Venus Cartridge Redesign

Consumers have a hard time telling the difference between 3 of Venus’s top products - Extra Smooth, Deluxe Smooth Sensitive, and Deluxe Smooth Swirl. (I call the platform “Deluxe Extra Silky Swirly Smooth with rainbow sprinkles” because the razors are a little to easy to mix up.)

How might we differentiate the cartridges of Venus Extra Smooth, Extra Smooth Sensitive, and Swirl products before the already-scheduled 2027 product update?

• Turn marketing requirements into questions for engineers to brainstorm against (e.g., “How might we meaningfully reduce friction in each stroke without thickening the lubrication of the razor?”)

• Used virtual whiteboard to facilitate brainstorming sessions to get ideas for how to change the cartridges. My team used a method that I developed which gets the most out of everyone in the room rather than allowing for the loud or more experienced voices to dominate.

• Supplied 30 ideas personally on top of leading the brainstorming efforts for the team

• Lead team in synthesizing ideas based on desirability, feasibility and viability. I used a Mural online whiteboard to lead my team through brainstorming and synthesizing ideas for Venus cartridges.

• Drafted CAD for and rendered top 20 prototype concepts to enable consumer testing and feedback

• Provided CAD for and analyzed modeling simulations to test prototypes virtually

I built and delivered prototypes to consumers for several rounds of testing (2D “looks like” testing and shave “works like” testing). This part of the job involved several tasks:

• sourcing and modifying production components

• designing alpha tools to mold parts that do not yet exist in market

• overseeing the assembly lab efforts to build 300 distinct products

• inspecting cartridge geometry data for adherence to spec regulations

• analyzing the data from user interviews to learn which path we should follow

We’re in the process of further developing the products that made the biggest splash in consumer testing, passing the results to the branding and manufacturing teams, and releasing to market in ~5 years!