SOY WENDY ELY
CJ #ONE
Contents:
How to read this book
1.
Introduction
2.
Background Research
3.
Research Activities
4.
Design Activities
5.
Summary + What’s Next
How to read this book
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Good stuff
Findings + Discussions
Insights
Reflection + Moving Forward
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1. Introduction
Project Proposal
Initial Brief Starting from no background research from my Exploration, the this page states my initial project proposal and why I chose the this topic.
Changing topics from Exploration to Major Project was not easy. My exploration proposal was to design an air conditioning system for rural areas in Indonesia. On my journey exploring this topic, I realised that this is not it. I had to change or tweak this proposal. There was a whole host of reasons why: 1. Tacking the whole rural area of Indonesia was not possible. 2. To select one specific are to focus on, I would need further research because each community in each area is different and with the time given, it was not plausible. 3. Designing an air conditioning system would require engineering knowledge as to understanding how much air x how much area of space is required, or how much energy would require to power it up and how to gather the energy (provided limited electricity in rural areas). 4. Users – the rural Indonesian people are still very foreign about the concept of air conditioning.
Inception of idea
25/Jan’16 Design a soy milk maker that is not only aesthetically beautiful, easy to use and clean, but also let people live healthier, provide alternative for the lactose intolerant or people who are allergic to milk and help them understand about GMO (eg. soy and other beans).
Classic Industrial Design Designing a soymilk maker would be like designing any kitchen appliances, therefore, this product design is viewed as a type of classic industrial design piece.
Upon showing Howard my new proposal one of the first thing he commented was that this would be a classic industrial design project. He then he told me the difference between an industrial designer and an engineer, and how it’s vital to understand that. For example, an industrial designer would look at the environment as well as the product, will look at the overall, take advantage of the details, how it feels to touch it. Compared to a product engineer that would only focus on its function and making it work.
Moodboards I went home and observed where the soymilk maker was placed in my home, other family members and friends home.
The purpose of the mood board is to give me a sense of how brand place into the design characteristics of their products. The examples are some of which Howard suggested. All the brands has a strong not just design characteristics but also brand value. And it is clear to me since inception that I don’t want my product to just be another kitchen product I wanted to stand the test of time, with high-quality materials and good user experience.
Research Timeline
2. Background Research
To soy or not to soy The contraversial and very widely debates of whether soy is beneficial or harmful.
Key
To soy or not to soy The contraversial and very widely debates of whether soy is beneficial or harmful.
This excerpt is taken from a famous Taiwanese TV show aimed for Taiwanese mothers, the show brings in doctors and nutritionists to inform them to live healthier. General translation: Soy milk nutrition and facts: Soymilk is rich soy proteins, soy lecithin, soy isoflavone and is especially recognised for its oestrogen supplements Helps women improve menopausal status, anti-aging and provides nutrition for the skin. Its high nutritional value got its name of [Oriental Milk].
The main arguments in soy is bad is because people are buying commercial soy products and what people put in it.The basis of many of the arguments are weak. If the problem people have with drinking soymilk is with commercial soy products adding ingredients like carrageenan or with them not knowing where the beans are from, then the solution would be simple: to make your own soymilk at home knowing fully what kind of soy you use, where the water is from and what additional ingredient you want to put/not put.
Soy: Usage Around the World Originated from the East, soy is widely used around the world.
Soymilk Maker Unpopular, but proven useful to those who own one. Here are pictures of soymilk makers, what they look like and the reviews online.
To put simply, a soymilk maker is a small electrical kitchen appliance that turns soybeans into soymilk by adding water and clicking a button. The process is very similar to coffee maker. A JoyYoung Soymilk maker takes about 15 to 30 minutes (depending on thickness and consistency) to create 1 litre of soybean with 80 grams of soybeans and 1.3 litres of water. It is optional whether the user wants to soak the soybeans beforehand. Soaking will usually take 6-8 hours but will produce soymilk with richer taste.
Soymilk Maker in the Kitchen I went home and observed the kitchen environment where users will use or keep their soymilk makers.
Observing the environment of the kitchen is an important activity because I want to understand the relationship between the environment and the product and the user. With this activity, I have observed that it needs to be near an electric socket because most of the cables are pretty short. Not only that but I have observed where the soymilk maker is placed, and its surrounding and I realised that there needs to be at least some space to put an extra jug to sieve the soymilk once it’s done cooking and a space to put the dripping machine cover. The kitchen environment back in Jakarta is usually quite noisy, inhibiting the user from hearing the beeps when the soy milk is done. - What if I use another method of telling the users that the milk is done rather than just a few beeps. - Cable/plug problem. Either a longer cable or the machine has to be easily. - Machine needs a strong presence in kitchen or else easily blend in and forgotten.
Interesting findings
Small Electrical Kitchen Appliances Brainstorming with a friend on the different kinds of small electrical kitchen appliances.
The purpose of this activity is to basically look at common small kitchen appliances in the market. This is because a soymilk maker is sort of a combination of a few of those small kitchen appliances. For example a soymilk maker has the components of a blender, juicer, food processor to grind the beans. It also has the components of a kettle, coffee maker, a rice cooker, steamer used to heat up and cook the soymilk.
I feel like this activity has helped me organise my thoughts as to how I can categorise a soymilk maker. It gave me a clearer view on the main features I will want and how I could use it as a USP as a multifunctional machine. The price range category was also very beneficial because it showed me the price range of my soya milk maker according to features, this can help me justify the price range of my machine and why it would be significantly higher than just a kettle or juicer or simply rice cooker.
Interesting findings
Minor Review: Interim I was back in Indonesia when the interim took place, therefore there was a very limited things I can present. But this interim was eye-opening.
I am actually very surprised that upon showing them what a soymilk maker is it seemed to me they were quite interested and excited about it. Getting feedback from Simon was beneficial because it showed me another perspective of how I can view soymilk making as a ritual rather than just people using the machine and how they interact it. Moving forward I would definitely take the advice and give the process of making soy milk a new perspective. I think this would bring a fresh look onto the whole ritual of soymilk making: from soaking the beans to making it to taking the first sip and also washing the product after using it.
Howard:
- how awkward to put in dish washer - the details, video data of how people use them - obvious but crucial, they inform design actions - observe everything
Simon:
- what market you want when you position your product? - what kind of people need this most? - ritual, what is it like for users to make soymilk before a soymilk machine? - compare it to tea, or nutribullet, or other companies that doesnt make good soymilk makers
3. Research Activities Pt. 1: Soymilk Pt. 2: Soymilk Machine
Pt. 1: Soymilk
Blind Soy Test Take different brands of soy milk and home made soy milk, put them in a cup and let people try and choose which ones they prefer.
The soy milk is divided in to two parts, sweetened and unsweetened. This is because separating it would yield more credible results.
SWEET
UNSWEET
1
Purpose of activity: There are many soy milk in the market, brands both imported and made locally. The aim of this test is to see whether people prefer homemade soy milk rather than the ones bought, whether home made soy milk tastes different and whether people like the difference. The results of this test could determine whether the soymilk made at home would not only be healthier but also tastier.
This test can be concluded that the majority of people like the home made unsweetened soymilk. Many said that the home made soymilk has the most bean taste and flavour. The other two that are bought seemed too mild and people can’t seem to tell the difference. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a difference not only in ingredients but also taste. With the sweet one it is a tie between homemade and the Vamino brand. Most guys like the Vamino brand because it is the sweetest and has a strong thick milky flavour to it. The people that chose homemade said they like it because of its rich bean taste, even after there were sugar added in.
Vamino
Alpro
Home made
Natural House
Home made
Alpro
Tesco
- It verified to me that homemade soymilk tastes different, better even. - Better tasting, rich flavoured soymilk could be an argument as to why people will want to buy soymilk makers.
Success
Survey Anonymous online survey was created and sent to people all over the globe to see if there is a market out there for soy milk maker.
This survey aims to give me a better understanding about what people know about soy milk makers, why people drink or don’t drink soy milk and whether people would want to spend 20 minute of their time to make fresh soy milk at home.
What do you think this device is?
16/55 say its a soymilk maker 15/55 say its a juicer/blender/mixer 9/55 say its a water heater/thermos 6/55 say its coffee/tea related 3/55 say its a milk frother and the rest include milkshake maker, soupmaker.
Reflection Not a lot of people recognise a soymilk maker by its first glance, I would need to take this into account when designing mine because if the device were to be put on a shelf with hundreds of people walking past it everyday, I would want my product to speak for itself. This survey is also valuable because over 50% of the respondents like the taste of it, and in addition to the previous blind soy test, it can help me confirm that making good quality soymilk with a rich taste would be one of the main factors in how the soymilk maker will sell in the market.
Interesting findings
You can see the survey here:
Making Tofu Hua and Egg Tofu There are many usage of soymilk, and I had the priviledge to watch an experienced auntie create secondary products out of soymilk. Results of making toufufa
With home made soymilk
With Aldi soymilk
Making egg tofu
1
2
3
4
The objective of this activity is simply to understand the usage of soymilk in making other food products. How a soymilk maker can help ease the job of making those food products. My friend’s friend, a mother of three, knows how to and has been making toufufa for over a decade, a kind of silk tofu popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, I went to her house to observe her make it.
“I used to make my own soymilk, then make toufufa with it. But as I get older, making soymilk the traditional way took too much time and energy, especially straining the pulp. Now I would just get a box of soymilk from Aldi and make toufufa with it.” The auntie was surprised at how quick and how convenient the machine works. Making toufufa requires hot, boiling soymilk that is quickly poured into gypsum and corn flour. She was im-pressed that the soymilk that came out was already hot since she would usually boil Aldi bought soymilk, take away the bubbles and occasionally watch and stir it so it does not burn and overflow.
It became clear how much time a soymilk maker can save if using to create a secondary product. But one of her concern is that some recipes to make tofu, for example egg tofu needs cold soymilk to make. Therefore, for demonstration, she used Aldi soymilk to make the egg tofu. Additionally, the auntie’s reaction is insightful to me because being able to get hot or cold soymilk is vital for her next step in creating a secondary product. Some of the products need to be from hot temperatures and some needs to be from room temperature. I had always thought drinking soymilk was enjoyed best when warm, because the bean taste and smell is at its peak. This barrier about temperature had also made me realise that not everyone would like to drink hot drinks, especially when people are so accustomed to drinking ready made milk taken fresh out from the fridge.
Observation
Barrier
Would it be worth to make a machine that can no only heat but cool the soymilk?
Pt. 2: Soymilk Machine
The Art of Making Soy (traditional) Looking at how people would make soymilk at home before a soymilk machine was available.
6 hours later
boil, then simmer
stirring occasionally
Making soy milk from scratch is actually pretty easy even without soy milk maker. The steps are simple: soak the beans for about 6 to 8 hours, blend it with water, sieve the pulp and boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Thinking about the whole ritual of making soy milk for daily consumption is actually more used in the East, and being from Asia, I know for a fact that most women’s role is to be in the house, especially the kitchen and doing these kind of activities would be common for them. But on the other hand, in Western cultures where the role of women is not just to stay home and take care of their children, making soy milk the traditional way would seem to be more of a chore or barrier rather than a ritual.
East vs West
Barrier
The Art of Making Soy (machine) Asked a few people to make soymilk from start to finish and observed what and how they did it.
6 hours later
20 mins later
I asked two different people too make soy milk with their soymilk machine and I video taped the whole process. I can conclude that the two people, although achieving the same same product in the end does things differently, and I think observing the littlest things could bring value into how different people interact differently with the same product. For example, one would plug in the cable first, then use another container to measure the water and transfer it into the machine, while the second person would take the machine to the sink, fill it up with water until it reached the desired measurement engraved in the machine.
What was good about this activity is that it really helps me understand the relationship between user and product. I think insight from observation brings value as its more about doing things unconsciously yet picking up the small details. What I would improve will be to have someone that has no prior knowledge to using a soy milk maker try and use the machine. This will be valuable to show how the users play with their intuition and how the machine’s design limits or enables the certain intuitive actions like which button to press or what’s the first thing do.
Observation
Interesting findings
Success
What users are saying
What’s bothering you? (physical) The physical (form) barriers of using a soymilk machine interview
Reflection
“The annoying thing about making soymilk at home is that it does not eliminate the pulp. This is an issue for me because first, I will need to use a sieve, which means I will need to wash that up later. Not only that but if I want a 100% no pulp soymilk, I would need to sieve a few times and even so without using proper straining cloth there would still be remains of it. And if I don’t properly sieve it, my children and husband would not drink it - Sharon, Taipei (47) “My dad likes to drink soymilk, and making soymilk at home is healthier, but because of the mess caused due to the need to sieve, we eventually stopped using it.” - Michelle, Jakarta (22) “It’s actually quite noisy, imagine waking up to a quiet morning wanting to drink soymilk, then distrupted by the sudden sound of beans grinding.” - Erica, Newcastle (28)
Conducting this activity and interviewing people about what they think about their machine was more successful than I thought. I would not imagine their annoyance of the pulp if there weren’t so many complains about it. Additionally, as can be seen in the pictures I realise that when pouring the soymilk, bits tend to leak out of the machine and although it does not seem like a big thing just wiping it away after, this minor detail is still a barrier. Moving forward, I would want to find a solution or at least minimise the impact of soy pulp to the overall experience of using my machine. The steps I would need is further research and contacting professionals to help me verify the research I have.
Opportunity
Observation
Barrier
What users are saying
What’s bothering you? (interaction) The interaction between the user and the product and the barriers of using a soymilk machine interview
Regarding the interaction between user and product, there is more to say about the process before and after making the soymilk. There is an awkwardness when washing the lid and machine part of the maker, especially the part on with the blade. As I observe both the users wash the soymilk maker it became clear that it was a barrier. Howard had always emphasised the ease of putting the machine into the dishwasher. I have definitely considered that, but I don’t want to just rely on washing with a dishwasher because I know there many Asian do not use a dishwasher. Another barrier was that the user was scared that water would enter the machine when washing. Secondly, I feel that the two touch points of the machine and container are only in the handles, and it is actually quite awkward seeing the user switching it between one hand to the next, then using both hands as she wash and rinse.
- maybe seperate the machine and container for ease of washing - touch points of the machine when washing should be more intuitive - provide user with different sponge/brush to wash
4. Design Activities
Surfacing: Sketch
Upon undertaking the research activities and gathering insights I started sketching to see and visualise the form and shape of the machine and predominantly looking at lines to make it aesthetically pleasing. But I realised more I sketch the more of a spiral I went into because all I was doing was sketching the surface and not really putting any of the insights I got from the activities into the sketches, making it more meaningful, therefore I took a step back and sort of started working with the specifics.
Surfacing: Sketch
The first insight I looked at was the awkwardness of washing, unplugging the cables to wash and moving it the machine around. The concept therefore I proposed is to create a base where all the machine and the buttons and cables would be. It’s sort of like taking the idea from a blender. But the heating and grinding elements would still be on the lid itself. Ideally, there would no electrical components inside making it safe to put in the dishwasher. Having a base would also ensure a place for the soymilk maker in the kitchen, maximising its presence.
What’s to Include? Looking at what components make a soymilk maker and what is usually included when buying one.
To maximise the users experience of using the soymilk maker, such as ease of washing. But I want my product to be easy to use or clean even without adding extra components. Other than that, I would also want to include these features in mine, I would also want to create a recipe book because a soymilk maker does not only make soymilk, but also porridge, or soup.
This is an example of what is usually in a soymilk maker box.
USP
Core Technologies: Grinding Looking at how grinding and the design of the blade could play a role in drinking the soymilk experience.
