LOCH NESS MONSTER MULTIPURPOSE INFUSER
Product Design
Inspired by the legend of Loch Ness Monster, my partner and I got the idea of designing a cooking infuser with the monster's outlook for an in-class activity. The picture below is the first prototype we made for this design project. It has a long neck that protrudes from soup, just like a real monster keeping its head above water. Its stomach is hollow and has an opening on the back, so people can store spice in and only taste its flavor while cooking. After the activity, both my partner and I found this idea worth developing, so we decided to set the monster infuser as the goal of our dream project.
After we have done some market research on similar products, we figured out that there were some existing tea infusers that used the Loch Ness Monster as their appearance, but none of them considered making it do more than brewing tea. Since both my partner and I loved cooking and designing a cooking infuser was our primary goal, we improved our design by combining an infuser and a ladle into one product.
The picture on the left shows the monster version of our final design. The reason for me to call it "the monster version" is because we designed two outlooks that would fit on the same body. The infuser has a Loch Ness Monster's neck and a goose's neck for the user to switch between. They are not only different in appearance, but also have different lengths to fit in all sizes of containers. Since both Loch Ness Monster and goose are animals living on water, the users will see them "swimming" in the soup like real animals. Also, the small head allows the infuser to lay on the edge of the pot steadily. The petal-shaped holes all over the infuser's back are designed to have as much opening space as possible to send out the taste, and also keep all the spice inside securely. Color wise, we choose this elegant grayish green to let the monster stand out in soup. Meanwhile, the green color symbolizes peace and can help people to calm down if they need to stay beside the hot cooking station for a long time. The whole product is made of silicone to ensure thermal insulation safety.
The picture below proves the multi-functional aspect of our product. When taking off the monster's back, the infuser can be transferred into a ladle and people can use it to distribute soup after cooking. The top and bottom pieces are connected by hidden grains and friction in silicone material. By switching between two animal heads and placing the product in different containers, users can get long term pleasure by using our product. The multipurpose infuser can also be a delicate decoration when not being used. In a word, the design includes consideration in both functionality and users' emotion.
