Camille Walker (AD, 2020)
The brand refresh assignment during my second year sparked something exciting inside of me. Some otherworldly being took over my body and I became mildly obsessed with cleaning supplies. There is really no other explanation than the paranormal.
My team was tasked with helping Scotch-Brite, the sponge and cleaning brand, find fun and strategic ways to target consumers. My most important contribution to the assignment was a product innovation: I designed a cleaner, more efficient sponge.
In our research, we found two common pain points related to cleaning with sponges: 1) most people don’t use the full surface area of the abrasive side of the sponge, and 2) most people don’t know when it’s time to throw their sponge away (the CDC recommends every two weeks!).
I tackled the first pain point by changing the shape of the sponge. I design-ed a sponge with a curve, which uses the entire surface area when scrubbing. Next, I added an expiration indicator by engraving a word or design into the abrasive side of the sponge. The engraving wears away while scrubbing, indicating that it’s time to dispose of the sponge and get a new one.
I have a patent pending on the sponge innovations, which means I hold a provisional patent for my designs. During my final semester at Brandcenter, I worked through the product testing phase with one of my professors and began talking to potential buyers.
Let’s be real: my career aspiration is to be an art director not start a sponge company, but this project allowed me to think outside of my concentration; I am an art director who created a product innovation, and that was fun. The opportunity to have an idea that is supported whole-heartedly by the Brandcenter faculty is just another amazing advantage of being a student here. I am hopeful that a company will believe in my idea, too.
Camille Walker (AD, 2020)