Picture by: obento20 by kondo sayaka via Flickr
Criterion A: Inquiring and Analyzing
Design Brief: What is the problem? Who does it impact? Why does this
problem need solving?
The next project we have is called the obento unit/ project. Our assignment is to
make an obento for our ‘client’ or ourselves and make it as cute or appealing as
possible. Also to make sure that it is well balanced, colorful and has at least a
technique or skill or Japanese seasonal food added into it.
What is obento? What is the importance of obento?
An obento is basically a decorated Japanese lunchbox. Mostly through the
elementary years in public Japanese school, they eat bring their own lunch boxes
as their mother works hard every morning. Some mothers are very hard working,
so they wake up every morning to make the obento appealing with cute
characters, images on the rice balls, different shapes of egg rolls, and designs on
sausages. There can be different kind of obentos according to what kind of
season you are in or where you are.
Source
Information
Gathered
Positives of Product
Negatives of
Product
How to make minions bento lunch box despicable me
recipe minion benntou kaitou
guru- no minionn kiki ippatsu reship. (2013, July 26).
Retrieved January
12, 2014, from YouTube website:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5nDhEV2BHs
-Minion Obento
-Minion faced
egg rolls with
rice
-Cute and is a popular
character
-Little portion
- Too much time
on decorating
like the potato
challenge
-When finished,
there will be a lot
of space
between the
minions, so it will
not be portable
and it will be
ruined.
kissme, M. (n.d.). Kyara benn okazu kanntann
ponnderaionn. Kukku paddo. Retrieved January 14,
2014, from http://cookpad.com/recipe/2224276
-Pon de lion
(Mister donut
mascot) obento
-Variety of food
-There are no
seasonal food in
the obento
except meat and
-Main image is
the lion,
Obake no kyuutarou benntou. (2014, January 17).
Retrieved January 19, 2014, from
COOKPAD website:
http://cookpad.com/recipe/2465559
-Obake
Japanese
character
-Design of the
character
-Colorful
-Sufficient amount of
rice
eggs and there is
no balance
between
vegetables and
protein.
-Not a lot of
balance between
vegetables and
protein
-Not a lot of
ingredients
-Idea only about the
rice, but can add on
for the meats and
vegetables.
COOKPAD. (2017, January 14).Yukidaruma benntou.
Retrieved January 19, 2014, from
http://cookpad.com/recipe/2465535
-Snowman rice
ball design
-Sufficient amount of
rice
-Fits right into the
bento box.
Winter Bentos Collection Kyara bentou no aidea
kyaraben ideas. (2012, December 7). YouTube.
Retrieved January 19, 2014, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUWqhJVF8k8
-Different
photos of
character and
onigiri bentos
-Again, not a lot
of balance
between the
other required
foods.
-Cute characters
-No recipe.
-Simple and easy- to
make onigiris.
-No ingredients
or information.
-If I do make
tamagoyaki, it is good
to have a video so you
can see exactly what
she is doing.
-No timing or
second that have
to flip
-Slideshow
Tamagoyaki (Japanese omelette) Tamagoyaki
Tsukurikata Reshipi-. (2013, May 25). YouTube.
Retrieved January 19, 2014, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PrwJxZfBH8
-Video of how
to make
tamagoyaki
(egg roll)
-Step by step
-Quite hard to follow
with the timing
-Ingredients listed
How to Make Onigiri (Japanese Rice Ball Recipe) Onigiri
tsukurikata reshipi. (2008, August 4). YouTube.
Retrieved January 19, 2014, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACOmKiJDkA4
-Technique
and
instructions on
how to make a
perfect onigiri.
-Shows exceeding
amount of instructions
on what to do when
making the salt and
water.
-Easy to understand.
-Ingredients
given
-Different ingredients
added in different
situations.
-Only showing
what to do for
onigiri.
-Not for bento.
Further Research:
Source
Information
Gathered
Positives of Product
Negatives of
Product
Kyara benn panndano akacyannonigiri benntouno tsukurikata
How to Make Panda Baby. (2013, January 15).YouTube.
Retrieved January 19, 2014, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CKDC0J57I0
-Panda baby
bentos
-Ingredients and
information
included.
-Not many
options for
different
materials.
-Easier because it is
a video so you can
see the skills and
techniques that she
is using.
