The winners have been announced for the global hand sanitizer design competition launched by experiential design studio Bompas & Parr in conjunction with London’s Design Museum and the British Red Cross. The competition invites creatives, designers, makers, and architects to rethink hand sanitizers. The Fountain of Hygiene initiative aimed to find new and innovative solutions for dispensing hand sanitizer and encourage hygiene as a way to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Launched in late March, the competition has seen entries from around the world; a curated shortlist of designs can be viewed on the competition’s dedicated website, and will be displayed in a physical exhibition at the Design Museum when it reopens.

Tim Marlow, Chief Executive and Director, Design Museum, said: “Design has an important role in helping to solve many of the challenges that we face in daily life including some of those raised by the recent COVID-19 outbreak. We hope that the shortlisted entries of the Sanitiser Design Competition demonstrate the importance of research and innovative thinking. We look forward to seeing the entries at the museum and raising money for an important cause.”

Marcus Fairs, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Dezeen, commented: “The global design community is a tremendous resource for mankind. Creatives and designers at all levels play an important role in shaping the future at this critical time. There has been a terrific variety of responses from the practical and resourceful to the imaginative and inspiring. The best ideas will have a powerful impact on our collective safety.”

There are eight category winners, listed below:

• Awareness and Communication: Buggy, a mobile app that displays the buildup of germs on your phone using animated bacteria – by Zoe Lester, Beth Thomas, Emma Chih, Erin Giles, and Kris Murphy.
• Industrial Design: Steve Jarvis’ The Bubble Party, a sanitizing bubble machine.
• Luxury Design: Sally Reynolds’ Step One, a pedal-activated sanitizer dispenser.
• Sustainable Design: Terry Hearnshaw’s Seaweed Capsule, a dispensing system that offers hand sanitizer in single-use capsule form.
• Gesture and Ritual: Line Johnsen’s Hygiene Friendly Visits sanitizing doorbell.
• Child-Directed Design: Paint Your Hands Clean, a color-changing hand sanitizer brush by Kate Strudwick, Amos Oyedeji, Alexander Facey, and Nicole Stjernswärd.
• Cadet Designers (designed by under 18s): Bo Willis’ Handle Sanitiser, a door handle that’s also a hand gel dispenser.
• Hygiene Innovation Beyond the Sanitiser: Centrepeace by Conrad Haddaway, Twomuch Studio, and Inga Ziemele, a table centerpiece for mealtimes where diners can place their phones.

Deb Pellen, Global Director, Innovation at Bacardi, said: “Outstanding product design is always born at the intersection of human need and design possibilities. COVID-19 has brought the societal health need for effective hand cleansing into acute focus and this competition brings design possibilities that don’t just meet the need, but also bring elements of delightful surprise to the experience of using a ‘humble’ hand sanitizer. This is one way that we can help transform what is currently a fear-driven ritual into a long term habit which can benefit all.”

Sam Bompas, Director of Bompas & Parr, notes: “Developing widely adopted strategies for safely socializing is essential for the continued dynamism of the global economy. Humans are social beings and the right artifacts have a role in getting us through.”

Organizations looking to develop any of the prototypes further should contact Bompas & Parr, who will connect them with the designers.