Deconstructing Product Design

Angled Measuring Cup

Bang Zoom Design and Smart Design for OXO, 2001

1. When the toy-designing cousins Michael Hoeting and Stephen Hoeting submitted their prototype of an angled measuring cup to OXO, the genius of the design was immediately apparent. The question, however, was whether the cup was a gimmick or actually addressed a relevant user problem. Alex Lee, CEO of OXO International, comments: “We went and got a bunch of users and asked them the question, ‘What is wrong with your measuring cup?’ And they would say, ‘Since it is made of glass, it breaks if it drops; when my hands are greasy they are slippery; when I heat things up they get hot.’ And we’d say, ‘Okay, anything else?’ And they’d say, ‘No, we are happy otherwise.’ So we’d say, ...