Daily UX Challenge #5 — Teacup
This is a part of #DailyUX design challenge series. I write about my thought process of approaching 20 different design prompts.
Design Prompt
There are so many ways all around the world to prepare/enjoy a good tea. What’s yours?
My Cup of Tea (literally)
Even though I was born and raised in a Cantonese-speaking small town in southern China, my fondest memory of drinking tea is not from the yum cha gatherings growing up. It was from those evenings when I was a kid — my dad taught me to play Chinese chess in the hospital office during his night shifts. He always had a full pot of tea when the night started. The memory was warm because of holding a warm cup of tea and slowly sipping it through a long chess game with my dad.
That’s probably why later throughout my student life, whenever I needed to pull an all-nighter, having a cup of tea had also become my habit — not only because tea contains a small amount of caffeine which I learned, but also I like the warmth that made late-night study less boring.
Fast forward to my working life, drinking tea is now usually a result of me crunching over the computer for too long. Because my body stays in the same position for minutes, if not hours (not good!), the blood circulation of my hands slows down, so my hands get cold. That makes me crave for a cup of hot tea. Because I love to feel the warmth of teacup, smell the aroma of tea leaf, blow the hot steam to my face and soothe my sore eyes.
My Ideal Teacup
Why did I bother taking a trip down memory lane before I get to the design prompt? Because I want my ideal teacup not only let me enjoy my tea (desired function) but also somehow forms a connection between itself and me to brings out the positive emotions I have about drinking tea (enhanced the experience).
Extra stability & durability
I’m clumsy — not that I have balance issues or plus size or shaky hands, but I often find myself carelessly bumping into sharp corners or knocking off stuff around me regardless where I go. So it’d be beneficial if I could have a teacup that can prevent spilling, or at least lower the possibility of spilling, and not easy to break even if I drop it.
Feel the warmth without getting burned
My ideal teacup should be made of some material conduct heat well, but not so well that I might burn my hands due to the heat from boiling water. It’d be nice if something could act as a layer or coating between the teacup and my palm.
Also, some ergonomic touch of the teacup handle that forms a nice grip would help me have a solid hold of it and feel the warmth at the same time.
Design inspiration
Out of the empathy for her uncle who’s diagnosed with Parkinson’s, young Indian product designer Mileha Soneji designed a spill-proof cup for him, so he is confident to drink tea or coffee in public again. Even if she initially created it to help people with tremors ease their embarrassment, she made the design so inclusive that almost anyone could use it (at least I would consider using it for my clumsiness).
Overall the design of no-spill cup has covered most of my needs. Though there are a few things I’d change for my ideal teacup design:
Material:
- I learned from Mileha’s Behance page that the cup is made of Melamine which does not heat up. I would replace with something let me feel the warmth.
- Since I’ve never held the no-spill cup, I can’t tell how light or heavy it feels in my hand. Personally, I prefer something that has some weight, so it gives a solid and grounded feeling.
Tea-drinking details:
- Most of the time I make tea using tea bags when I’m at work and using tea infuser while I’m at home. Either way, it’d be nice to have a portable tea bag or infuser caddy to go with the teacup, so that I could throw away the tea bag or loose leaves in the infuser without worrying about dripping water all over the place.
- When I make tea using tea bags, the tea bags tend to fall into the cup while I pour in hot water (it happened several times). It’d be nice if I could keep the tea bag in place to steep, also easy to discard when steeping is done.
Final Sketch
This is what I currently use as “teacup” in the office — a mason jar with a mug sleeve, and the jar’s cup is often used as a tea bag caddy:
Here is the final “upgraded” design I came up with accommodating all my needs, wants and desires:
- Using stainless steel with silicone coating, I could warm my hand without getting burned and get a good grip thanks to the traction;
- Adding memory foam or some cushion to the back of teacup handle can give comfort to the back of my hand and knuckles;
- Adding a removable tea bag caddy underneath the teacup so I keep the tea bag in place while steeping my tea, and conveniently use it to hold the ready-to-dispose tea bag or infuser.
What I learned
Design principles seem to be applicable to design in any forms or domains. Whether it’s a computer program or a physical product, we really need to dig into people’s head and understand what they need, want and desire in order to create something they would use, and eventually, enjoy using and want to enhance the ownership. Designing for one person is always easier than designing for a larger scale. Though it doesn’t change the fact that we need to understand and observe, and reflect on the design with a thoughtful solution.
Previous pieces in the series (so far)
Challenge #1 — Wallet
Challenge #2 — Landing page
Challenge #3 — Parking machine
Challenge #4 — Chatbot onboarding flow
