Overview

The goal for my senior capstone was to design a high-fidelity prototype that solved a problem users experience on a regular basis. This problem was one that had an open area in the market with no current solutions. Our team determined this need on our own, but we had to ensure our final prototype was designed for manufacturability and had a viable commercialization strategy.

We determined that there was a gap in the market for products that addressed preparing high-quality coffee while having low involvement in the process.

Defining Our Problem Space

To define what part of the coffee-making process we were looking to solve or improve, I performed zoom interviews; created, disseminated, and analyzed Qualtrics surveys; and analyzed social media platforms to determine coffee trends. We found that all users expressed interest in speeding up the preparation process. In addition, our desire to create a product that could be used for all manual brewing further affirmed this direction.

With this in mind, we created a function tree, which helped us understand places in the process we could improve and what technical barriers we had to work around. We also created user personas, which defined our key users and what their wants and desires from a product would be. These, pictured below, helped us better understand the scope of our problem.

We used those to brainstorm multiple mockups that addressed limiting wait time for heating water and ensuring consistency in the final product for users. The concepts we focused on testing included fast delivery of hot water, convenient bean dispensing, and improving the hot water pouring experience.

User Testing

Once we had the concepts that we wanted to test, we built mockups and performed user testing in person. Despite being socially distanced, we were able to receive valuable feedback through having users interact with a baseline coffee setup and then our mockups at a different station. After brewing a cup of coffee they were asked to quantitatively rate the features of the stations as well as qualitatively share their thoughts on the experience.

An analysis of our results determined that the hot water direction was the most promising and interesting to users because of the overall positive reaction to the time saved. Additionally, a hot water solution was a product that users could actually see themselves implementing in their home, unlike the other mockups which received positive feedback for their novelty, but many stated they would never realistically buy. I took this information and performed a thorough patent analysis, which involved looking at 29 relevant patents and going through their documentation history in order to determine points of differentiation.

Works-Like Prototype

We started out by creating a basic works-like prototype to see if we could prove functionality. Multiple rounds of testing and mockups led us to our final prototype, which was able to meet all of our marginal requirements and some of our desired requirements. This included having the body of water in the reservoir uniformly within two degrees and the water temperature output within two degrees of the desired temperature.

DFA + DFM Considerations

To envision what we wanted our final product to look like we took to Solidworks. I assisted in tolerancing the casing components to ensure manufacturability. In addition to ensuring tolerances were reasonable, we also met with our professors and manufacturers to discuss the feasibility of actual production. We were able to iterate on their feedback, especially relating to the joins between components, and use that to reach our final design.

Looks-Like Prototype

Due to COVID restrictions, we were not able to get the necessary parts shipped in time to create a works-like looks-like prototype. However, we were able to 3D print the shell in order to see the scale and how the casing components would assemble.

Direct to Consumer Route

We determined that the best commercialization route for the Thermometrik would be to start on Kickstarter, expand to offerings on Shopify and Amazon and eventually sell directly to consumers through our own website. This was the best route due to the fact that common competitors in the market, such as Fellow, found success through a similar route. This would also allow for higher margins and allow us to have a direct line to consumers for insights, which was something that we highly valued and wanted to have at the forefront of our brand. Even though this route would be more logistically challenging than other options, we believed the promise and possibilities after examining our prospective business model canvas outweighed the potential downsides.

Marketing Plan

Our strategy for marketing was focused heavily on social media marketing as it aligned with our plans to launch through Kickstarter. We also included SEO and site content because a large portion of our target audience are coffee drinkers that meticulously research the topic. We wanted our brand to evoke the following in relation to our products: Precision, High-End, Minimal, Convenient, Modern. This led me to design the following color palette to be reflected in all marketing materials of black, white, and blue. The black and white emphasizes precision, minimalism, high-end, and modern sentiments, while the blue ties our focus back to water.

Understanding the Scope of Design

Designing the Thermometrik allowed me to get a glimpse of the multitude of steps involved in bringing a product to market and how a product’s design is pivotal to its success. Throughout this project, I broadened my team management skills, completed extensive user research, and gained engineering skills through technical testing. I also learned about the intricacies of designing a product for manufacturing and assembly and gained insight from suppliers to the creation of molds.