Designing Our Way out of the Soap Dish
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
One of my favorite challenges to give cognitive design students involves a bar of soap. They are tasked with redesigning soap so that we can have the viscerally rich experience of the bar but the convenience and zero mess of liquid soap. Part of the project involves trying to get inside the head of soap users and understanding the mental models, emotions and sensory aspects of the experience and designing to achieve a specific mental state. I don’t give much direction just turn them lose to see how they naturally approach cognitive design.
This problem is harder than it may seem and I am always on the look for excellent solutions to share with students. I just found an exceptional solution that has been taken from concept to product by the multi-disciplinary designer, Stephen Cascio.
The solution involves pressing a metal cap into a bar of soap and then attaching it to a stylized soap holder that contains a hidden magnet. There are six designs - Bloom, Humm (shown), Lean, Petal, Sunrise and Swing but there is no reason to stop there.
I asked Stephen to comment on his work from a cognitive design standpoint. Here is what he said:
