Speaking of Clover.

Teapots: A lesson in product design.

I’ve been pretty frustrated with my teapot lately.

I know that probably sounds pretty trite and prissy, but hear me out. We all have those products in our life that we wish worked better- Whether it be something as simple as a pen, or as technical as an operating system or cell phone, we have all encountered those products that make us ask the question, “Did anyone try this thing out before they started selling it?” For me, I’ve asked this question about my teapot.

There’s 2 major problems I ran into with my previous teapot (the white one in the picture above).

1. Every time I poured myself a cup of tea, I needed to use 2 hands to pour (because if I didn’t hold the lid on, the top would roll off the top mid-pour).

2. After I poured a cup, tea would run down the spout as I tipped the teapot upright, pooling at the bottom of my teapot. I needed to pour my cup with a napkin under the teapot if I didn’t want to drip tea all over my desk.

When you really think about teapots holistically, you realize quickly that their job isn’t tough. All they have to do is hold and pour tea, and while doing so, making sure every drop is transferred from teapot to cup without losing any scalding tea to the skin of the consumer or the table it rests on. Pretty simple.

Then how is it that a teapot left the development table that failed to do what it was created for? And how did the creator of this product feel OK about selling a faulty teapot that dripped all over the place and required the consumer to use 2 hands in order to not make a mess? And better yet, why have I gone so long without looking for another solution?

Here’s the lessons I have learned from my teapot about product design:

1. If a product is noticeably cumbersome and awkward, BLAME THE PRODUCT. This past year I have noticed that I tend to blame myself if a product is hard to use. I have a tendency to trust the packaging and what the creators say about the product over my own experience. Unless you’re purchasing schematics on the space shuttle you are making from scratch, you are probably the target market for the product you are purchasing. If it’s cumbersome for you, the creators blew it in development somewhere along the line. They didn’t think about the consumer of their product.

2. If you’re annoyed with your product, look for another solution. One of the most beautiful things about the market place today, is that we have options. Chances are if you are annoyed with a product, someone else was too. Search out your options- they’re probably out there. This is why Ben and I started Clover. We were looking for a solution for our church, and there was no other beautiful, intuitive solution out there. Clover was created out of necessity.  Luckily, most products are out there already, and you won’t have to worry about months of development.

So what ever happened to my teapot, you (probably didn’t) ask?

My conclusion was that both the 2-hand pouring and dripping problem was a design issue. I’ll explain… Look at the picture above. The white one is the original teapot, and the turquoise one is my new and improved version.

1. Pouring issue solution: Even though the new teapot is a loose leaf teapot, there is much more control with 1 handed pouring due to the chrome, thumb brace sticking out just below the lid (see picture). It allows you to brace the contents and lid with your thumb so it doesn’t fall off during pouring.

2. Dripping issue solution: It’s a simple physics issue. Notice the the ends of each of the spouts. The old one is much more horizontal at the point of pouring, which caused the tea to trickle down the spout. The new and improved teapot’s spout is pretty close to vertical at point of pour, allowing any remnant tea to pour off into the glass rather then back down the outside of the spout. Interesting, huh?

There it is… My lessons from a teapot.

Posted on January 20th, 2010 under Our Opinions by Jim with 1 comment.