Young Designers 2011

		Young Designers 2011
Home \| Messages \| Design Faculty Chairman’s Message Director, NID Activity Chairperson Communication Design I.T. Integrated Design Interdisciplinary Design Industrial Design Textile Design

Ruchira Swaroop | ruchira.swaroop@gmail.com

Redefining Product Language for Product Superiority

Strategic Design Management | PGDPD
Guide: Shashank Mehta
Sponsor: Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Mumbai

Keywords
Laundry process
Daily routine
Sensorial experience
Brand re-look

This project centered on Surf Excel Quick Wash, a leading laundry brand that enjoys a huge market share in India. When the product was tested in a non-branded environment, it was unable to attract consumers, in spite of carrying the legacy of the brand. The objective of this project was to the identify the key elements of a laundry product that play on the consumer’s mind, independent of the brand name, in order to achieve product superiority over its competitors.
This required me to map consumer psychology, behaviours, beliefs, practices, habits and perceptions. Since the project aimed at understanding the consumer, through different mediums, to articulate their unspoken emotions, feelings and thoughts, it led to an exploration of experimental context-based research methodologies that went further than traditional research tools. A holistic methodology was adopted for discovering consumer preferences and developing a design brief for a laundry product that would render an ideal laundry experience.
Most consumers perceive laundry to be an inevitable part of their daily routines. To make this dull job a superior product and process experience, the product was redesigned for the senses. Olfactory, visual and tactile stimulations were examined at different stages of the consumers’ laundry process to discover the various touch-points of product-consumer interactions. The insights drawn were in the form of design directions for developing prototypes.
This journey exposed me to various aspects of human psychology and how it plays an important role in the decision-making process. I gradually grew sensitive to the issues and problems consumers faced while I tried to connect with a large number of them, not only with respect to this particular product, but also their lives and environment.