Magical Unicorn &

Mystical Dragon Brushes

Industrial Design

OVERVIEW

This was a project for Baby Banana (BB) when I was a part of the Klugonyx team.
The project consisted of creating a product that was complimentary to the current line-up of infant toothbrushes offered by BB. This was a particularly fun project because I needed to figure out how to tie each character to the development of the product.

BRIEF

The product needed to be a teething device that caters to babies ages of 3 months to 24 months old.
It needed to inspire good dental hygiene habits.
It needed to be easy to hold and easy to clean.
It needed to be fun & safe.
The product needed to meet standards & regulations.

ROLE

Industrial Designer

TEAM

Engineer - EdConsultants - Aaron & JasonDesigner - Henry

TOOLS

Adobe Illustrator Adobe Photoshop Adobe InDesignProcreatePhysical Prototyping Supplies 3D Printer Fusion 360

Product designed, engineered and produced by Klugonyx and Onyx 360, a Klugonyx company.

Research

THE COMPETITION

In many ways, Baby Banana was about to be competing with themselves. The products we developed could potentially cannibalize the rest of the lineup, but it was clear that BB wanted to expand on the selection of products in this category.
The competition showed a few "copies" from what BB had accomplished, which meant the current lineup was a strong player in the market.

First Phase of Ideation

I wanted to get started with the character development early to get an idea of what it was like to develop a toy character through an industrial design perspective. This was a fun and educational start for me, since drawing organic objects wasn't something I regularly did.

The idea of making these characters a Unicorn and a Dragon came from our clients.

PARTS AND COMPONENTS - CHARACTER PROTOTYPE

I Dove deeper into what each characteristic needed to be.

What was the part of each character that would serve as the brush part of the toothbrush?
What were some of the facial features?
How was the form going to resemble each character?

DIMENSIONS

I decided to establish the dimensions early on, since standards needed to be met. We had about 25 - 30 mm of play for the brush part of the toothbrush before it became a choking hazard.

Bristle Exploration

At this stage, I started to figuring out what type of bristles we want to implement. The previous illustrated bristols were a bit knobby and chunky, and I received feedback that they needed to resemble an actual brush.

The decision in material was made at this stage. This teething product needed to be made of food-grade silicone, just as the bristles would. I needed to stay consistent with the Baby Banana brand and current products lineup, which shared the same similarities in materials.

Final Form

NARROWING DOWN TO A FINAL FORM

As the assignment progressed, I had a solid idea of what we wanted as a final product. We proceeded with the engineering stages during this stage.

UPDATES POST MODELING

We made a few updates to the brush on the unicorn by adding textures that would enhance the experience. We also updated the mane and added the symbol of love to the Unicorn.

We needed to drastically make some updates to the wings. The product was going to be larger than expected for the targeted demographic. Handles became a strong characteristic of the of the original banana brush and I felt compelled to abide by maintaining a connection this way.