Process & Research
12.06.15
Wesley Norris—Adam Bose—Eleanor Creelman
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Shifting your view on organic waste. Intent for this project Our diverse team set out to develop a product that would help the world in a small but incremental way. Our initial focus was to help clean up ocean plastics. However, through a labyrinth of decisions we ended up creating Tilt. Ocean plastics is an increasingly large problem and should be dealt with unfortunately our team doesn’t
have the resources available to tackle such a large problem head on. Therefore we chose to take a bite of a problem that we could impact. Many people still don’t compost and this contributes to waste in our landfills. The problem isn’t that people don’t have the resources to compost it is simply that it is to much work, too messy and it smells bad.
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Tilt Organics Bin Contents
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Existing Products Research Methods Initial Designs Refining Sketches First Mockups Models Computer Mockups Final Design
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Existing Products We tested and examined a variety of existing products. This allowed us to confirm what people had been telling us in interviews. There are an assortment of products on the market that we did not get to test due to cost and time frame, however, this limited amount of testing did prove to be useful.
This green bin is the most rudimentary of the containers and it doesn’t serve much purpose. We found that its aesthetic meant it couldn’t be place on a counter and its’ function made it annoying in almost every way imaginable.
This particular bin was intended to be the next step up from the small green bin. It had a sealed lid and could fit on the counter. It didn’t look very nice and still was not easy to clean. The clip on the lid was difficult to open as well.
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The lid easily broke off and the rigid plastic made it susceptible to cracks in cold weather if left outdoors. It also is too tall to sit on a counter if anyone ever chose to put it there.
The lid did not have a real seal and as a result odour and bugs were a clear issue. The lid was also difficult to clean in a sink and this was reinforced in our interviews.
A carrying handle was a nice touch, but it didn’t serve much purpose when it came to emptying the bin. Also we found that sometimes food would get onto the handle and as a result no one wanted to touch it.
Food still got stuck in the bottom since the plastic used to make this bin was non stick. We found similar problems with the lid getting in the way when we were emptying the bin and the handle also got in the way.
This bin was a very niche product, it was meant to be put in the freezer. The material was great and that is the only thing we liked about this. There was no lid and you had to empty it very often due to its very small size.
The price tag on this was fairly steep at $40CDN. It was easy to clean, but it was not nice to leave on the counter during meal preparation.
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Research Given the short period of time to develop this product, most of our research was done through interviews and online research. We also did form exploration and market research. We went to stores that we would be targeting as our retailer and we questioned them about existing products. From this we discovered a very wide open market for what we were purposing. We were also able to view a few research documents on the problems of source separation and composting.
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Initial Designs At this point in the design process we had identified our customer segment and we were able to begin looking at aesthetic, function and material to suit that customer need.
1 Counter Top Composter Keep your counter clean & green. In this design we focused on ease of use, smell and eliminating bugs. There would be a small engine and rotating blade that would chop up your compost and in theory within a week you would have a functional compost for the herb planter that would be integrated.
2 Cutting Board and Separation Chop, Swipe, Wipe. This design was inspired by a simple bread box. Our design would blend seamlessly with the other appliances and products on the counter top. In addition to its’ aesthetic it functions as a cutting board and a separating container for good and bad waste.
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3 Mercedez Benz Compost When style is your #1 priority. This organics bin would be made of lavish materials and its style would be tailored to the most elite consumers. A swivel lid, metal pedestal, removable liner, and intricate detailing makes this version a dream on any counter.
4 Scent Bin Smell the freshness. This bin was a bit of a wild card, the idea was to make the top resemble a field with one tree on it. The tree would double as a swivel lid hinge and a replaceable scented treetop.
5 Removable silicon liner Don’t throw more away. A big problem we identified was that either people were buying the wrong liners that don’t decompose easily or that customers couldn’t clean the inside of the bins under their sink. The silicon liner fixes both those problems, it’s reusable and easy to clean.
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Refining Sketches
Ideation Through research, interviews, sketching, and revision we identified some crucial features that are being overlooked by our current competitors.
Some of the key functions we isolated as being crucial to our designs success were;
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1. A tight sealing lid to eliminate odour and bugs. 2. A compression top to allow the user to push down large expanding waste like egg shells. 3. An outer case that would not have to be removed from the counter to empty the bin. 4. An ergonomic handle.
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First Mockups
Form exploration This was our chance to use a vacuum form machine to create quick sketch models of shapes we were thinking of using.
Using a hard plastic and a soft foam, we were able to experience these shapes first hand. We tested the size, the ability to fit on a counter as well as ability to scrap a cutting board or plate. Then we continued to question the manoeuvrability of the containers and the ease of use when emptying.
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Models
Models Using a plastic fabrication lab we began to create a few of our sketched ideas. This helps to test the validity of the idea without having to invest to much time.
Some of the ideas we explored were; 1. A pivoting base to allow ease of use when scraping a plate or cutting board.
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2. A counter top composting machine which doubles as a herb planter. 3. An integration of cutting board and organic waste seperation bin. 4. A more finished product of our final ideas integrating the features we deemed crucial.
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Computer Mockups
Refined Model At this point we felt it was crucial to have a computer mockup. It allowed us to measure the product to cost out our expenses and materials.
Using Rhino3D and Brazil we were able to create a model and explore materials. Then after we had a desired shape and functioning geometry we could refine the model using Keyshot.
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1 Sealing compression lid to eliminate odours, bugs and allows you to compress waste without getting messy. 2 Silicon non-stick liner that eliminates mess and no more buying soggy liners. 3 Dynamic pivoting base makes it far easy to dispose of scraps.
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