Good UX — quarantine edition
List of 5 common products with a twist.
The quarantine hasn’t been easy for some and it has been a bliss for a few. For me, I would say I am still trying to figure out. There are days when I feel relaxed yet pumped up about trying new things or my job but then there are days where I miss home and managing everything on my own takes a toll on me.
The quarantine time has forced almost all of us to do everything ourselves — being “Atmanirbhar” (self-sufficient) as our PM terms it. Without the house help, managing office, as well as household work alone, has been quite a task. I have never been used to it but I am thankful as I can see many positives to the quarantine period, for example — learning time management, working on cooking skills, also allowed me to give time to my hobbies
I have a habit of scanning through unique products online as it’s interesting to see how people come up with innovative solutions by observing problems in mundane objects. This article is just a list of common things with a little twist that I had come across online to provide myself with a solution to minor glitches I faced in my day to day activities like cooking and cleaning.
Here’s a list of things which I found interesting and you might find them useful too… happy reading and exploring! :)
A normal container + strainer
Have you ever faced a situation where you wanted to wash food like pulses, rice, fruits, etc. and feared that some of the contents would accidentally fall off while tilting the container?
Well, it is a small glitch but has surely happened to me. We do sometimes tend to block the contents with our hands to save the contents from falling off the container. This can be frustrating at times and this process might also leave some water behind without straining the contents completely. I found this strainer+container to be a very effective design.
Why is it a good design?
1. It lets you wash the contents easily. Mostly a little bit of water is left in the end while tilting which is hard to drain as the contents reach almost near the brim. The strainer being just near the brim helps easy straining
2. The strainer is smartly placed near the brim which allows soaking as well as draining of water afterward without changing the container. (lesser the containers you use the lesser you will have to wash 😋)
Ice tray + silicon bottom + Lid
It has seldom happened when I have had to put in all my energy into twisting and turning the ice tray just to get a few ice cubes out of it. At times I have also ended up dropping some of the cubes in this process.
There was a small stretch where Bangalore’s weather was really hot and I needed ice cubes almost daily for making summer drinks. Going through this process every day made me look up for this product where I could easily take out ice without much struggle. (Although nowadays we do have refrigerators with freezer unit specially designed for this, obviously purchasing this ice tray was a quicker and cheaper option.)
Why is it a good design?
1. It is easy to pop out ice by just pressing the silicon base, so not much struggle of twisting the ice tray.
2. The lid allows easy stacking of items in the freezer without dirtying the ice cubes in addition to that I would say the shape of ice cubes look cute too :)
Frying spoon + clips
Baarish, chai aur pakode ❤
(rain, a cup of tea and fritters)
Bangalore rains and its beautiful weather just call for such things. Sitting in the balcony, chatting, sipping tea, and binging on fritters is an ideal way how most of us Indians like spending their time during monsoon season and I am no different.
Thanks to the quarantine period it allowed me to experiment with my cooking skills and execute a few delicacies, one of them being pakodas. while I was making the pakodas I felt I could not drain out the excess oil easily even with the kitchen towels. Also owing to my clumsiness I burnt my hand a few times.
This frying spoon with clips is an interesting tool for frying food
Why is it a good design?
1. Drains the oil and the spoon-like structure of the mesh allows it to scoop. the frying items
2. The clip allows pressing the frying item against the spoon, resulting in draining the excess oil.
Broom + flagged fibers
Spent a few months in quarantine alone? I am sure you are very familiar with this equipment :P and also the challenges that come with it (in case you use the grass broom).
I would credit my house-help for this discovery, she had recommended me this flagged fibers broom for effective cleaning a while ago. How often does it happen that the dirt on the floor gets mixed with water, it’s all icky and when you try to clean it with the grass broom, the broom itself becomes wet and not to forget, the hair on the floor gets tangled into its bristles?(ewww) I am certain it must be relatable. I don’t know for how long this has existed but my household always had the regular grass broom.
Why is it a good design?
1. This broom has flagged fibers at the ends which helps to catch hair strands with much ease
2. It doesn’t get wet as the fibers are made of synthetic which don’t allow it to stay wet for long
Honey + squeezy bottle
Sometimes I like having healthy food (just kidding, sometimes I like to put fewer efforts as I am lazy) I generally use honey for breakfast preparations as it is filling.
No new innovation here but this is a great packaging idea well suited, especially for honey. I remember myself looking at the honey jar and thinking — “Do I really want to go through the process of carefully taking out honey without it spilling and creating stickiness all over? Nah, some other day.” Not to forget the ants marching their way later to even a small drop of honey.
With this efficient bottle design, I don’t think twice now before using honey
Why is it a good design?
1. I don’t require a spoon in this case, as I can just easily take out the honey by squeezing the bottle. It’s a plastic bottle so no fear of breaking it too.
2. Honey doesn’t stick near the nozzle area as it does around the rim of a regular honey jar.
These were a few ordinary things with a little twist making my chores easier. If you have more to add to this list please feel free to mention in the comments ✌️
