Designing the on-to-go meal experience

Wenqing Yin

7 min readSep 8, 2020

01 Research Existing Product

02 User Research

2.1 Task Analysis

some screenshots of the process of packing lunch

2.2 Another Task Analysis

03 Defining the criteria

3.1 Establishing the Persona

3.2 Food of Choice

The food I’m choosing to create a container for is sandwich. According to the people I interviewed, they preferred something that was easy to make and carry and sandwich was one of their top choices.

Problems they faced with carrying and eating sandwich:

The layers between the bread fall out while transporting it from one place to another.
The bread gets wet if it is not eaten for a long time.
It is hard and not hygenic enough to insert your hands into the container to get it out.
People may feel not hygienic to eat by hand while they are doing other things at the same time such as checking their phones.

04 Concept Development

4.1 Brainstorming

Brainstorming Ideas (The ones that are highlighted are the ones have potential for development)

4.2 Three Directions

1st Direction

Pros:

The rim is comfortable for the thumb to hold.
The curve at the bottom allows it to be placed on lap stably.
The lid can lie flat on the table so that people can prepare sandwiches on it.
The lock can be used to grab the sandwich so that the user won’t worry about whether their hands are clean enough or not.

Cons:

Whether the lock works the way it is intended depends on the users’ habits.
It might be hard to fit the snacks in this lunchbox as it will enlarge the size of it to make it not suitable for hand-holding.
Except for the lock feature, this concept is not innovative enough to make it desired for the users.

2nd Direction

3rd Direction

4.3 Narrowing Down

In this phase, I am about to choose one direction to pursue.

The feedback I received for my concept:

The proportion of the model is not right: too big for the sandwich.
The way (sliding motion) the user would take out and put in the sandwich is not intuitive enough.
The insecurity of exposing the lid outside. Maybe try another way to fold it.
Think about the context of carrying: coffee cup, backpack, lunchbox…
Modeling it using other materials to think about the extent it will expand and compress.
Think about the food, model it by other material instead of a block of foam

Reference of the compression interaction

Key changes:

Be able to hold the coffee cup while transporting
The thickness of the compartment will reduce half while it is compressed.
The dent to hold the coffee cup is deeper to keep the cup more stable.
The mechanism of opening the lid: the lid now is separated from the rest of the container.

Improvement of the interaction model （final interaction model)

Key changes:

Simplify the interaction. I discovered it was unnecessary to have the outer fabric part to hold the containers together since the two containers were already connected.
Adding a place for napkin and utensils. Since the place for napkin and utensils were on the fabric part in my previous concept, I have to create a space in the container for placing those.

5. Styling

5.1 Brand preference

Based on the preference of my persona, the three keywords that I chose for this product are fun, playful, and simple.

5.2 Form exploration

These are the sketches of exploring what the form should look like.

5.3 Grey model

Some feedback I got for the gray model:

The part joining the handle and the body of the container is too thin, which makes it look very fragile.
The transition from the handle to the frame can be smoother and less abrupt.
The overall shape is very simple but the details elevate the whole form.
The curves on the form are very consistent.