Lunchbox

PRODUCT DESIGN

This hand sewn, 3D printed lunch box was designed with hikers in mind. The compact, customizable design was made to be the perfect lunch box for day hikes. This final design was made based off of research and surveys to make sure this lunch box met the average hikers needs.

Project Statement:

Hikers between the ages of 16 and 60 are looking for a compact, easy to clean lunchbox that will keep their food cold on their day hikes.

WHY

This lunchbox is designed for the average day hiker that goes on 4-6 hour hikes with our product targeting ages 16-60. Our goal is to create a single lunchbox that is not only customizable, but also easy to clean and pack. By doing interviews and market research we were able to come up with a design that meets all of these needs.

RESEARCH

After getting our prompt of day hikers from ages 16-60, it was time to figure out what they needed out of a lunchbox. To do this, we conducted 15 interviews of people who met our requirements. We asked them a couple intro questions, as well as what an average day-in-the-life while hiking meant, to get an idea of the general challenges they may face. Then we got into more detailed questions related to their lunchbox needs.

I feel it is important to ask users non-product related questions as well because you never know if they face frustrations they don’t realize. By getting an overview of their average day, you might be able to see pain points they haven’t thought about.

After wrapping up the interviews, we were able to look at the data to come up with a long list of wants, needs, and not so important features, that our group valued in lunchboxes for hiking. We then narrowed the needs down to:

  • Focus on keeping things cold (insulation)

  • Durable fabric

  • Small size, possibly collapsible

  • Leak proof

  • Silverware/extra pocket

  • Trash container

  • Easy to clean

  • Cool colors (ex. blues and greens)

Journey Mapping

From there, we created a journey map which outlines how a user would use our product in everyday life. These are very helpful when it comes to visualizing the needs of the user and making sure every step of their experience is thought through.

This is also helpful when it comes to deciding what pain points to focus on. By using the feedback from the interviews, as well as our map, we picked a few to focus on. From there we were able to come up with a couple goals to target the points that we wanted to include in our final design.

SKETCHING

Once we had an idea of how we were going to address these needs, I began to sketch out our plan.

We decided to go with an insulated cloth exterior with interchangable containers. The shape is long and cylindrical to mimic the shape of a water bottle. We did this so the user has the option of sliding it into a water bottle pocket of a backpack or along the edge, inside of their bag. Because of this, we added a handle to the top to make it easy to pull out no matter how packed the bag is.

FINAL DESIGN

For our final design, we chose to create a small, compact lunch box with interchangeable containers. Our thin and simple design is perfect for fitting into loaded hiking bags and also made small enough to fit into the side pockets for water bottles. Our prototype was made using a sewing machine as well as hand stitching.

For the materialswe picked neutral colors and reusable components. Our product comes with one canvas exterior with an extra mesh pocket on the outside and 3 containers. Within the canvas lining, we included a thin layer of insulation to keep snacks cool along with a pocket for a small ice pack. For our model we decided to 3D print the containers to get an exact fit. We also decided to make them glow in the dark as an extra feature.

From our research, we determined that the main things adult hikers look for in their lunchboxes include:

  • Small enough to throw in a backpack with other things

  • Durable fabric

  • Insulation (to keep things cool)

  • Leak proof

  • Trash pocket

We found the total price to sell it for was between $25 and $30, which was within the range users said they would be willing to pay.

LUNCHBOX IN-USE

REFLECTION

I found this assignment very interesting and beneficial for product design. The research methods used were very similar to the UX research I had done for apps and websites. I really enjoyed being involved in the process from start to finish. If I were to do one thing differently, I would spend more time on the research stage. I think we could have benefited from doing more market research and spending more time on our journey map and developing the personas.

Overall, I am very happy with the final product and plan to take more courses in the future that allow me to go through all steps, from research to final physical prototype.