This week, we were tasked with watching and responding to the documentary Objectified by Gary Hustwit.
Near the end of the documentary, a design team from IDEO discusses the future of oral care and toothbrushes. They are faced with the problem of toothbrushes becoming a common pollutant in the environment, often only used for a short period of time before being tossed away. Objectified follows the IDEO team through the design process of finding a solution for toothbrush waste.
To begin, the team is shown making a large idea map to brainstorm their solutions to the problem. Many options for making toothbrushes more environmentally friendly are discussed, from replacing the toothbrush all together to redesigning it to be more environmentally friendly. Some designers suggest just making the toothbrush out of a biodegradable material, others want to minimize waste by designing a toothbrush with a replaceable head, minimizing the amount of waste. Inspired by this latter solution, I set off to make my own toothbrush with removable head.
Working in Tinkercad had it's own challenges, most notably the limited tools. I challenged myself to go beyond the simple bristles-on-a-stick solution and make a more ergonomic design. If I was continuing to design this as a product, I would next create physical prototypes to touch and use to try to identify ways to improve on the design. My final model can be found here.
