Learning Summary
Product design is a new topic in my whole life, which I have never come across. However, I think it is fun to create something innovative, and somehow it could be a new product on the market. I picked Specialty Coffee as the product design topic as I am a coffee lover and the growing demand for specialty coffee.
Product 1: All-in-one Automatic Pour-Over Coffee Machine
Before I go into the outlook design, I thought of the pain points of making a high-quality coffee in the office or at home for most people. To make an excellent pour-over coffee, you need a coffee grinder, a scale with timer, kettle, thermometer, coffee dripper and a sharing pot.
Pour-over coffee requires 3Ts; Time, Temperature, Turbulence. There are a few automatic hand drip coffee makers in the market; however, it only pours the water in one direction and without any temperature control. You may need to buy an individual coffee grinder to make coffee grounds. So, I started my design concept by functionalities and hope this product can meet the customers’ needs.
This all-in-one automatic pour-over coffee machine is designed mainly for the lazy coffee lover to be used at home or in the office. This machine consists of a coffee grinder, water tank, spiral water dispenser with temperature control, V60 coffee dripper, and pot and coffee scale with timer. You can choose your grind size, water temperature for different coffee beans, and there is a scale underneath which you can brew your desired amount of coffee.
Time
With the scale underneath, you can make the coffee in your preferred ratio and time and get a cup of coffee that suits you.
Temperature
It is a crucial factor affecting quality. We usually use 88°C to 94°C water to brew different origin coffee beans. Roast and brew temperature are also independent variables that you can use to control the resulting cup’s flavour. To that end, you should adjust the temperature to your taste.
Turbulence
If water is pouring in one direction, you cannot extract all the coffee’s aroma at all, and the spiral water dispenser can pour in a way that evenly immerses the grounds in water and extract the most desired flavour.
Product 2: AI Self-Sustainable Eco-Friendly Coffee Greenhouse
Cultivation of coffee requires warm temperature, abundant rainfall, shade, and a high attitude. However, Hong Kong is not an ideal location for growing coffee. That is why I have an idea of creating an AI-controlled Coffee Tree Greenhouse to fulfil the essential growth conditions of cultivating coffee in Hong Kong.
Temperature
Arabica Coffee tree is a tropical tree that prefers to stay warm and humid. An ideal temperature of growing coffee is an average daytime temperature between 20°C-27°C and nighttime temperature between 18°C-21°C; temperature too low and too high will affect its growth; reduce in production and bean size.
Rainfall
Coffee needs abundant rainfall and grows well in high humidity locations. The soil should keep slightly moist at all time. Water stagnation is very harmful to coffee trees, so it must avoid waterlogging and ensure the drainage is good.
Shade
Bright sunshine is necessary for coffee, but not direct sunlight, especially around noon since it could burn the leaves.
Attitude
Generally, coffee is grown on slopes having a height between 600 to 1,800 metres, and a higher attitude enhances coffee flavours.
This AI-controlled Coffee Greenhouse creates the best-controlled growing environment for different types of coffee trees to grow inside the greenhouse in their most preferred biosphere by ensuring the most optimal supply of life-sustaining elements are provided to the coffee trees at the right moment during their growing cycles with minimum energy input and external intervention.
The built-in AI can monitor the coffee tree growing cycle and reproduce the micro weather conditions that best suit the particular coffee tree to grow in the precisely controlled and most preferred environment. The micro weather and environmental conditions like soil, humidity, air quality; the growth and health conditions of the coffee trees like the trunk, leave and bean sizes; the supply cycles of light, mist, water, and nutrients are all fully monitored and controlled by AI. The AI can learn and recognize each of the coffee trees’ particular growing patterns and habits and manage the built-in environmental and ecosystem hardware to provide the essential growing elements for the coffee trees.
The Coffee Greenhouse is both WiFi and Bluetooth based. If networked, the clustered Coffee Greenhouse can create a community and communicate to obtain the relevant data. The coffee trees can be visually checked and controlled real-time remotely via a smartphone App.
The Coffee Tree Greenhouse measures 4m(L) x 4m(W) x 2mm(H) in size. The fully concealable airtight crystal shell is made up of electric frosted glass to control the light cycles as well as the atmospheric pressure. The metal alloy base will house the growing pod, the water recirculation and nutrient supply hardware with digital display of live data, AI main control board, USB(C), power and water point connections. The Coffee Greenhouse is both PC and IOS compatible. It is fully App-based and both Android and IOS friendly. Together with the AI-controlled built-in LED UVA/B/C lighting system, mister system, air pressure system, hot/cool temperature control system, air and water quality control system and the artificial wind and water circulating system, the Coffee Tree Greenhouse will mimic and recreate the most optimal self-sustainable eco-friendly growing environment for any coffee trees you prefer.
Finally, with my team member, Michelle, we developed a pitching deck for this coffee greenhouse, created a new brand called ZENSORIO.
The business model is built upon leveraging the complementary nature of the coffee and arts & culture business. The revenue model is composed of seven groups of revenue streams:
1. Specialty coffee (serving handcrafted specialty coffee by the top-notch barista)
2. Sustainable dining (serving local ingredients, low carbon menu, green and healthy dishes and drinks)
3. Sales of art pieces
4. AI Self-Sustainable Eco-Friendly Coffee Greenhouse (to grow our own coffee bean)
5. Premium coffee products (selling premium coffee-related products and monthly coffee subscription plan)
6. Online shop (Website Facebook, IG shop)
7. A branded APP for a loyalty programme, online purchase, order tracking with payment gateway
The first three lessons of Product & Prototyping allow me to understand the functional use, style, quality delivered to customers, and cost are crucial in product design. I also learnt the functionality and characteristics of different materials and their potential in product design. Combined with the knowledge I have learned from Research & Communications, Creative Thinking, and Professional Practice, it inspires me to adopt my learnings in developing an innovative product and turning it into a business in the end.
