Esscent Bubble Diffuser
One of my favorite experiences in undergrad at UMN was taking the Toy Product Design course, an interdisciplinary design studio class at UMN. It was my first taste of designing in the context of a team, and it was super rewarding to be able to work with people from different backgrounds and specialities. The class follows the design process from brainstorming all the way to the creation of a functional physical prototype. Gems was the class sponsor, and we were tasked to create a fun and functional home solution.
The final product our group produced was the Esscent Bubble Diffuser. Below is a video of our finished prototype in action. We wanted to create a product that would facilitate a calming, meditative experience in everyday life. Our group received audience favorite and best overall ratings in the theatrical final presentation for the class called, “Playsentations,” where we demonstrated our product’s functions and appeal with a live skit.
Throughout the course of the class, we iterated through a bunch of different ideas for fun and functional home solutions before we settled on our final design. Here are some pictures of the various prototypes we iterated through for the Esscent as well as some of our other ideas (ie light up path stones).
Here are some images of our final prototype, the Esscent. It works by having a small pump deliver bubble solution up a tube in a slow drip to the spout. When a rubber iris is turned like we saw in the demonstration video, a bubble film is created, which is then filled with mist from an ultrasonic essential oil diffuser. After the iris is turned once, the bubbles regenerate on their own continuously. The bubble solution falls into the catch tray and is recycled back up to the spout.
Here are some images of the finished product and our Playsentations presentation.
