The development of a vacuum cleaner concept adapted for storage through human-centred design

Abstract: Urbanisation and a growing population has created new demands for compact living and households. Household appliances perform an important role in modern homes, where the life-cycle of the products play a significant role. Products that spend most of their time in storage are required to answer new user demands to interplay and integrate into the household, including products such as vacuum cleaners. A master thesis project for KTH Industrial Design Engineering master track, carried out in collaboration with ESSIQ AB, investigated the user needs for vacuum cleaners in-uselifecycle. The research question was: How can a vacuum cleaner be designed and adapted to facilitate compact and easy storage for the user in a modern home, without compromising its current efficiency? The goal of the project was to design an innovative product concept through a human-centred design methodology. The methodology would lead to the creation of a product designed to fulfil the user needs by focusing on user experience. Knowledge about how vacuum cleaners are stored, used, interact and how it is interpreted in everyday life, were firstly found and then analysed. To develop a suitable concept proposal, needs and requirements were gathered through interviews and observations. New concept ideas were generated and evaluated through an iterative process resulting in the development of a final concept proposal. A proof-of-concept was developed to further support the final concept. The concept is a proposal for future development and introduces a new product category.