HOT SOY
I love a design idea that just keeps into your mind and wont let go. This is one of those creative ear-worms that once it accord to me, I had to chase is down.
Do you go in for that green paste on the edge of you sushi plate? It’s a delight! Wasabi is the Japanese horseradish that rides along with countless American takeout sushi orders. Some people fear it, flick it into the garbage as the point their face off to the side to even avoid wif of it. Others indulge in it, smearing it like grainy butter atop a delicate slice a fish. For most a little dab will do ya, and most likely swirled into soy sauce to give each dip a kick.
Services
Design strategy
Ideation & sketching
This food packaging concept stemmed from the desire to give wasabi an elegantly consistent way to stepp into our takeout lives.
Top priority was to give wasabi “dose” control an intuitive and tactile role in the design. I wanted new comers to see the form of the container and understand their options. Next mixing the liquid soy sauce with the pasty wasabi was key. Inconsistent incorporation makes for a bad drip.
My sketches investigate versions on both aspects of the design. And such i had to explore audience familiarity with existing packaging styles, use of a secondary cup, ease of packing inside sushi containers, and max wasabi usage - to name a few.
This kind of physical product design always gets my mind in high gear. There are user/behavioral aspects, cultural presupposition, material details, manufacturing realities, and desirability to consider. All these factors are linked together in each design approach, change a bit here and it effects an aspect there.
At the end this did not go pass the patent phase as there be monsters. At the end I could not figure out if I wanted to go in on a business licensing a design to a one of the condiment kings or build my own packaged food business? And I couldn’t see myself taking it to Shark Tank.
