User and Market Research with Proposed Concepts for Ceiling-Fan Dust Cleaning

Abstract

Ceiling-fan cleaning tools/equipment are necessary household items in India. Considering the present market, very few cleaning tools (products) are available for the ceiling fan's dust removal process. These products weren’t successful among the users due to several ergonomic and usability issues. However, there isn’t any research article regarding this information/ fact. Therefore, this paper aims to obtain information regarding the user’s experience with existing ceiling-fan cleaning tools/equipment and propose few new designs for addressing the user’s problems. Initially, market research has been conducted to understand the needs/expectations of the users regarding cleaning methods and existing equipment. A user survey was performed using a questionnaire, which helped in further insight into the design process. This survey includes several questions regarding the aforesaid issues during the ceiling-fan cleaning task. Using the brainstorming technique, various concepts have been generated. The cleaning tool's new conceptual designs were developed to address the user needs (functional and aesthetical) and expectations. From the result, it’s been observed that the user felt some pain/ discomfort in certain body regions like the neck, shoulder, and arm, as well as a major strain on the lumbar area. The other major concerns were also observed such as reachability, ease of usage, and ease of implementation (interactions with the product) while using the existing ceiling-fan cleaning tools/equipment. Considering these user’s concerns, few concept designs were proposed, which are expected to be a better design for the ceiling-fan dust removal process.