Facial cleansing brushes have become a personal care routine for consumers around the world for their ability to improve skin cleaning, circulation and the uptake of skin lotions. A global leader in healthcare and consumer technology, Philips was looking to shift their product focus to the entire continuum of care, including healthy living, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and in-home care. Part of this initiative included regaining leadership in the rapidly growing facial cleansing market by developing and launching a revitalized range of cleansing brushes under the VisaPure brand.

Philips chose to partner with us to disrupt the market with a highly differentiated and elegant design, while adding new technology features at a competitive product cost. In developing the highly successful VisaPure, we also delivered new IP in the form of oscillation and vibration technology.

The VisaPure has enjoyed considerable market success. Philips’ beauty division has since grown notably and the VisaPure family of products remains some of its best sellers.

Key goals achieved on this project included the development of a brand-new product architecture, in addition to creating technological innovations in an 18-month timeframe. This was achieved through our structured approach to innovation which was contributed to by a core team of designers, engineers and manufacturing advisers. Additional specialists for software (firmware), electronics engineering, prototyping and tooling also contributed throughout the development, solving challenges and addressing risks along the way. Areas of potential risk, such as the development of drivetrain architecture that incorporated novel vibration and oscillation motion, were rapidly prototyped and tested concurrently, without losing sight of product costs of goods targets.

In preparation for the project, Philips conducted formal design research and provided the findings to our design team. We used this research, along with our own insights on the user mindset and aesthetic expectations, to develop a range of design options, including the over-molded handle that is now a signature design element of the product.

It was imperative to maintain the luxurious look-and-feel of a beauty product while ensuring it could be manufactured in a highly automated production environment. Our team worked with Philips’ manufacturing teams to ensure the product was capable of reliable, volume manufacture in a cost-effective method.

Collaboration and communication between the Philips team and ours was fundamental to the success of this project. Development began with an intense week-long workshop, and continued with regular workshops throughout the development process. Philips team members also 

regularly visited Invetech’s offices for up to weeks at a time, making use of our dedicated client laboratories. Additionally, our program manager coordinated with Philips’ internal stakeholders to ensure everyone was up-to-date on the project’s status.

Next-generation technologies were developed by our team for the VisaPure, including near-field communications (NFC) which enabled communication between the device and a variety of interchangeable brushes. This innovation allowed the handle to automatically detect the type of brush attached to it and alter vibration and rotation patterns accordingly. This feature was developed in a very short period and adapted for the VisaPure Advanced, the follow-up product to the original VisaPure.