THE TREE

Experience Design, Product System, Design Strategy & Universal Design

Project Overview

The Tree is a tea brewing system inspired by Japanese culture. It re-imagines the users' relationship during tea drinking and immerses users in the brewing process, bringing them tranquility.

After a ten-day research trip to Japan, I was deeply inspired by their culture. It helped me greatly on topics like the relationships between individuals and the connections between users and artifacts. I was also challenged to approach my topic with the universal design methodology. By considering the pain points and needs of elder users, I was able to create a more immersive experience for all users.

DESIGN STRATEGY

DESIGN PROCESS

Tranquility

Perceptible Information

Elements from Japanese garden were explored and experimented to see if they could be implemented. There were opportunities to better communicate with users by presenting each step of the tea brewing process.

Boiling chambers

Witness the Perfect Brew

Water passes through clear glass chambers, allowing users to directly observe every step of tea brewing. With minimum LEDs and LCDs, users could still intuitively understand the progression of the brew.

tea Bricks

Capsule-less Brewing

Tea bricks loosen in hot water, releasing the aroma as users watch. Each tea package contains a reusable identification tray, which tells the device the ideal settings. Consumers could purchase refills with the package.

two-handed kettle

Low Physical Effort

The kettle would be the crucial point of contact in my system. In order to reduce the physical effort, I chose the two-handed design for its volume and ease of maneuver. On top of that, it felt better in my test subjects' hands.

Tea drinking turned out to be a much more complex behavior. It took a couple of times re-framing problems to find the real problems worth solving.

THE TREE

The Tree is a multi-sensory and capsule-less tea brewing system. Users witness their perfect brew in action without complicated interfaces. The system automatically recognizes the optimized brewing settings when the tea brick trays are loaded.

With universal design in mind, the system gives visual and auditory cues at each step of the brewing process. The Tree doesn't just serves your perfect brew — it invites you to the tea experience.

The system reads the bumps on tea brick trays, identifying the optimized temperature and time for brewing. The trays come with the tea brick boxes, which could be refilled at a discounted price.

Being able to see the water flow throughout the process brings users closer to the experience. This also eliminates the need for displays to communicate the brewing progress.

The process automatically starts once users place the loaded teapot. When it reaches the desired temperature, the water is then pumped to the "Tree".

The "Tree" rotates and distributes the "raindrops" in random patterns, soaking the tea brick.

After the brew is ready, the tea is then"served" to the users. The adjustable strap on the double wall glass kettle gently nudges users to hold it in the "serving gesture". Through the sense of service, tea drinkers focus on each other and the moment they are in.