Of the three practitioners I explored, I chose to further understand Baristas.
Cultural Probe
To do so, I conducted a cultural probe with 3 people: a barista, an ex-barista, as well as a novice.
The cultural probe consists of a booklet, as well as a drawer system.
The booklet consists of instructions to follow and questions to answer.
These three questions asked aim to find out the pain points faced from their perspectives.
I think being organized and methodical can aid the completion of most things. Questions 4 and 5 thus aims to test my hypothesis out.
Findings
Question 1 – Difficulties Faced:
- Too many steps
- There’s no fixed ‘thing’ to follow eg. how hard to press the coffee grinds or how long to froth the milk
- Latte art is so hard!
Question 2 – Ideas to simplify process:
- Make everything automatic
- Have everything be super precise so the measurements and duration can be fixed and stuff
Question 3 – Missing Steps:
- Sometimes I press the button on the coffee grinder before remembering that I forgotten to take the portafilter
- If it’s very busy, usually I will miss out either distributing the coffee grinds or tampering them
- No latte art
Question 4 – Disorganized scenario:
- Can be a bit confusing I guess
- Quite normal, it is like when I make coffee now, so I don’t see anything wrong with it
Question 5 – Organized scenario:
- I think it is slightly more efficient
- Makes me not forget steps
- Helps me remember what the next step is
Design
With those findings in mind, I sketched out an initial idea for making coffee making more portable and more organized, such that barista-made coffee can be more accessible for everyone.
