Our HippoSol product must be affordable across all income groups. Read more here.
Our HippoSol product must be suitable for individuals of any skin tone, including a wide range of shade options and leaves no white cast. Read more here.
Project must be willing to expand its view beyond western ideals and remain considerate of diverse groups’ experiences. Read more here.
We will share information in a well structured and non conflicting way and attempt to educate consumers on identified areas of confusion. Read more here.
We will be open about our technology to help address concerns. Read more here.
Our HippoSol product must be affordable across all income groups
In our interview with Louise Laing (co-founder of people4ocean, a producer of reef-safe sunscreen) she said that her company's primary consumers were 45+ years of age due their increased purchasing power. Similarly, Angus Elliman (semi-professional sailor) explained how difficult it was to find effective, reef-safe sunscreen that fitted his student budget. This theme continued into our thematic analysis of YouTube videos, where we found that a lot of comments were complaining about the price of sunscreen products being displayed. There was a video enthusiastically advertising products for “under $50”. We realised that in order for our project to be accessible we need to keep our price as low as we can. Being students ourselves we would recommend a retail price of £10 or under for 500ml. Cross analysis of survey data produced by St. Andrews confirmed this assessment. Driven by this value, we must be constantly adapting our experimental designs with a view to keeping our product affordable and accessible.
Our HippoSol product must be suitable for individuals of any skin tone, including a wide range of shade options and leaves no white cast
In our thematic analysis of YouTube we identified videos targeting people of colour that discussed sunscreens suitable for darker toned skin. It was clear from the discussions in the videos that people of colour have a unique experience in the sun and when using sunscreen. These experiences include but are not limited too, white cast, hyperpigmentation and a reduced presence in sunscreen promotional media. To ensure that people of colour can interact with our project and that their concerns are represented, we must ensure to design a product capable of blending with darker skin. In our analysis we also noticed people using sunscreen as a makeup primer to keep their skin looking matte and clean. To reflect this we plan to produce different shade options and a non-pigmented version of our product, to give skin that desired matte finish.
Project must be willing to expand its view beyond western ideals and remain considerate of diverse groups’ experiences
In our thematic analysis of YouTube we noted that issues and concerns facing people of colour are not discussed as commonly as those affecting fair-skinned individuals. Furthermore, publications discussing sunscreen tend to cater towards a fair-skinned audience. We know from our interviews with Louise Laing (co-founder of people4ocean, producers of reef-safe sunscreen) and an expert dermatologist that people in high-UV countries, such as Australia, have different sunscreen habits to those living in low-UV countries. In our own survey analysis we identified a range of different sunscreen habits. These themes indicate that different groups of people interact with sunscreen in different ways. In order to be reflective, and to represent groups across the world who may interact with our project we must expand our views beyond our English, Western outlook. This ensures our project is accessible and can engage responsibly with the world.
We will share information in a well structured and non conflicting way and attempt to educate consumers on identified areas of confusion
From our interview with Louise Laing (co-founder of people4ocean, producers of reef-safe sunscreen) we learnt how conflicting research and complicated formulations lead to consumer confusion. An expert dermatologist explained how clear and realistic expectations can help ease anxiety and progress discussions. To this end, we have created a "Reflections" page and a "Behaving Responsible" page. In the Behaving Responsibly page we clarify consumer confusion by providing information about UV, sunscreen types and labelling, topical application and problematic skin. Themes and questions that we identified in our YouTube analysis analysis, research papers, interviews and surveys are highlighted. We also analyse our project through the context of the sustainable development goals to better understand the wider and more long-term impacts of HippoSol. In the Reflections page we respond to criticisms and use the story of our project to redirect thought to the wider issue of climate change. We promote a consideration for ethical consumerism which will grow over time to produce a positive impact on the world.
We will be open about our technology to help address concerns
Consumer confusion could also lead to concerns about our technology that are not founded in fact or could be easily addressed. In our discussions with Prof Philip Shapira, a researcher on responsible innovation at the University of Manchester, it became apparent to us that in order to minimise concern and remain honest with our stakeholders we should be open about our technology and future experimental plans. This will help consumers and stakeholders easily identify areas they have concerns or suggestions for improving our cycle of feedback.
