My project was to design a tiffin box keeping in mind Indian food habits and the context of eating out of a dabba. The rest of the brief was left open to me. I chose the target consumer as high income executives living hectic lives in metros.
To understand the Indian interpretation of tiffin and the use of tiffin boxes in different parts of the country, I started off with a research which involved studying and finally formulating an average Indian diet. Key observations and learning from this research were kept in mind later while designing. This was followed by detailed questionnaires and personal interviews.
Starting with ideation, I came up with different themes. Based on the existing lifestyle of the target group, I selected a theme named “Seal Meal.” The USP of “Seal Meal” is ‘open-eat-pack,’ where the user has to make minimum efforts to open a tiffin box, eat from it, and to pack it again. Initial concepts were developed keeping this theme in mind.
After developing the initial bunch of concepts the finalized concepts were inked keeping in mind that the tiffin box should be handy, stylish, be used in a microwave oven, and be on the lines of ‘open-eat-pack.’ I also noticed that, on an average, people tend to snack a couple of hours before and after lunch when they are hungry.
Hence, the final product named M-BOX (Magpie-BOX) is a collection of containers which are designed and sized in such a way that the user can carry breakfast or light snacks along with an average lunch or use all the containers to carry a heavy lunch. Flexibility is given to the user to carry a combination of containers that fit into a sleek bag capable of accommodating cutlery, tissues and medicines.
