Celebrating 75 Years of Iconic Design. Good Design® online submissions are open.

Exemplified by the ICON™ Automatic Towel Dispenser, the ICON™ collection is a new family of hand towel, soap, and toilet paper dispensers created to enhance the washroom experience through the intersection of style, hygiene, and advanced engineering. ICON™ products set a new standard for intuitive user experience, functional efficiency, serviceability, and reliability while offering unprecedented aesthetic flexibility for customization and integration into a wide variety of environments. Conceived using a rigorous human-centric process, ICON™ dispensers are intended to transcend the commonplace to produce experiences that surprise, delight, and engage.

The design process considered the needs of various user groups, from servicers and end-users to architects and interior designers to ultimately serve the end-user. ICON™ collection products change the paradigm, making the dispenser an integral part of the washroom and elevating the user experience for everyone. Design Innovation The dispenser category hasn’t experienced significant innovation in decades. This segment has traditionally focused on cost reduction and underwhelming, incremental improvements. Until now, the design of most dispensing systems hasn’t considered the needs of unique environments or varied user groups.

The ICON™ initiative upsets the status quo in a mature category and elevates every aspect of what many consider a mundane, commonplace commodity. Washroom dispensers may not immediately come to mind when contemplating “high-design” or elevated user experience. However, the time has come for dispensers that integrate aesthetically into a multitude of settings and deliver unexpected, gratifying experiences from every touchpoint. ICON™ dispensers deliver innovation in 4 key areas.

• Aesthetic flexibility – The initial launch features six, interchangeable faceplate styles developed with input from architects and interior designers. The platform is designed to support unlimited color, material, and finish customization.
• Intuitive & gratifying experiences for all – First and foremost this includes a rewarding dispensing experience but also extends to intuitive product set-up, ability to assess dispenser status from a distance, and effortless refilling.
• Acknowledging the ecosystem – All users have different yet interrelated needs that must be satisfied. Understanding the needs of all stakeholders, from the building owner to the servicer to end-user was crucial to the development process; everything and everybody works together.
• Technology – New materials and processes were developed to create unlimited faceplate offerings.The collection features 85% quieter dispensing, satisfying sounds, tactile feedback, and enhanced sensors that anticipate people’s interactions.

Benefit to User

The dispenser segment has a unique combination of intersecting needs and overlapping users. In the case of small businesses, it’s not uncommon for dispensers to be purchased, maintained, and used by the same person. In larger organizations with multiple locations, these roles can be completely separate. Regardless of an individual’s role, the ICON dispenser team’s user-centric approach sought to address the needs of all users. Once these needs were identified, creative solutions were incorporated into a unified system concept. It’s often said that it’s not possible to please all people all of the time; ICON™ challenges this assumption.

ICON™ dispensers provide specific benefits to the following groups:

• Architects & Interior Designers - Interior designers are afforded unprecedented design flexibility and opportunity for customization. Designers can now tailor dispenser appearance to complement their interiors instead of compromising their designs.
• Building Owners & Facilities Management – It’s difficult for building managers to select dispensers that satisfy the changing needs of their tenants. The ICON™ dispenser system is a flexible, extensible solution that provides facility managers with decision-making confidence.
• Custodians & Maintainers – With their intuitive, efficient loading system, ICON™ dispensers increase reliability and reduce the potential for complaints or bad reviews. This elevates the role and esteem of the custodial staff while making everyone look good.
• Washroom Users – Washroom users are rewarded with a highly intuitive, delightful, frustration-free user experience that never embarrasses with unnecessary hand waving, waiting, or being left without towels, soap, or toilet paper.

Benefit to Client/Brand Due to the ICON™ collection’s recent introduction, it’s too early to assess commercial performance and bottom-line business impact. Nevertheless, early feedback from architects, facilities managers, and end-users has been overwhelmingly positive and characterized by a sense of surprise. People are surprised by the gratifying, smooth, and intuitive experience of using the dispensers, then further surprised when they understand the system’s flexibility and future possibilities.

Regardless of market performance, the development of the ICON™ system has had a significant impact on how Kimberly-Clark Professional™ designs new products. In the past, new product development was object-centric and focused on protecting paper products. Now, new product development focuses on people. ICON™ dispensers are the result of a meticulous human-centric design process that genuinely sought to understand and empathize with the needs of a broad range of users. The process included multiple feedback sessions with all stakeholders, from installers and interior designers to custodians and building managers worried about tenant retention. Some of these feedback sessions included novel approaches to elicit feedback. For example, a dispenser “speed dating” session was created to better understand aesthetic preferences.

The ICON™ team can be confident and justify their high expectations because they know the ICON™ collection is what people want. The system embodies what stakeholders have been asking for. Beyond potential commercial success, a major result of this project was that it reimagined product development within Kimberly-Clark Professional™. The ICON™ collection has established new standards in both product and in KCP’s design process.

Benefit to Society Conceived and developed during a global pandemic, ICON™ products elegantly embody Kimberly-Clark’s “Better Care for a Better World” initiative. Personal hygiene has always been crucial to maintaining good health and its importance has been magnified during the pandemic.

Once considered a simple convenience, reliable touchless dispensers have become an essential front-line tool in the fight against COVID-19. Hygiene is directly related to our ability to experience the community and the togetherness we all need as humans. Better care for a better world can be as simple as washing your hands; ICON™ dispensers enhance, elevate and enrich every aspect of this modest task. In addition, the washroom itself is often used as a place to recharge, refocus, and revitalize away from the hectic workplace. The ICON™ collection understands this and is designed to be stress-free so users can focus on what’s truly important.

In addition to supporting enhanced hygiene, ICON™ dispensers offer functional and aesthetic longevity not typical in this category. Dispensers have traditionally been considered a semi-disposable product, a necessary evil required to provide towels and toilet paper. When damaged or outdated they are replaced and often discarded. ICON™ products have been designed to be serviceable and upgradeable. The product family was developed as a modular platform with replaceable parts. Notably, the system features replaceable faceplates which are often the first elements to become outdated or damaged. The most sustainable dispenser is the one you already have. Replaceable parts provide extended functional and aesthetic longevity.