Joyful chores

Abstract

Philips is facing a strategic re-orientation While Philips is most commonly known for their Consumer Lifestyle Products and the Lighting division, a growingly important part of the company is all about solutions in the health industry. Now, the two divisions Consumer Lifestyle and Healthcare will be integrated into one company focussing on solutions that help consumers to be more healthy in their daily lives. This realignment raises questions for those business groups that have no obvious relation to health, for example: How should a Philips vacuum cleaner empower a family “to be healthy and live well”? To help answering this question, it is useful to have a closer look on health: According to the World Health Organisation WHO, health is not only about our physical state, but also includes mental and social well-being. This expands the solution space with interesting opportunities that need to be explored. The relation of health, well-being and cleaning In a qualitative session with seven health-conscious young parents it was found that the relevant factors that make a life to be perceived as healthy are spending time with one’s family, to pursue and reach personal goals, to offer children a harmonious environment to grow up in, to be able to relax and maintain a sense of freedom in one’s decisions. The daily floor cleaning is seen as a chore that can contribute to the harmony at home, and it gives people a sense of achievement and happiness when the cleaning is done. However, this happens at the cost of valuable family time, and it causes stress which stands against one’s need for tranquillity. Due to the daily repetitive ‘Sisyphean’ characteristics of cleaning, people feel pressured and violated in their autonomy. Regular vacuum cleaners are not designed for frequent use From an interaction design perspective, the reasons for these negative traits can be related to a mismatch between the requirements of the use context and the design of regular vacuum cleaners: There is a high barrier to start cleaning due to all the steps necessary to set up the device (getting it from storage, unrolling cable, plugging it in). This is perceived as exhausting, annoying and disproportionately time consuming. The motivation to clean is low, because the cleaning conflicts with what we see as pleasant: spending time with family, hobbies, leisure or exercising. Cleaning in the living area, especially underneath the dinner table is frustrating because these obstacles disrupt the flow of cleaning. These practical, behavioural and emotional problems were addressed in an interaction and experience vision. Interaction and Experience Vision The interaction of vacuum cleaning should be casual, fluent, uncomplicated around obstacles and physically engaging, so that cleaning with the new design feels pleasant, joyful and make the user feel self-confident. The intended effect of this is that the anticipated effort is lowered, so that the user is motivated and able to start cleaning easily. After an extensive conceptualisation, in which three concepts were prototyped and evaluated with consumers, a final design was developed. Final Design: 360° The final design is an lightweight, agile, battery-powered stick vacuum cleaner that can easily get into the most tricky spaces. To allow the interaction to be fluent, the 360° freely slides over the floor. This gentle motion feels engaging and pleasurable, giving the user full freedom of movement, preventing disruptions of the cleaning flow and are engaging and fun. Key improvements of the 360° In an extensive user test of the 360° it was found that: There is no barrier to start anymore, emotionally nor practically. Users feel encouraged and optimistic. The sweeping movements are perceived as joyful. The ability to deal with obstacles prevent feelings of annoyance. In the end, users feel confident about the upcoming cleaning. While the 360° is not going to be radically life changing, it has shown to make a small contribution to one’s quality of life. It gives consumers confidence and a feeling of being capable of coping with the daily stresses of life. Lastly, people have more time for other activities that they value higher and more beneficial for their well-being. Recommendations This led the author to recommend Philips Floor Care to adopt a positioning that holistically involves both well-being and having a beneficial impact on consumers’ physical health.