I collaborated with P&G on a men’s grooming innovation project, co-leading research, concept development, and prototyping. This was my first taste of diving into the why of product design and it sparked my love of design research. I conducted in-home research, facilitated concept exploration sessions, and delivered physical prototypes of a consumer-validated concept to senior stakeholders for further refinement and validation toward commercialization. Due to NDA, a lot of content and specifics have been redacted.

  • Explore unmet opportunities in grooming routines.

  • Reduce friction and increase delight in grooming through innovative solutions.

  • Identify product directions aligned with emerging user behaviors and brand strategy.

September 2023 - December 2023

Product Design Studio sponsored by P&G

Design Researcher, Lead Product Design Engineer

Design Research, Concept Design, Rapid Prototyping, Field Testing

Audey Shen, Darya Daneshmand, Karen Kodera, Taylor Kagie

The men’s grooming market is saturated and competitive, yet shifting user expectations and behaviors reveal opportunities for new engagement.
Question: How might we uncover meaningful product opportunities that improve everyday routines while aligning with brand strategy?

  • User Need: Men need grooming solutions that fit seamlessly into daily routines, reduce friction, improve delight and satisfaction, and feel relevant to their evolving lifestyles.

  • Business Need: The brand needs to identify and validate new product opportunities in a competitive grooming market, ensuring alignment with consumer expectations while driving future growth.

Phase 1: Research

Secondary Research

  • Competitive Analysis: To ground our exploration, we conducted a broad competitive scan across

    • Direct competitors in men’s grooming, to understand how leading brands position themselves and where friction still exists in daily routines.

    • Adjacent categories such as personal care, wellness, and lifestyle products, to examine how other industries address routine, convenience, and identity.

    • Analogous products and brands outside of grooming, looking for inspiration in how they build loyalty, integrate seamlessly into users’ lives, and elevate everyday experiences.


  • This multi-layered analysis helped us:

    • Map common industry strategies against emerging user expectations.

    • Identify white spaces where current offerings fail to connect.

    • Draw inspiration from analogous solutions that successfully combine routine with delight.

  • Competitive Analysis: To ground our exploration, we conducted a broad competitive scan across

    • Direct competitors in men’s grooming, to understand how leading brands position themselves and where friction still exists in daily routines.

    • Adjacent categories such as personal care, wellness, and lifestyle products, to examine how other industries address routine, convenience, and identity.

    • Analogous products and brands outside of grooming, looking for inspiration in how they build loyalty, integrate seamlessly into users’ lives, and elevate everyday experiences.


  • This multi-layered analysis helped us:

    • Map common industry strategies against emerging user expectations.

    • Identify white spaces where current offerings fail to connect.

    • Draw inspiration from analogous solutions that successfully combine routine with delight.

Primary Research:

  • Contextual Interviews - I led 4 contextual interviews with in men's homes to observe their routines and understand their experiences and behaviors.


  • Exploratory Research - We conducted 8 in-person interviews to understand men's motivators, priorities, and issues in the grooming experience.

  • Evaluative Research - I conducted 4 in-person concept feedback and co-creation sessions to understand men's feature priorities.


  • Exploratory Research - We conducted 4 virtual interviews to understand caregivers' experiences, motivations, struggles, and needs.

  • Evaluative Research - We conducted 4 virtual concept feedback and co-creation sessions to understand care-receivers' feature priorities.

Findings:

  • Our research revealed a set of consistent patterns that shaped how participants approached the category.

  • We identified both functional expectations and emotional drivers that influenced adoption.

  • These patterns exposed white space opportunities not currently being addressed by existing offerings.

Key Insight:

Success in this category depends on meeting both practical expectations and deeper motivations — solutions must align with everyday behaviors while offering reasons to stay engaged over time.

How might we create a product that meets both practical expectations and deeper motivations to help users stay engaged with it over time?

Phase 2: Concept Exploration

Ideation:

Generated ~12 concepts for concept feedback and feature testing. Brainstormed focused on different aspects of research findings to find best opportunity for innovation

Testing:

We had our first consumer site visit where men provided feedback about various concepts and potential features. This helped narrow the specifics of the main issues and features that resonated with users and define our direction.

Direction: A physical product that meets users where they are and reduces friction at a specific point in the grooming experience.

Phase 3: Refinement & Prototyping

Refinement:

Refined leading concepts and mockups based on initial testing feedback, validating alignment with user expectations and brand standards.

Field Testing:

Led second consumer site visit where men provided feedback about look, feel, and function of high-fidelity concepts to inform final product. As I dug deeper on consumers' motivations and behaviors, this set of testing cemented the leading idea as the final concept to build on.

Prototyping & Modeling:

  • 3D-printed looks-like physical prototypes to simulate final product.

  • Delivered a scaled-up mockup to illustrate primary differentiating feature to secure sponsor buy-in

  • Developed high-fidelity CAD models and renderings to showcase specific features and mechanisms

Men's Grooming Product:

A product that seamlessly fits into men's grooming routine and improves their current grooming experience.

  • Helped P&G identify actionable product opportunities in a highly competitive category.


  • Strengthened the connection between consumer research and product pipeline decisions.


  • Showed how research-driven design can accelerate alignment between users and brand strategy.

  • Learned how to conduct and the importance of in-depth, empathetic design research to inform product design decisions and build the right thing.


  • Strengthened ability to lead physical prototyping and conduct user research in parallel.


  • Validated that consumer testing at early stages creates confidence for long-term pipeline decisions.