Criterion B: Developing Ideas
Design Specification:
Design
Specification
How Will I Achieve It?
It has to look
appealing
Since I decided to make a rice ball that includes the skills of
‘character bento’, it has to look like the character or
something that I tried to look like it. I will achieve this by
looking at the images and video and listening to the
instructions.
Seasonal (food) There has to be food that can be found in the winter time.
Urara sent me a site where there are many vegetables,
fish, meat, and fruits that are in the winter season. So as I
am using that, I will include at least three ingredients inside
my bento.
Balancednutrition
To make sure my obento has meats, fish, vegetables, rice
or bread, and maybe fruits. At the end, I will check if I have
all of the above.
Small portions
Since it is an obento, it has to be in small portion, I will
make sure that the bento size will be checked with the
chart.
Bento Size
At the end, I will make sure I have the right size and
amount with the chart the is on Ms. Lemley’s blog.
Did I
achieve
it?
Design Ideas and Mediums:
First Idea: I want some sort of character displayed in my onigiri. It does not have
to be an animation or a cartoon character it can be as simple as a face, just
something that will bright up the bento’s appearance. My first ideas were to make
a ghost for the onigiri. It looked simple yet cute and yummy. With the onigiri, I
would put egg rolls and some kind of vegetable probably something green or
purple or black.
Second Idea: My second idea was to make a snowman onigiri with white
ingredients at the side. The making of the snowman is simple because I have a
website that can show me the ingredients. What I wanted to make sure is to have
seasonal food inside the bento that has the color white. Vegetables such as
mushrooms would be fine or mochi balls. It does not have to be a strong white,
something that matched the mood of the bento.
Third Idea: My third idea, and I think this one is the one I am going to choose to
do my onigiris, is the baby panda onigiris with greens and meat at the side. I
decided that I would have small, bite- sized onigiris that can be fit in the bento
with the sides as vegetables, meat, and fruit. I will use the vegetables as steamed
broccoli to look like the trees and meatball for the obento. I also have to find a
fruit that would be seasonal.
Final Design Choice + Justification:
My final design is my third idea, which is the baby panda onigiris with things that
relate to the panda as the meat, vegetables, and fruit. I decided to do this idea
because the pandas look cute yet simple and the sides and onigiri match each
other. I think that it will look very cute and innocent looking like Japanese
elementary school bentos look like. I think it will mostly achieve my design
specifications looking appealing, small portions, bento size, and balanced
looking. The only thing that I have to think about is to add in some kind of
ingredient (preferably fruit) to the bento and it should be something that we can
get in the winter (seasonal).
Annotated Sketch (Storyboard/ Recipe) of Final Design Choice (including
references to Design Specifications):
I wrote my sketch on the paper so please see that for my design and ingredients
and materials.
Criterion C: Creating the Solution
Date/Time Steps
Resources/Ingredients
January
27th 2:25
-Quarter- size broccoli
-Pot
-Water
-Knife
- Gather materials
-Rinse the broccoli and cut it up into small pieces
-Pour water into pot and boil water into high heat.
-Pour in the broccoli when water is boiled.
2:30
-Get rice from Ms. Lemley
-Make the panda onigiri (tutorial)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CKDC0J57I0
(on iPhone)
(Look after the broccoli so it does not over boil)
-Take the broccoli out and leave it to cool
-Boil in the meatballs right after putting down the
broccoli.
-If needed onigiri shape
former (cylinder small)
2:50
-Continue making onigiris
(look out for the meatballs so they do not come
out of the packet)
-Carefully take out the packet and open it up and
put the contents out on one of the little
containers.
-Little containers
-Meatball packet
-Pot with boiled water
-Nori
3:05
-Finish decorating the panda (nori, face and
body)
- Place the broccoli and the meatballs in the
bento box
-Take the separator and separate the box into
two parts
-Take the crab meat and fill the little container
with the amount that I want it in.
-Nori
-Face cutter
-Broccoli
-Crab Meat
-Containers
-Separators
3:15
-Cut the apple into slices that can fit into the last
separator in the bento box.
-Fill in the apple slices with peanut butter paste
and put them into the bento box.
-Apple slices
-Peanut butter Paste
3:25
-Cleaning up my station, washing materials,
putting back ingredients that I used from Ms.
