Tea Break
a mindful moment
Seeking meaningful designs that address challenges faced by telecommuters who live in smaller homes
Working from home is often seen as a luxury, but over 40% of people who work from home stated that they felt stressed due their work environment.
How can we reduce stress for people who work from home?
Exploration of opportunities that help reduce stress for people who work from home.
In Search of Meaning
Concept 1: How might we reduce stress for people who work from home?
Concept 2: How might we elevate a telecommuters space to facilitate togetherness?
Concept 3: How might we make a statement about the unhealthy work/life balance of modern adults?
After this stage I narrowed it down to concept 1, tea break; a mindful moment, because it felt the most in line with my problem statement, reducing stress for telecommuters.
Mindful Moment
the art of letting it go
Disconnecting from technology to reconnect with ones self. The user will write on the special tea paper with the safe ink pen. They are free to write whatever they please. The tea paper will then be used to make themselves tea. This practices the art of letting things go and helps the user focus on the present moment.
Research Validation
“Writing things down helps you recognize and process your emotions. Because you’re forced to put your emotions to writing, you can process your thoughts (whether positive or negative) and feelings at a much deeper level than simply thinking about it. It’s also a form of release or therapy whenever you’re feeling angry, depressed, or overwhelmed.”
Cutting ties with the outside world from time to time allows us to recover from weekly stress and gives us space for other thoughts and ideas emerge, said Jackie Stone, CMO of personal cloud storage company MiMedia.
Taking that time to unwind is critical to success and will help you feel more energized when you’re working.
How to Disconnect From ‘Always On’ Work Culture- The Wall street Journal
Goal Check:
Design a tea set experience that helps create a mindful moment.
Components to focus on:
Tea mat, tea pot, tea cup, tea pen, tea paper
Needs:
Small & compact to fit on users desk
Easy to carry
Safe to handle(hot water)
Slows down the moment
What are the attributes I want the tea set to evoke?
I did a mind mapping exercise on mindfulness to help me better understand the adjectives and attributes that I want my product to evoke.
How might the form of the tea set invite mindfulness?
Keeping It Connected
I continued to explore the perfect shape of the pot. I was focused on making sure the pot felt apart of the person. I did not want there to be any disconnect, so I was focused on making a pot that did not have a handle. This way the user is directly in the experience; hand to pot.
How might the details help slow down the moment for a more mindful experience?
Slides In & Locks
I tested different mechanisms of the tea mat wrapping around the pot and the pen sliding in to lock the mat in place. I wanted it to be intuitive, but also wanted it to slow them down so that they would focus in on just that moment.
Finishing Touches
Testing different spouts
Testing different cups
focused on nesting cups to make it compact and easy to carry
Testing different materials and colors for mat fabric
Making It
(appearance model)
I 3D-printed the cup, pot, and pen then sanded and painted it to a matte finish.
For the tea mat I created the pattern, sewed all the pieces together, and then dyed the fabric with turmeric and chicory root.
For the tea paper I created a mixture of matcha powder, salt, and rice flour.
How might the tea set be produced in the real world?
I explored a few different methods of how my tea set would be produced. I was interested in having ceramic be the material based on the tradition of tea sets, but I was not sure how it would be made in ceramics. I was exploring wheel thrown, ceramic 3D printing, and slip casting.
I went on a field trip two locations to get some insight, Heath Ceramics and the ceramic department at my school.
From these field trips I found the best way for my tea set to be produced is slip casting. Since my form has a spout, the body would be formed in the mold first and then the spout would be attached by hand after.
Behavior
Tea break creates a mindful moment for those who are stressed and over worked.
Cutting ties with the outside world allows us to recover from weekly stress and gives us space for other thoughts and ideas emerge.
Writing things down helps you recognize and process your emotions.
