Is Design Important?: 3 cups … Design Mysteries Series

Does design matter? Does the shape of a cup change the taste of the drink in it? Why do we drink the same beverage out of cups that are shaped differently and made of different materials? Does tea taste different if you drink it out of a paper cup, a pottery mug or a porcelain cup? Or do we just prefer to drink tea out of different cups at different times and locations? Does the environment change the flavor of a beverage? Does tea taste better in a Macintosh Tea House in Edinburgh or at The Plaza Hotel in New York City, at Starbucks?

These are the kind of questions that make designing important. Designers think about the environment and the objects that inform it. The customer expects porcelain tea cups at The Plaza Hotel and paper cups at Starbucks, but that doesn’t answer the question that is most relevant here: does the tea taste different or better?

It seems to me that the environment would change the flavor and taste of something, just as live music sounds different than recorded music. The environment sets us up to expect something. If it’s a terrible environment the beverage might taste different, from a bright and happy environment.

The Japanese Tea Ceremony also called the Way of Tea, a Japanese cultural activity dating from the 8 century AD with its involved ceremonial preparation and presentation of green tea. Asks the participants to contemplate and revel in the act of drinking tea as each handcrafted utensil is choreographed into the design of the ceremony.

Scott Henderson’s T42 combines all that you need into a product that can be carried in one hand, hopefully leaving the other hand free to carry the cake.

Frank Lloyd Wright never missed an opportunity to design a product for one of his projects. The teacups for the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo are one example of how the graphics of the product merge with the design of his masterpiece. Does tea taste better in these cups? Maybe but you have to go to Tokyo to find out.

The paper takeout cup got its plastic top in 1986, just as we started scurrying from the diner to work hopefully beating everyone to your desk, looking good for the boss. We now eat at least two meals a day “on the run” trying to cram more time into work.

So, the simple act of drinking tea can take on many forms and expectations and maybe even affects the taste of the tea.

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Design Mysteries Series
Bruce Hannah 2018©