Analysis of existing products, pro & con
The research is all about the existing products which I divide all of the products to categories and try to analysis them in term of function, aesthetic, material properties, ergonomic issues, pro and con. some categories from my research have some special cases which I will add into that topic but mainly it's all about general factors in the product categories.
Wall mounted showerhead
This kind of showerhead can save the space in the bathroom because of the size of the showerhead and the appearance will look neat and clear. Usually made of metal..., brass, chrome finished, nickel, stainless steel, etc. which make the showerhead have high durability of usage and the additional factor that this wall mounted showerhead have more durability than the handset is the users interact to the showerhead only adjust the angle of showerhead or cleaning and maintenance. In usability, the users will have to make many of postures to face the water and clean their body, especially blind spot that the water from showerhead cannot reach while the users are in the stand posture, such as, under arm, bottom, back, back of legs. Which mean this kind of showerhead is inconvinient to install in the hospital or health care public department. Because of the scope of the users, the handicaps and the old people can cause the problem with this kind of showerhead while they need to raise their arm to clean themselves or raise their leg while some of the body part still hurt. that will make uncomfortable feeling for the users. About the spray patterns of wall mounted showerhead, there are lots of pattern and some patterns are not fit with wall mounted showerhead or never set in them. The pattern give the different feeling for each one. For some cases, there are the two head shower head which can save the water better than the one direction head. Also the wall mounted head that build in the side wall which give the other direction to clean the body but the bad point is the scope of the shower is more narrow than the common shower head( can't reach the top, such as the head). And the good water saving wall mounted showerhead will have the low water flow rate (gallon per minute) that make the water saving issue more effective.
Handset showerhead
The handset showerhead have the appearance which is messy look when compare to the wall mounted showerhead, especially the showerhead that have the long hose and don't have the panel will have the problem how to keep the hose in safety and look neat. The material that use to produce the handset showerhead mainly are plastic and metal. The plastic showerhead mostly appear in the low cost product which give the low durability when compare to the metal one. There are three main parts of the handset which are, showerhead, hose, and holder or rising rail.
For the showerhead, this part always be the top of the most break down part, and need to have the maintenance all the time. The users usually interact with this part the most by holding , cleaning, play with additional function such as, spray patterns. One of the different point from the wall mounted showerhead is usability, the hand held showerhead can reach every parts of the body by moving only hands and arms. That means the users will make less postures while using this kind of showerhead.
The hose is the part that take action in conveying the water to the showerhead and it is the most important part so the material that use to produce the hose should have high durability and physical resistance well. To make the benefit of maintenace the shower set, some product will add metal ring cover on the hose to protect into the high level. This part make the different of hand held shower from wall mounted showerhead in usability which mean it is the extend part that help the user clean themselves easier.
The holder is the one useful function for the handset showerhead which can act like the wall mounted showerhead. And some of the holder that add rising rail to the holder and can adjust the height of the showerhead when set. The standard holder which installed on the wall and doesn't have the rail cannot adjust the angle which the standard angle is 45 degrees that sometimes in the specific users such as children or the basketball player will have to use the different angle or different installing height of the holder.
The water saving issue for the hand held showerhead also in the part of water flow rate. But the technology in the present can make something different from the flow rate issue by add the oxygenic system to the showerhead which can make the mood of the user unchange from the old one that means users can feel and convince the cleaning of this kind of showerhead. Oxygenic system add the air to the showerhead and put the high pressure to make the water split out in small drops which can save water a lot in one time bathing.
The spray patterns in showerhead use the twist ring and button to change the pattern. Each pattern also make the different result for the users, such as the massage pattern can fit with the sensitive skin like the woman skin but cannot make the satisfy to the hard skin like man.
The Knob
Mainly, there are two differents kind of shower knob; the twisted knob and the lever knob. Each kind have different way of turning on the water and different material.
For the twisted knob, there are both plastic cover knob and metal knob. Both of them use the wrist to turn on the water and that make the fatigue to the user if the knob is hard, especially the plastic knob which have the friction pattern on the surface, it can hurt users hand. Another bad point of this knob is it will take some time to open the water because you must twist many times to make the water flow out heavily.
The lever knob have only metal knob from the category, because the knob have to take the force in many part of the lever such as, handle, the joint between handle and knob. This knob will have less durability when compare to the metal twisted knob which have no extend part like the handle of the lever knob. The way to turn on the water, user must grab the handle and use the force from their shoulder to roll the lever, that means user have to use whole arm to turn on the water. But the lever knob concern more on the ergonomic on the handle part which make users don't slip while roll the lever.
Water Heater
There are two type of water heater in the house appliances category; the tankless water heater and the tank typed water heater. But in the research focus on the tankless water heater products. That also divide into two main group in term of interface system; analog water heater and digital water heater. the cover part of the water heater was made by plastic and metal mostly. The analog water heater will give the safety feeling more than the digital water heater which have the small button that make the user feel uncomfortable to interact with. About the temperature indicator on the interface, there were three types of temperature indicators ;the level indicator, digital number indicator, and symbolic indicator.
The level indicator will have the level of temperature like a thermometer, and in the first time, user will have the problem with this type of indicator when they try to set the suitable temperature because of the indicator give the feeling of thermometer that hard to read the number so the indicator will always come with the level bar which make people easy to recognize. Once the users can grab the feeling of indicator, they can use this type easily.
The digital indicator tell the number of temperature which the user can modify it accurately. And easy to understand how hot of the water. This kind of indicator only compatible with the environment that have to safe the user such as hospital bathroom, for the special patient who have to use the high temperature water which exactly out in the number, this kind of interface can interact with users accurately.
The symbolic indicator is the one that less accuracy and cannot grab the feeling by the number but by the symbol itselves. And this type is the easiest way to communicate the user while interact with temperature twisted knob. Compatible with general users.
Bucket and Jar/ water container
Thai people use this way to clean everything in the bathroom for a long time include the part of tooth brushing, floor cleaning, bathing, etc. In the Thai bathroom especially folk country bathroom you can see, mostly they have the water container or jar in the bathroom with the bucket on the top of it. In this way of cleaning, users will save the water bill better than bathing in the tub or using showerhead. Cleaning this way can get cold easily when users have to dress the soap to the body or shampoo, but the showerhead can give the constantly rate of water so that users can have more comfortable than bucket way. About the ergonomic issue, this kind of bathing have less effective than the hand held showerhead because it can't reach the blind spots of the body and it cannot make postures to face the water but users have to keep pouring the water to the body until the water reach the blind spots. The Bucket and Jar can build the different mood of enjoying yourself in the bathroom when compare to the showering, when users pour the water from the jar to themselves the normal water(not warm water, but in the day temperature) , they will get cold and want to pour again and again. That will make users clean themselves faster and enjoy to bath with fun. While the showerhead give the feeling of relaxation that the user can enjoy their bathing and spend more time in the bathroom with the good mood.Some scenerio can make the water container in your bathroom to be the important thing when your water system break down and no water come out of your showerhead, it means you will go back to the basic, using bucket with water container.
