Soap Dispenser Design

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soap Dispenser Design

This here is an ancient shampoo dispenser that broke last month. It was a crappy design for a few reasons. Firstly, because of how the pumps are placed (at the bottom). It would not stand on its own when you needed to refill. You either had to prop it against something, or hold it with one hand while filling it with the other. Small detail, but clearly ignored.

Secondly, it didn’t take much to take it off the base plate (2nd pic). Which is exactly how it fell and broke…because of an accidental tap that easily took it off its hooks.

Then came the replacement dispenser.

Certainly a better design. And one that stands independently. It allows refilling without risking the unit toppling over (and spilling liquid soap).

Only problem with this one is that someone did not think the back support design clearly. That side of the white panel (with the lines) should ideally have faced the wall, and the more smooth side faced forward.

Another good thing about it, is that you need to slide it the entire height of the support panel to fix in place or remove. Which means accidentally knocking it off is not easy.

Now I came across this liquid soap dispenser at a restaurant recently. It looks like any other dispenser (pic 1 below). Oddly though, it dispenses from under the black pump button (pic 2 below) and not the steel body, as one might have assumed.

Ordinarily, this dispenser design might still have been ok if it was for a single basin. You would be standing almost directly in front of it, so most likely, the soap would land somewhere on your palm. However, here, it was placed between two basins, so you would tend to limit yourself to the area in front of your basin, especially when others are around. Your hand will therefore approach the dispenser at an angle (unlike if it were right in front of you). What happens now is that when you press the pump and hold your palm under the steel body, soap will fall onto the ground from in front of your hand. Hopefully not onto anyone’s shoe.

Simply making the black button in the shape of an inverted triangle it might have made it far more evident.

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