from sketchbook to soothing superhero—how we created a whole new teether
By now you probably know we don’t let “the way things have always been done” decide how we do things. While there are hundreds of teethers in the world, we believed this very functional (and arguably critical!) invention might be improved. Especially when our co-founder and product designer, Janna, noticed her 1 year old daughter using The Pop—and its fun, poppable functionality—in so many different ways. Janna went to the drawing board and after many rounds of testing, created what we deem the perfect teether. It not only soothes the gums, but it keeps busy, exploring hands satisfied with tiny poppable bubbles throughout. Totally fine if you steal your little one’s for a day—it’s soothing at any age. Think bubble wrap, but better (Larry David would be into it). Janna talked us through her process and shared some behind the scenes snaps.
From Janna...
Here you can see my first sketches that were in my notebook. The teether that multiple bubbles for popping. The inspiration behind them was seeing how much fun my 1-year old had just popping The Pop pacifier. It occurred to me that even I pop the pop just for fun, so a poppable teether just had to happen. Initially I was thinking more abstract geometric shapes as you can see in the notebook sketches.
Once I sat down to really sketch out my ideas, I thought about rain clouds and sun clouds. They are the perfect shape because not only are they cute, but the rain drops and sun rays are the perfect shapes for teething. Could puffy clouds be more exciting to pop?!
Once I was done sketching, I made 3D prototypes. The 3D work is actually my favorite part—it’s just so satisfying to see your ideas come to life, and I enjoy all the problem solving that comes along with working with real-life constraints. Figuring out scale, feel, weight—all of it.
It took 4 rounds of prototypes to get The Chew just right (thankfully we’d mastered The Pop technology because it easily could have taken many more)! The first prototype is always scary, because there is usually nothing right about it. You have to keep up hope and really get down to trouble shooting. We always send all of of prototypes in for a safety evaluation first because we can sometimes get unexpected results. Sometimes when you resolve one concern you create another so we always like to check every step of the way. Yes, it is a very back and forth process but so worth it.
The other important thing we do with each prototype is user testing! My baby is always tester number one of course, but then we try and get as much feedback as we can from other moms and babies as well. I can be somewhat biased so it's always good to hear other perspectives!
Curious? See for yourself and order yours today!
From Janna...
Here you can see my first sketches that were in my notebook. The teether that multiple bubbles for popping. The inspiration behind them was seeing how much fun my 1-year old had just popping The Pop pacifier. It occurred to me that even I pop the pop just for fun, so a poppable teether just had to happen. Initially I was thinking more abstract geometric shapes as you can see in the notebook sketches.
Once I sat down to really sketch out my ideas, I thought about rain clouds and sun clouds. They are the perfect shape because not only are they cute, but the rain drops and sun rays are the perfect shapes for teething. Could puffy clouds be more exciting to pop?!
Once I was done sketching, I made 3D prototypes. The 3D work is actually my favorite part—it’s just so satisfying to see your ideas come to life, and I enjoy all the problem solving that comes along with working with real-life constraints. Figuring out scale, feel, weight—all of it.
It took 4 rounds of prototypes to get The Chew just right (thankfully we’d mastered The Pop technology because it easily could have taken many more)! The first prototype is always scary, because there is usually nothing right about it. You have to keep up hope and really get down to trouble shooting. We always send all of of prototypes in for a safety evaluation first because we can sometimes get unexpected results. Sometimes when you resolve one concern you create another so we always like to check every step of the way. Yes, it is a very back and forth process but so worth it.
The other important thing we do with each prototype is user testing! My baby is always tester number one of course, but then we try and get as much feedback as we can from other moms and babies as well. I can be somewhat biased so it's always good to hear other perspectives!
Curious? See for yourself and order yours today!
I marvel at the way Janna’s mind works. She is truly a creative genius. Love seeing the sketches and the progression of idea to real product!
So interesting! Thanks for taking us behind the scenes, Janna!
You are a genius, Janna! I look forward to more of your creations.
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