We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Yueyue (Zoey) Zhang about their original and creative Tableware design work. Yueyue (Zoey) Zhang is an award-winning industrial designer, that makes our world a better place with their original tableware works.
Yueyue (Zoey) Zhang ("Y(Z") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work GravitATE Tableware. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
Y(Z : The problem that this design addressed is how to make people involved in the mealtime more. Letting them slow down and be more focused, so as to improve their dining experience. In my design process, I don't want the final direction to be a restaurant-style experience that allows people to lose interest after the first experience. Therefore, in the process of creative development, I attach great importance to the feasibility of the concept and whether it can really inviting people more.
Y(Z : Does the product help users to eat slowly through more interactions is the main question that I considered during my design process. I hope my design can help people create a sweet mealtime scenario that people take their time, sharing conversation and food, interact with each other intuitively.
Y(Z : It should continue to improve this design. For now, this design is not enough for the home environment. Such as finding a better way to store them. Similarly, whether the final material used in this design is suitable for mass production, processing methods and costs are all I will continue to improve.
Y(Z : This is my thesis project, except the previous literature review. The whole design process took me 4 months.
Y(Z : This project addresses the recent changes in family eating behaviors. Positive dining experiences affect people’s physical and psychological health. However, based on the research, it shows that families shared less time and ate together less. Also, during family mealtime, almost half of people get distracted by technology and they eat mindlessly, which could cause health issues. So I started to take into consideration the essential reasons behind the behavior that happens during negative family mealtime by conducting field research with some families.
Y(Z : This is a design project from my graduate phase. I would love to sell or lease the production rights if any company is interested.
Y(Z : My Prof. Alex Lobos has given me a lot of help in my design process. In the creative stage, he gave me a lot of suggestions and tried a variety of brainstorming methods with me to get the inspiration. He has always encouraged me and supported my design.
Y(Z : Families who want to improve the dining experience; people who want to eat slowly and interact with others better.
Y(Z : Because the final products have the potential for movement, I thought about the word "gravitate". I capitalize the last three words "ate" to "ATE" became of the past tense of "eat".
Y(Z : 3D-Printing and Fusion360 were the main tools that support my design process. Once I had an idea, I made a quick mock-up through clay, foam or foam cord etc. Then, I used fusion360 to model my idea and sent to 3d-printing. After the user testing of the 3d-printed model, I developed my ideas based on the feedback. My design process kind like a circle design process.
Y(Z : The most unique aspect of my design is the form of each tableware. They all have the potential for movement and interpersonal interaction. it invites and encourages users to share these interactions intuitively and ensure the usability as a tableware.
Y(Z : literature view, field research, observation and interview of my target user groups.
Y(Z : The biggest challenge was to find the final design direction. At the beginning of my design, I explored a lot of ideations related to the entire environment of the dining room, and I tried to keep my mind open to explore different ideas based on the directions which are "sharing interactions", "new experiences", "food culture" and "back to nature" etc. Also, I made mock-ups to test the relationship between the dining space layout and user behaviors, how different table shapes and tableware forms can affect users’ behaviors. Through my testing, I concluded that people were attracted by the mock-ups which have the potential to move because it led them to interact with each other more. So I made some mock-ups based on very basic movements such as "seesaw", "swinging", "spinning", "sliding", and "rolling" and I invited people to try them. And then, I compared the five movements using feasibility and safety as my two key criteria. Also, I thought about ways to combine the different movements into the products. Finally, I decided to design tableware, because, compared to dining tables. Tableware is cheaper, easier, and it has more potential to encourage customers to purchase over time. Meanwhile, it is a very important bridge between people and food, people interact with it the most during mealtime.
Y(Z : International design competitions are a good way to verify designs. Because you can get recommendations from a professional jury. Similarly, international competitions are also a platform for designers to showcase themselves. In this way, you can find like-minded friends, inspire each other, and get connections and job opportunities.