Lemley
-Taking pictures from different angles
-iPhone
-Rice from Ms. Lemley
-Nori from Ms. Lemley
-Scissors and face cutter
from Ms. Lemley
-Bento box
-Meatballs, crabmeat,
broccoli, apple slices
(half) peanut butter
-Sieve
Make Any Changes?
I made changes to the design and create for the layout of where I put my ingredients because
I had a totally different bento box and the size was also different so I had to change
everything. I had to change the amount of how much I put in the bento box and also where I
put everything because it was quite small.
Criterion D: Evaluating
1.) My Design Specification Turnout:
Design
Specification
How Will I Achieve It?
Did I achieve it?
It has to look
appealing
Since I decided to make a rice
ball that includes the skills of
‘character bento’, it has to look
like the character or something
that I tried to look like it. I will
achieve this by looking at the
images and video and listening
to the instructions.
My character bento turned out quite
similar to the video product, but I put
my own spin to it. As I was looking at
the video after I finished decorating
the onigiri, the woman had more
detail for the panda’s body than I did.
Seasonal
(food)
There has to be food that can be
found in the winter time. Urara
sent me a site where there are
many vegetables, fish, meat,
and fruits that are in the winter
season. So as I am using that, I
will include at least three
ingredients inside my bento.
When I was planning and designing
for the bento, I saw the food’s list that
grew during the winter and found
broccoli. The broccoli, apples and for
the yellow pickles at the side, which
is daikon (radish), was added in my
bento. I achieved my design
specification.
Balancednutrition
To make sure my obento has
meats, fish, vegetables, rice or
bread, and maybe fruits. At the
end, I will check if I have all of
the above.
As you can see in the picture above, I
have crab meat (fish), meatballs
(meat), rice (carbohydrate), apples
(fruit), and broccoli (vegetable).
Small portions
Since it is an obento, it has to be
in small portion, I will make sure
I think that the size that I had my
bento is the right size to put all the
Bento Size
that the bento size will be
checked with the chart.
ingredients together without crushing
anything and also without letting
everything spread out and move
while walking home.
At the end, I will make sure I
have the right size and amount
with the chart the is on Ms.
Lemley’s blog.
The size was the right size but it
could have been a little bigger.
As I was trying to copy the design of the panda onigiri design, I think my final
product turned out cute and bite- sized that anyone would love. I think that all of
the foods were nicely cooked and none of them were raw or burned. Because of
the photo I took was with natural light, all of my ingredients didn’t look dark. If I
was leaving the apples for a long period of time, the apple would have changed
color so because of the salt and water I added before, the apple did not change
color. For the onigiri, I think the video was very detailed with feet and toes, but
while I was thinking through when decorating, I knew that no one would be able
to see the legs because it would be at the bottom so I decided not to put in a lot
of detail except the face.
Most of the feedback from my classmates that were not in my design
class and did not see me making it thought that my obento had a lot of contrast
between the colors that were included and the balance was not easy to see with
a glance, but when they looked at the ingredients they can see that I had all food
sources.
For my bento, I think that I could have improved on more colors to stand out. For
I had the rice and the apple as the big sizes and they took out most of the space,
I could use more colors that stood out. For the design process I had a hard time
in getting the measurement or the shape for the obento because I was using a
bento box that I was going to bring from home. I looked at the bento boxes that I
had just the day before creating, so I had to improvise on putting everything
together, so as you can see to my design and the product, some thing’s have
changed during the create process. I also think that during the design process, I
could have at least seen the bento box faster to get a measurement or the shape
so that I didn’t have to change so many things.
I think that this product has impacted me quite a lot because my mom always
used to make bentos for me when I was small and I was so happy for lunch time
when I sang the song and we started eating. As we were watching the video in
Design class, I realized that Japanese mothers really work hard from an early
morning to make these mini- sized, cute obentos and that’s what makes their
children smile. I, too, have seen my mom make a bento for my brother every
morning, and I can see now that I have created it must take a lot of hard work
and motivation to make the bento. I think obentos really impact the Japanese
society in public preschools and elementary schools because that is what really
makes the children so happy.
5.) How could you develop your product for commercial uses?
I think that in the future when I have a job, I will make bentos for myself or even if
I have kids I can make bentos for them. Bentos are not only for children to take to
school but also bentos are provided on bullet trains (shinkansens), picnics, and
more. If there are character mini- sized bentos for the kids to eat that would be a
great way to spread the product.