Shower chair
A flat-packable shower chair for travel.
Brief
With an aging population demand for assistive products has increased for both in the home or when away for medical care or leisure. The product must be designed with portability in mind as their travel destinations aren't always equipped for their needs, currently available products sometimes lack in convenience or have a very clinical appearance.
Avail is seeking an attractively designed shower chair that provides stability and independence to users without making them feel self-consious about using or owning it. Simplicity is integral to the product to ensure easy, hassle free assembly, disassembly and cleaning.
Process
Understanding where the user may find themselves travelling to is needed to work out where the design may find itself needing to be functional. With this aging population, a large proportion of them is bound to be travelling to see children or grandchildren whose bathrooms may only have a shower bath or potentially a small shower. Therefore designing a concept that is versatile and easily packed away is core to the product.
Reviewing available products allowed me to work out what was to be expected in assistive shower devices and the pros and cons of each type. Research showed 3 main kinds a stool, a chair and a bench, videos were incredibly valuable to work out how they would be used and the levels of assistance each were catered towards.
The transfer bench showed the most versatility as the size could be optimised to suit both smaller and larger showers while being useful for when users may be in accommodation with shower baths.
The concept
The final concept uses sealed timber and powder-coated aluminium tubing to create a modern and inviting shower bench that can be used in any kind of shower setup.
