A state-of-the-art vacuum cleaner and air purifier tailored to the needs of users powered by PAT technology, a cutting-edge functionality patented by Philips capable of analyzing and transmitting data from the vacuum cleaner nozzle and acting on convenience.

DESIGN PROCESS

Briefing

Philips had developed and patented a new vacuum cleaner technology capable of measuring and analysing everything absorbed by it. This technology opened up great opportunities to revolutionise the vacuum cleaner sector, although the brand was unsure how to translate this functionality into a product that would capture the interest of users.

Under this context, Philips contacted a team of five TU Delft students to design and develop a new flexible way of cleaning starring this technology.

- original design brief

We performed an investigation on the strategic vision of the brand, a socio-economic trends research and a series of 10 interviews to customers that help us to frame the challenge and better identify potential opportunities.

Of all of them, leveraging PAT technology for health and wellbeing purposes and connecting it with cleaning and floor-care held the greatest potential to meaningfully impact the lives of users.

In fact, we demonstrated that it made more sense than what it might at first appear.

When it comes to affecting anyone’s quality of life and health at home, four out of the five key factors that determined a ‘healthy indoor’ are directly related to air quality.

VISION

Based on the investigations carried out at the beginning of the project the team defined a clear opportunity for applying the PAT technology meaningfully.

Starting from this direction and leveraging on Philips’ current market segmentation and previous conclusions , we defined a new target group for the project.

This target group represented 44% of the total customers of Philips -according to their own data reports- and 42% of the value total share of the brand.

However, the target group characteristics brought relatively low granularity to design, thus further information about motivation and behaviour towards cleanliness were needed. To do so, we carried out 12 interviews with Harmony Creators.

The insights, demographics and data retrieved till this point helped us to shape three different user personas.

IDEATION

The ideation phase started with a brainstorming to find opportunities in the line of our conclusions. In order to visualize the ideas deducted from this session the team elaborated the following chart:

Gradually during the ideation phase, the focus shifted from the design opportunity defined previously by the team towards the Philips assignment, which focused on the PAT Technology. 

As a consequence of this, the team decided to conduct a creative workshop with brand experts and stakeholders. The reason behind this was to avoid fixation while ideating new proposals.

This ideation session helped the team identify a large number of ideas, that we later clustered, filtered and prioritised coming up to 3 concepts, which were further developed and evaluated with Philips and Harmony Creators.

The operation principle of these three concepts were similar: leveraging PAT technology to measure the quality of air and communicate it to the user in a way that he or she can act upon it. How? By means of a device that combines the functioning of a vacuum cleaner with an air purifier.

Although Philips expressed clear interest in the Docking Station concept, the final choice had to be substantiated with insights from the target group. To do so, the previously interviewed Harmony Creators were reached out a second time to assess their opinion. 

This process concluded selecting the Docking Station concept, as it was not just preferred by Philips, but also its target.

This being said, the insights from the interviews revealed a major challenge regarding this concept: persuading the user to put their bulky vacuum cleaner in the living room by designing an aesthetically pleasing device.

PHILIPS DOCKING STATION

The docking station relies on functioning as an air purifier, and therefore, it must remain permanently in a room. As a result, aesthetics are key.

Along with the following moodboard, the team carried out an aesthetics research consisting on an in-depth analysis of the market, the lifestyle and preferences of Harmony Creators, and a product analysis.

The team defined a set of four characteristics for the device, namely typicality, unity, slenderness and cleanliness, which were considered fundamental aspects from an aesthetic point of view.

After this, the team carried out the technical development, embodiment -through mock-ups and prototypes- and final technical design of the product.

The result is a device inspired by Philips DNA that combines unobtrusive appearance with easy manoeuvrability which is provided by clever mechanical features and ergonomic studies.

The minimalistic design consists of two bodies, a cordless vacuum cleaner and a docking station working as an air purifier and charger when the vacuum cleaner is placed inside.

The challenge was to design a clean and minimalistic look, without compromising the actual performance of the product. An eye-catching and functional feature of the concept is the handle which is fundamental to easily take out the vacuum cleaner.

In addition to this, the interface of Philips Docking Station was also carefully designed, since the product interaction played a key role to empower consumers. To do so, the insights derived during the previous phases of the project regarding Harmony Creators were key.

VALIDATION

In order to get an indication of the user’s perception of the product and find points of improvement, the team conducted a user test with an experiential prototype.

The experiential prototype consisted of a foam model of the docking station and a vacuum cleaner with a brushless motor and adjusted fan; the model actually works the way it should be working.

All of the participants that participated in the validation test clearly saw the added value of having a cordless vacuum cleaner that cleans the air while charging.

Breathing in clean air is appealing to everyone. These benefits clearly outweighed the fact that this meant having an extra piece of bulky electronics in their living room. 

In addition to this, the team also found several points for improvement that were communicated to the Philips team at the end of the project for further elaboration.

strategy

The product strategy was also carefully designed. The team elaborated a market implementation plan focused on the health benefits of the Docking Station instead of the performance of the vacuum cleaner.

In a saturated market based on performance, Philips Docking Station focuses on cleaning the air as a key benefit, and at the same time focuses on the human side of cleaning and the effect of that on health. This market implementation plan was translated into the following roadmap:

This ‘health and wellness focus’ must be carefully transmitted in order to assure that is well received by consumers. To do so, pre-announcing is key.

Thus, Philips could create “hype” before the product is launched, affecting the information the consumers have beforehand purchasing and at the same time sparking their interest. For this step, we proposed and built a landing page for the product, with description in video and graphic format, pre orders, expected price and an interest list, to measure the size of the market and build acceptance for the new product.