At D2M, my first job as senior industrial designer was to tackle a redesign of D2M’s UV/ozone water purifier. The existing product had low sales and looked like something to store nuclear waste, rather than a home water purifier.

The challenge was to make it look appropriate for the intended environment which was the home kitchen.

Originally, I was asked to start fresh and completely re-think the product down to the architecture of the main components, the UV light source, the ozone creation device and the filtering system.

I did allot of schematic style sketches in this phase to determine the best configuration to focus on while keeping in mind an appropriate look and feel for the kitchen environment.

During this phase in the design, the CEO realized that they would have to narrow the project to just a refresh of the existing design, reusing the existing reservoir tooling due to the high cost of the original tooling. I was asked to find a way to accomplish the refresh without changing any of the tooling! A very tough task.

I turned to the finish, color, branding, base and handles which were the only dials left for me to turn. I invented a process to create a stainless steel appearance that appeared like brushed stainless in the off condition and allowed the light to shine thru to indicate the on condition. The reservoir was mechanically sanded with a horizontal texture and partially metalized. The result was a look that was exactly like a brushed stainless in the off condition, but in the on condition, the UV light would safely shine thru, telling the user that the device was in operation without the need for additional lighting.

I also shortened the basset hound length latch handles added stainless trim to the base and executed a new logo on the device as well.

The resulting changes to the design allowed Zuvo to reach nationwide distribution in stores such as Ferguson and Brookstone.

I also hired Rich English to do the photography (left) and developed an automated display for use in stores.