mySafeguard is a concept of a smart soap dispenser with the purpose of teaching kids all about hygiene by making hand-washing a fun experience. It can visualize germs in a playful way, and a countdown timer makes the user experience very intuitive. An interactive projection is cast directly from the dispenser around the rinsing area to entertain and instruct kids on how to make hand-washing more effective. Parents can track progress of their little one's hygiene with a connected smartphone app that also offers kids incentives like more playtime if they wash their hands properly.

Design Team

Michael Morath

Kids often forget to wash their hands, and for parents it can be a difficult task to teach their little ones how important hygiene really is. The mySafeguard concept is here to solve that problem. The smart soap dispenser is deigned to make hand-washing fun, and a 20 second countdown timer gives you peace of mind. Hand-washing is only effective if it's done properly. Therefore mySafeguard guides the user with further instructions so we don't forget washing certain areas like the tops of our hands or the fingernails.

The UI shows animations like 'turn your hands around' to remind kids to clean all the important zones of their hands. An optional voice assistant designed for young kids can make the user interaction even more playful.

From a psychological standpoint mySafeguard offers a better learning experience because it's not another annoying reminder for kids from their parents but a rewarding and fun interaction. It can offer positive incentives in form of rewards like more playtime etc. with a connected Smartphone app that also allows parents to track progress.

The goal of the project was to improve the awareness of hygiene and to help families and especially kids to get sick less frequently. The product initiates a playful learning experience with positive incentives instead of negative exhortations.

In the beginning of the design process I did a lot of research on the topic of hygiene. I discovered how important hand-washing is by talking to doctors and families with young children. I designed the product with the goal to make it look modern but also playful to interact with. The elegant design with it's open spaces invites the user to interact with the product and to discover how it works. The playfully animated user interface with the approach to makes germs visible makes it really interesting and fun to use.

Hand-washing is very important for our hygiene, especially for children to get sick less frequent. Unfortunately parents often struggle to raise their kids awareness for that topic. The goal was to make this learning progress easier and more joyful for both parents and kids.In search of a solution I asked myself the question: what if we could make germs visible ? This questions inspired me to design a playful user experience that doesn't scare kids but rises awareness on the topic of hygiene.
To make this concept reality there are two technological approaches that make sense:

1. Using ultraviolet Light emitted by LEDs in combination with a special hand-washing detergent. The soap contains harmless chemicals that can make your hands glow under UV light. This helps you to easily see what part of your hands are already clean and which ones need more attention.

2. An estimated projection of germs cast directly from the dispenser around the rinsing area through a small projector engine. When it comes to the projection accuracy is less important as long as the visualization elevates the user experience. To make hand-washing fun for kids, the virtual germs are projected in the shape of soap bubbles and to goal is to make them burst with water.

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