After a lot of research it seemed that the grinding process would be the most suitable way of getting rid or minimising the soy pulp. One of the reasons why people want to sieve the pulp is ultimately because of the taste. The sandy, grainy texture or feeling people get when swallowing soymilk with pulp is not enjoyable. If this problem of the texture when swallowing is solved, then the likeliness of people wanting to sieve their soymilk would be solved too.
Therefore I looked at the differently in different machines and look at the reviews online to see how coarse or how thin the pulp is after making soymilk I looked at 3 blades and 4 blades soymilk machine and tried to sketch and CAD them up. These blades still need validated by experts and therefore I am currently contacting companies that not only make soymilk makers but also juicers or mixers.
USP
Opportunity
Core Technologies: Heating The contraversial and very widely debates of whether soy is beneficial or harmful. The heating element of the machine is also very crucial part because if the soy milk is not properly cooked, it will be harmful to the body. Not only that but if the temperature is not right it would also burn the milk and the machine. One of the most important point of getting a soymilk maker is that users don’t have to put on a stove and take care of it while it cooks. The automatic cooking feature is what sells .
Most of the soymilk machine has their heating component on the lid with a thick rod coming down. This is what makes the lid of the soymilk machine heavy, hard to wash and have soypulp stick and dries quickly when not emerged in water. This way is an effective way in heating the soymilk because it would heat up faster and prevent the base of the machine to burn.
Contacting Companies Stephen Houghton of Black and Decker has agreed to help.
Because soymilk makers are not as popular as other kitchen appliances, finding contacts seems to be harder than expected. I emailed David and Ian and thankfully they introduced me to Stephen, the Director of Industrial Design in Black and Decker. We’ve exchanged emails but currently still awaiting reply from Stephen about a meeting with him or his team. Moving foreward, I would like to contact other kitchen appliances company even if they do not sell a soymilk maker, even having their input on this new product in the market would be valuable.
Further steps
Barrier
Interface Touchpoints to operate the machine.
Interface of the soymilk maker is the point of contact that is most important because it lets the user tell the product what to d0. If it’s not clear, the user will take a long time to figure out how to use it or end up disappointed with the product. Many soymilk makers from China provide many features but when they are sold in America or UK the text is still in Chinese. The pictures are not clear enough to let users understand without reading the texts.
If there was a base, then the interface would be on the base. There would be more space, and more freedom to play with the buttons.
USP
Opportunity
- buttons (the feeling of touching the start button vs touching select button) - timer feature and interface - clean picture or words, not both, looks too complicated
Before Using the Machine The ritual of not just making soymilk but taking out beans and soaking them.
Brainstorming with Sandra Elliot from E.S.A.P, she said,
“Have you considered the ritual of taking beans out from the cupboard, measuring it and soaking it? Can you design a way to include these steps into the whole experience of making soymilk?
- design space for the soybeans storage and soaking soybeans? - people dont know what to do and where to put the measuring cup - machine help soak beans at 60 degrees (germination of soy increase 6x isoflavones)
USP
Opportunity
Barrier
5. Summary + What’s Next
Summary
Refined Brief
Decisions
9 Mar ‘16 Design a soy milk maker that is not only aesthetically beautiful, easy to use and clean, but also let people live healthier, provide alternative for the lactose intolerant or people who are allergic to milk and help them understand about GMO (eg. soy and other beans). The soymilk maker will have finer soypulp, have a base with beautiful interface. Dishwasher safe, and no awkwardness when holding to wash it. The ritual of soaking soy and placement in the kitchen is considered. It will include the feature a timer that lets you set when you want to cook the soy, a feature to incubate soy at 60 degrees when soaking. It will also include an interactive recipe book and a strong online presence for customer services.
What’s Next
Decisions
- CONTACTING COMPANIES FOR MARKET VALIDATION AND MACHINE VALIDATION - MODELS + VALIDATION FROM MODELS - FINALISE CONCEPT - MATERIALS -LONGETIVITY -PRESENTATION AND COMMUNICATION