all the dirt can be collected and disposed of.
Ultimately you can throw it all in the dustbin 😋
So the solution serves the purpose. Empathizing with the users and providing solutions that serve them to the best. Happy users :)
5. Testing
This stage is where we test out the design with the users. A call with all 5 users was scheduled to present the proposal and get their insights. The ‘TESTING’ stage is very important as it helps us see if we have solved a problem and if we did, how much of it.
I rescheduled the call with my users who were/were not facing the problem. I presented my prototype and was totally amazed to look at my solution getting reviewed.
This is what my users had to say-
User 1- I absolutely loved the efforts. I would love to have the product at my home. It's a practical solution to an everyday problem. Kuddos to your solution.
User 2- I liked the overall look and feel but was concerned about how it will get stuck onto the surface well. Little doubtful about the sticky knobs. As water will fall on it and it may spoil it
User 3- I am happy that it's disposable and we don't have to use our hands to pick up the shitty stuff :) But while doing shampoo the soapy water may get clotted on the surface and may obstruct the sheet.
User 4-I am planning to use it in other areas of my house as well like the kitchen etc. I liked the fact that it collects even the smallest stuff and you can throw it afterward.
User 5- The water may slide beneath the second ring. pls, take care of this issue. Otherwise, it's very useful.
I would try and have my sheets with little bigger holes so that it may not obstruct the way as well collect all the small stuff, will use silicon sticky knobs so that it may not get spoiled due to water also will have the sticky knob cover the whole bottom ring so that the water may not slide in .
Learnings from the project
I think one of the biggest learnings from ths project is that I am not the user and that I should try my level best to keep my personal biases aside while interviewing the users. I have also realised that I need to unlearn a lot of things.
Another very important takeaway was that, I need to understand that my solution need not try and solve every problem that the user is facing. The solution can be very simple as well as long as it is efficient and is enhancing the user’s experience.
Now, I know that “design thinking” is not a perplexing process, it is all about understanding the needs of users from their perspective. This project made me realize the importance of user experience not just in digital products but in our daily lives as well!💪
Looking forward to many more exciting projects in the future!
Thanks for sticking around till the end, hope you all liked the case study. Would love to hear your thoughts/feedback on the same in the comments.
You can reach out to me at aroratanya1853@gmail.com and on LinkedIn
#StudentForLife
Stay Happy! 😊😊😁
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