Turning Lab-Stage Water Technology into a Testable MVP Direction
Helped an early-stage startup clarify where its water sanitation technology could have the strongest adoption logic, then translated that direction into a product concept, ecosystem assumptions, and validation metrics for future testing.
Context
Aquamox had developed a technology that could convert regular water into an environmentally friendly sanitizer. The technology was promising, but the product opportunity was still unclear. The client needed help understanding who the product should serve, where it could fit in the market, and how the technology could become something people would actually use.
Our work focused on moving the idea from a lab capability to a commercially viable product concept for early market validation.
Snapshot
Role
Product Design Consultant/
User reseacher
Timeline
~ 16 weeks
Project Type
Team
0→1 MVP strategy · Field research · Market & user segmentation · Concept prototyping · Business model & validation metrics
Design Researcher · UX strategist · Professor of Product
Core Challenge
The Ask
The client asked us to identify user pain points and market gaps in the water sanitation industry, then develop a product concept that could support early market validation.
What we learned
People already have cleaning routines, products, workarounds, and trust patterns around hygiene. A new product would need to fit into those behaviors instead of asking users to change them completely.
The work moved from:
Novel water sanitation technology
to
The real challenge
The challenge was to understand where the technology could create real value, what adoption barriers might exist, and which customer context had the strongest early-market potential.
Where would people trust this technology enough to use it?
Working presentations on reseach update and product updates
My Role
This project was a graduate consulting engagement completed through mHUB, Chicago's hardware innovation center, from August to December 2023. Aquamox was the client; a small team of three — two researchers and a product designer — worked with their CEO over 16 weeks. My contribution spanned the full arc of the project.I led secondary research across the water sanitation market, recruited and screened participants for field studies, led user interviews and observational sessions in participants' homes and over video, and synthesized findings into the frameworks that shaped the product direction. On the delivery side, I created the product prototypes and digital wireframes, and developed the Business Model Canvas and the modified Proctor's Implementation Outcomes Framework (TIO) used to define validation metrics.
How We Scoped the MVP Direction
Phase 1: Research + Synthesis
The first phase was about separating what the technology could do from where it had the strongest chance of adoption. I contributed through field studies and helped connect the findings to the product direction we would later make tangible.
Phase 2: Product Direction
The ideation workshop helped define what the concept needed to communicate. I worked on the prototype direction and digital wireframes to make those criteria visible.
Phase 3: Business + Validation
A good prototype can make an idea feel real, but it can also create false confidence. I used the Business Model Canvas and set of adoption metrics to surface the assumptions behind the concept to help the client test whether users would understand, trust, and return to the product beyond initial interest.
What the field studies made clear
The field studies made the adoption problem clearer: Aquamox could not rely on “better sanitation” as the whole value proposition. In kitchens, users already had familiar routines, so any new step needed to create an obvious payoff. In outdoor contexts, the product had a stronger opening because campers and RV users were already managing water limits, storage constraints, and waste.
Field studies with users to understand hygiene context!
The Decision
Follow the Strongest Adoption Logic
Journey mapping, Jobs-to-Be-Done, and the adoption feasibility matrix helped narrow the customer direction by clarifying where the technology had a stronger job, clearer constraints, and better validation potential.
Once that direction was clearer, a 60-minute ideation workshop with 3 campers helped narrow the product concept: 30 minutes of Miro card sorting to identify user values, existing “haves,” and adoption barriers, followed by 30 minutes of prioritization to define must-haves, form possibilities, and usability needs.
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That sequence mattered because it kept us from jumping straight into a prototype. First, we clarified who the product should serve; then we defined what the product needed to communicate.
The team collabrated in Miro to create collect and synthesis the research data!
Droplet: The MVP Direction
Droplet was developed as a portable sanitation concept for campers, RV users, and off-grid contexts.
The product direction was shaped around a simple idea: users in these contexts already think about water, storage, waste, and low-impact living.
Intial product form exploration sprints!
Testing the Product Logic
Once Droplet became the MVP direction, I worked on the Business Model Canvas and TIO Framework to make the concept testable beyond the prototype.
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I developed a Business Model Canvas because the product was entering a niche market where the risk was not just about usability, but about whether the value proposition, customer segment, distribution channel, and long-term adoption logic made sense.
Testing 3D printed prototypes with campers!
The Implementation Outcomes framework (a modified version of Proctor's Implementation Outcomes Framework) — helped evaluate adoption beyond first impressions. Rather than treating usability test results as a verdict on the product, TIO structured the key questions Aquamox would need to answer before deeper investment. whether users were comfortable with ozone technology (acceptability), whether the product fit their actual camping context (appropriateness and feasibility), whether they would integrate it into routine rather than try it once (adoption and fidelity), and whether the cost and penetration math made sense at scale. It shifted the framing from "does the prototype work?" to "what would we need to see to know this is worth building.
Value Created
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Narrowed the market focus from a broad sanitation technology to a specific first-adopter context — campers and RV users managing water, storage, and low-impact constraints — where need urgency, adoption ease, and product fit were measurably stronger than in kitchen contexts.
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Translated a lab-stage capability into a product direction that a founder, manufacturing partner, or early investor could evaluate: a named concept (Droplet), a defined user segment, physical and digital prototypes, and a business model with explicit assumptions.
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Gave the client a validation framework rather than just a prototype. The Business Model Canvas and TIO metrics mapped the assumptions that needed to be tested before committing to a build — trust in ozone technology, distribution channel viability, and long-term retention — so the next investment decision had criteria rather than just enthusiasm.
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The research and product direction were used by the founder as a reference for their 2025 manufacturing planning. The prototype design may evolve, but the research conclusions, segmentation logic, and frameworks were carried forward as the basis for that decision.
Key Learnings
1. A broad technology needs a specific adoption context.
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The stronger move was not to design for every possible use case, but to find where the need, constraints, and behavior change were clear enough to test.
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2. Prototypes are strongest as decision tools, not proof.
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The 3D prototypes and wireframes made the concept easier to question, compare, and refine without claiming a final design.
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3. Trust must be designed when the value is invisible.
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Because users could not easily see the sanitation process, feedback and guidance became central to the product experience.
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Here is what I discovered through the work.