Darshi Shah
I led the design and strategy for an IoT-enabled restroom system that turns guesswork into facts—surfacing real-time stall availability, fixture health, and supply levels at the door and inside, while nudging healthy habits like thorough handwashing. Partnering with city users and maintenance teams, I translated a social-impact brief into a practical, scalable service: lightweight sensors + glanceable UIs for people, targeted alerts and tasks for crews. The result is a predictable, low-touch experience that restores dignity, improves hygiene, and fits existing public infrastructure.
Hygiene and safety are the biggest concerns for people deciding whether to use a public restroom in Atlanta’s public spaces like parks, transit hubs, and busy corridors. Because conditions are unpredictable, many choose to wait for hours rather than risk an unclean or unsafe facility. Some restaurants limit restrooms to patrons, which further reduces options. Even when a restroom is open, basics like soap, toilet paper, and changing tables are often missing.
How can we turn public restrooms into clean, welcoming spaces and make reliable hygiene the norm for everyone?
We introduced an IoT layer that uses embedded sensors to detect stall occupancy, fixture health (sinks, soap dispensers, toilets, dryers), and supply levels. Status is surfaced in real time to people at the entrance and inside the restroom, and to maintenance crews via targeted alerts—turning guesswork into facts and closing the response loop.
Note: Some elements of this approach exist today, but were not present in our context when the project was completed in 2023.
How it works:
As part of a Georgia Tech course on social issues in Atlanta, we were asked to tackle a system-level problem. We initially explored gig workers’ access to restrooms, but quick checks showed many rely on quick-service restaurants like McDonald’s. Those conversations redirected us to the Atlanta BeltLine, where restrooms are scarce.
Pivoting from gig-worker access, we turned to public-amenity users and ran 15 Guerilla interviews on the Atlanta BeltLine and at Piedmont Park to see how people actually decide where, and whether to use public facilities.
Early signals were consistent: public restrooms are perceived as unclean and unsafe. That validation set our focus and informed the needs and personas that follow.
After the guerrilla intercepts, we ran a mixed-methods study—survey (n=43) and five semi-structured interviews to locate where the restroom experience fails. Our goals were to identify the factors that shape use, surface hygiene concerns, document current workarounds, and isolate the highest-leverage improvements.
Findings:
Interviews expanded on this with specific hygiene issues and barriers.
To identify the potential areas for design intervention, we conducted a task analysis of an individual's journey of using a public restroom.
From this exercise, we recognized two major areas for intervention :
Keeping these areas in mind, we brainstormed ten ideas for our solution:
We also converted a few of the ideas into story boards:
Among the ten concepts generated by our team, a few were pre-existing solutions, while others posed challenges for implementation in a public setting without a heavy reliance on technology. Some of these ideas were not directly aligned with our primary project focus, which is cleanliness. Through this, we chose to go ahead with our IOT solution.
We first started out by making a moodboard and curating a collage of colors, textures, and images that encapsulated the essence of our creative vision. This visual roadmap became the foundation upon which we built our design system, setting the tone for the entire creative process.
Next, we developed a comprehensive design system, detailing every aspect of our design, from color palettes and typography choices to layout principles and interaction guidelines, to ensure seamless and harmonious consistency of our design across all our products and platforms.
To test our solution, we opted for usability tests with five participants. These tests were conducted in two parts: assessing the in-restroom experience, and testing the maintenance app.
In the first test phase, participants completed the end-to-end restroom journey using our design: they read the entrance display, chose an available stall, navigated inside, located a working sink with soap, washed their hands with the smart-mirror timer, and reported any issues they encountered. This flow let us evaluate comprehension of status cues, wayfinding, hygiene nudges, and the ease of reporting
During the second phase of our usability test, we instructed participants to evaluate the app intended for use by the maintenance crew.
Through this project, we've come to understand that not every problem necessitates a groundbreaking solution, often existing technologies can be effectively leveraged.
Moving forward, we envision several avenues for improvement and expansion:
Enhance Features
We aim to augment our restroom system by integrating additional functionalities such as pet parking stations and drinking water stations, enhancing the overall user experience.
Prototype Development
Our next step involves constructing a tangible prototype for real-world testing. We recognize the importance of conducting actual testing with end-users to refine our solution effectively.
Consider Technological Viability
As we progress, we'll carefully evaluate the feasibility of implementing advanced technologies like transparency-changing doors on a large scale. Balancing innovation with practicality is crucial in ensuring the sustainability and scalability of our solution.