Toothbrush sterilizers are not a well-known product and users are not fully convinced they work. This is because they are not able to see the bacteria that is being killed. Throughout this project I aimed to tackle this lack of trust between the user and the product.

Research Team: Charlotte Bradley, Tiana Fabrikis,
Jaclyn Jamieson, Tina Kazzazy, and Ekaterina Kostina

Research

After researching sterilizers and its main users, I decided my target market would be users with OCD, auto-immune disorders, and/or general germaphobia that obsessively clean or require their environment to be pristine due to fears of contamination.

My research group and I begun by looking at existing products and how they work, as well as the common materials and features of each. We looked through online reviews and made note of what users liked and disliked. We also researched how Ultraviolet light works and its affects on materials, bacteria, and people.

We purchased and took apart sterilizers to understand the technology and necessary components.

Moving forward, I decided to focus on the following issues

Ideation + Prototyping

Keeping in mind the research I had just done, I began sketching ideas loosely based on existing products. I slowly narrowed on the idea of having the toothbrush completely enclosed, opposed to a sterilizer that covers just the head. This is because I found it more appropriate for my target market.

I begun prototyping by making the front and back housing out of cardboard, and used this to lay out the inner components. I used cardstock to represent the aluminum panels that cover the electronics. I adjusted sizing based off these models. I also made foam block to visualize different handles.

Following this, I presented design options to my peers and gathered feedback. I decided to test how much water drips off a toothbrush, to see if I could resize the cup as it was quite large. I wet the toothbrush then let in rest and drip in a cup. I found that the water was very minimal, and leftover residue could be solved with a quick wipe. I went back and looked at the reviews we found initially and noticed that the drainage complaints were left on sanitizers with a larger capacity. Ultimately, I decided to remove the drainage aspect and focus on making the inside as easy to clean as possible. which allowed me to scale down the design due to the extra room making it less bulky.

Final Design