Deconstructing Product Design

Sonicare Toothbrush

David Giuliani, David Engel, Roy Martin, and Steve Meginniss, 1992

1. Having had a very personal and painful experience with periodontal disease a few years earlier, David Giuliani was excited to learn about research going on at the University of Washington that studied an improved method of cleaning teeth using sonic technology — a method that not only cleaned teeth better, but that dislodged dental plaque beneath the gums. Giuliani licensed the technology and worked with a small team of designers and engineers for over five years to transform the research technology into a commercially viable product. David Giuliani comments: “We designed the toothbrush to be simple to use. We wanted it to be so natural and so intuitive ...