Fluid Foods

Activities

Before viewing

  • Consider with the class the reasons why American-style coffee shops and fast food outlets are so popular. Consider the factors which a designer would need to consider in relation to:
  • the food and drink - cups, mugs, cutlery etc
  • the interior and exterior of the premises
  • Discuss with the class a range of suitable strategies for designing:
  • a piece of jewellery to be sold in a high street shop
  • a travel agent's shop interior
  • a medical instrument, eg a thermometer which uses a thermochromic strip
    Note how the approaches and strategies differ.
  • Ask the students to carefully observe someone using cutlery by using notes and/or sketches (a video of the process would be a superb aid). Discuss the various ways knives and forks are held and whether the designers have taken all these variations into consideration.

After viewing

  • Discuss with your students the key concepts and features of the programme in relation to:
  • the design brief and design methodology for the Tea Bird, eg the original concept from Bangkok
  • the validity of the designers' research techniques
  • the use of models and prototypes
  • the comments of Charlotte Grindling - were they valid?
  • As a 'blue sky' exercise, ask the students to design a shop front and interior or a range of glasses or juicer for a new company 'Juicy Fruit' who wish to open a high street chain of cafés selling fresh fruit juices.
  • Make both a working model to show the mechanism, and a foam model to show the style, of a device which will squeeze the juice from citrus fruit.
  • Ask the students to devise an evaluation strategy for a domestic expresso coffee maker or 'teasmade'.
  • As a graphic products exercise, redesign a Chá tea shop using imagery which relates to tea and its youth potential.
 


© 2000 Channel Four Television Corporation