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SPLASH STATIONS

(SOCIAL IMPACT DESIGN - Splash.org, 2018)
NGO that provides clean water for WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) to poor children in public schools, in major cities across Asia and Africa. They have been using fiberglass stations for drinking water and hand washing which have shown problems in design and the low manufacturing rate. I facilitated the design and engineering of new plastic hand washing stations and drinking water stations to overcome the previous challenges.

Client: Public Schools


User: 3-15-year old children
 

Venue: Kolkata, India and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

 

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Team: 1 design engineer, 1 WASH infrastructure head, 1 sustainability expert 
 

Total project time: 10 weeks

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My role: Design, engineering and user testing, design transfer to manufacturers
 

Tools used: Fusion 360, Quantitative and Qualitative user testing, Interview design, Illustrator, Photoshop, keyshot

USER GOALS

1. Easy access by all ages (3-15 years)

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2. Intuitive use

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3. Hygienic 

4. Safe

 for children

 

5. Foolproof manufacture and installation

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HAND WASHING STATIONS

DRINKING WATER STATIONS

OLD FIBERGLASS STATIONS

  • The fiberglass stations being used in public schools were each made individually by hand

  • A concrete base was made to raise the stations when installing in high school or middle school

  • The water supplied to these stations is filters through Mesh strainers, UF membranes, carbon filters and UV filters where e.coli is present.

PROBLEMS WITH OLD STATIONS

  • Fiberglass manufacturing is a long handmade process that can produce only 4-5 stations a week, the supply does not match the demand

  • The current design was not flexible for all ages

  • Water stagnation on the station causing algae growth

  • Discoloration of the stations over time

  • Improper use of hand washing stations for drinking purpose

  • Difficult for two children to use the station at the same time
    Installation of each station was customized. No standard process

DESIGN OBJECTIVE

  • Design stations that can be built using a standard manufacturing process in batch production

  • Design stations in a material that will be easy to maintain, sturdy to transport, have a long shelf life and be easy to keep hygienic.

  • Design stations that are intuitive to use for children, including behavioral triggers like soap dishes, orientation so that two children can easily use the stations together making the activity more interactive also and flexible for all school children, ages 3-15.

DESIGN CONCEPT

Design plastic stations that do not look like a typical wash basin using plastic mass manufacturing, including behavioral triggers such as soap dishes. 

1st DESIGN ITERATION

  • The hand washing and drinking water were designed with a triangular cross section to increase the front surface area and allow two children to stand together comfortably while maintaining the width of the station. This promotes the behavioral change of making hygiene a group activity. 

  • The major requirement difference between use by children of different ages is the height of the station from the ground, thus the stations were designed to sit on stackable risers. As the age of the children using the fountain increases more risers can be used beneath the station itself.

  • The stations were designed to have a 5mm thickness of durable HDPE, allows the use of recycled plastics and ideal for volumes of 1000s of parts while being easy to achieve exact colors in.

STATION

RISER

FRONT VIEW

TOP VIEW

2nd DESIGN ITERATION

Based on feedback, the station design was updated with the following changes;

  • The access hatched was changed to just one side removing the compound curve for the access cover

  • The taps were mounted on the backsplash and timed auto-shut off taps were identified from local manufacturers in India

  • The backsplash was inset to provide space for sponsor branding/ hand washing instructions

  • The hand washing basin was made shallow to avoid children from filling their water bottles with that water

  • The slope of the basin was changed to avoid any water stagnation and ease of access to internal pipe layout

FRONT VIEW

SIDE VIEW

TOP VIEW

BOTTOM VIEW

USABILITY TESTING WITH CARDBOARD PROTOTYPES

The design was tested using cardboard prototypes with children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by the local team and in Seattle by me with adults at a height that was respectively raised for adults. 

CARDBOARD PROTOTYPE IN SEATTLE

We tested:

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  1. Faucet size and bubbler stream flow

  2. Ease of drinking water, washing hands and filling water bottles

CARDBOARD PROTOTYPE IN ADDIS ABABA

USABILITY TESTING IN SEATTLE

LEARNINGS

  1. The faucet should clear the water stream from the bubbler

  2. The user’s arms should easily enter the basin, this may be achieved by

  • Lowering the front wall of the basin

  • Inclining the top two inches of the wall inwards

FINAL DESIGN WITH PIPE LAYOUT

The stations needed a standardized internal system of sanitary fittings to make sure the installation of the stations is standardized and does not require excessive customization.

  1. The faucets, bubbler and internal sanitary fittings will be provided with the station, semi-assembled. 

  2. The installer will need to screw the station into a wall and bring the water supply and drainage to the station outlets that are otherwise covered with caps.

  3. At times, more than one station of the same kind are installation besides each other, this design takes care of such variations.

final design with branding shadow.png

DIFFERENTIATED USE

Standardized colors make it easy to recognize and remember the different purpose of each station

BEHAVIOR TRIGGERS

Bubbler on the right is aligned with the social norm that discourages eating or drinking from the left hand

MAINTENANCE ACCESS

To service any internal components without uninstalling the station.

FLEXIBLE FOR DIFFERENT AGES

Addition of risers increase the height of the station and make it appropriate for different ages.

DURABLE RECYCLABLE PLASTIC

High quality, fade resistant HDPE is an Eco-friendly plastic.

HYGIENIC SURFACES

Smooth sloped surfaces make sure of no water stagnation avoiding algae growth

GROUP ACTIVITY

Face to face hand washing has been seen to encourage hand washing

CUSTOMIZABLE BACKPLASH

To recognize donors.

PLUMBING INSIDE THE STATIONS

USABILITY TESTING WITH FIBERGLASS PROTOTYPES (IN INDIA)

A few prototypes of the design were made in fiberglass by the manufacturer in India. The design used for these prototypes was an earlier version.

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The prototypes were used to carry out a series of user tests with the smallest children.

  • A user testing manual based on HCD evaluation matrices CAFEQUES (cost, aesthetics, function, ergonomics, quality, usability, environment, safety) and USE (usefulness, ease of learning, satisfaction) were designed.

  • This user testing manual was used to carry out user tests in 2 schools with 4 groups, 2 groups of primary children (3-5 years) and 2 groups of senior primary (6-10 years).

USABILITY TESTING IN INDIA

TESTING FUNCTIONAL ICONS

  • Splash has used a water droplet as its functional icon to signify drinking water and an open palm to signify hand washing on its previous stations.

  •  As part of the HCD user testing, the students were also asked to rate a series of icons as possible replacements for the functional icons. This was done to make sure that the functional icons are well understood by the user and ensure intuitive identification of the station's function.  

DRINKING WATER ICONS

  • ​​​The current icons were also included in the study. While the current icons did not score the best, an executive decision was taken by the management to continue with the old icons for the fear of confusing existing users.

HAND WASHING ICONS

FINAL MOLDS AND PLASTIC STATIONS

  • The manufacturer identified was in Coimbatore, India. I met with the manufacturers in Coimbatore, visited their facility and after a few days of meetings, the partnership was finalized.

  • We worked with their production engineering team to finalize a mold design and the building of the molds was outsourced.

PLASTIC STATION ROTOMOLDING MOLDS

  • The first test pieces of the molds were built in which colors were mistakenly swapped by the manufacturer.

  • These pieces were tested by the India team for strength, mold imperfections, embossed functional icons, the thickness of walls, flexibility, surface finish, color match, access to internal plumbing, plumbing fixture installation. 

  • The stations were approved for production with a change in colors.

PLASTIC ROTOMOLDED STATIONS

All work © 2019 Tanvi Singh

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