BEYOND THE CUP

Experience Design • Audio Design • Typography • Prototyping • IxD • Data Visualization • Research • Creative Coding

*prototyping, data visualizations

 

Q-grading is the process of scoring a batch of coffee but coffee quality is complex, and is dependent on variables that are hard to control. These values are acutely measured and try to help farmers improve their coffee but often are arbitrarily assigned. By interacting with this experience the flaws of this process are exposed.

*data analyzation, digital sketching

Data is often seen as objective, that the numbers are a complete, irrefutable answer. What started with an experience built around coffee, became an analyzation of a dataset about coffee. The CQI (Coffee Quality Institute) collects data about the process of Q-grading from Q-graders (coffee sommeliers). Through ten variables each receiving a rank from 1 to 10 a batch of coffee receives a final overall Q-score, this was the focus of this data experience. Through research and explorations of data visualizations an interactive circle of pedestals was conceptualized. This allows a user to explore each variable as it relates to the final cup by randomly selecting and placing Q-scores to be graded at the end of the experience. Throughout this process I learned how to analyze and break down a dataset, to be reconstructed into a new way of visualizing information.