The Columbus College of Art and Design teamed up with a few members from Procter and Gamble's Clay street project to make a project called SUPERNOVA. The objective was to research a Procter & Gamble product in London and Paris and improve on the product through a variety of different ways. My team picked Ariel detergent for our brand, and we improved it via product design, ambient campaigns, and integrated it with apps. Our observational research in London and Paris concluded that we should cater towards the busy lifestyle of young professionals. We invented a few products to match their needs, and a system to manage it all. Our ideas revolve around the campaign of the convenient clean. Putting people's convenience first, so that they get the clean they are already used to, but in a much efficient way that suits their hectic life. Making their lives easier, one load at a time.

For our first product, we wanted to improve on the stain remover pen. Ariel doesn't have one, but similar products exist, except they damage clothes and don't squirt enough stain remover to remove the stain. Our new design has a sliding brush that is more gentle on your clothes, and a button that squirts out the stain remover in generous quantities to assure a spotless clean on the go.

Being that our target audience is extremely busy, and they don't necessarily stain their clothes, but do need it to freshen up; We thought about freshening their clothes while they hang in the closet, So we invented a hanger that has clips for dry sheets around the key sweat areas, and a central pod container for an Ariel air freshener to latch on. It would also make sure to solve other problems like expanding and shrinking to fit different types of clothes to adjust to whatever needs freshening up.

For our third product invention, we thought about the general and most popular use of Ariel, and that is laundry, and catered it to fit the lifestyle of the busy Londoner or Parisian. We invented a perforated laundry bag pack that fits into the washer and dryer. The bag pack would minimize laundry time and make it convenient for the user to let their clothes pile up in the hung back pack, then wear it to their washer or take it to their laundromat. We expanded on that and invented a new subway dry cleaners so that they go to work using the subway and drop it off on their way, and pick it up from anywhere in london/Paris when they return. The laundry bag zips up and doesn't allow for socks to go missing, or for impatient patrons to touch your clothes if you took too long at the laundromat. It is designed to fit any drum, with an adjustable inside compartment to fit agitators, and also the hanger that comes along with it for delicate clothes that don't dry in a dryer. The bag also protects your clothes against tumbling around against the machine and prevents damage.

The Subway dry cleaners integration would be even more convenient if you could track your clothes, and laundry schedule via your smart phone. So we mocked up an app for Ariel.

Each person would have a personalized account where they would keep track of their own laundry, and get rewarded on using Ariel and the subway system.

As an example, for the London audience, we thought about a home screen that would show how much money is stored into your account which is kept in the oyster subway card, and increases with the amount of trips to the Ariel dry cleaners.

The notifications on the first screen would lead you to the other pages in the app. This page is where the My laundry page, where you would see exactly when and where to pick up your laundry and you can see your week's previous washes and which load it was you just dropped off.

The app would use your smart phone's GPS tracking to tell you how close you are to Ariel dry cleaners, and henceforth a subway station. It could also be used to track your clothes if you choose to have a representative tag your laundry to make sure it will be dropped off at the station you want at the right time, or that it did not get switched with someone else.

We decided to make restocking part of the app so that they waste no time between getting off the station and being ready for the next day's laundry, and it can all be done with the reward points that can be stored on the oyster card.

Another helpful part of the app would be a tip of that day page that told you a new laundry tip every day, that you could also ask for help if you don't know how to clean a specific stain on your clothes.