Innovation

Innovation

Just Right

Year

2014

Timeframe

4 weeks

As

Team project, RCA & Imperial College

BRIEF

A brand and a product were assigned at random. The task: if this brand were to make this product, what would it look like? ±0 is a Japanese brand built around one idea: that everyday objects should be "just right" — in shape, size, and price. Not minimal for aesthetics alone, but calibrated to disappear into daily life without drawing attention to themselves. The product drawn was a lemon squeezer. The constraint was not just visual. The design had to extend the brand's philosophy to every level — form, material, manufacturing process, and the act of using the object itself.

A brand and a product were assigned at random. The task: if this brand were to make this product, what would it look like? ±0 is a Japanese brand built around one idea: that everyday objects should be "just right" — in shape, size, and price. Not minimal for aesthetics alone, but calibrated to disappear into daily life without drawing attention to themselves. The product drawn was a lemon squeezer. The constraint was not just visual. The design had to extend the brand's philosophy to every level — form, material, manufacturing process, and the act of using the object itself.

SOLUTION

Most lemon squeezers solve one moment: the squeezing. What happens to the juice, what happens to the leftover lemon, how it stores — these are left to the user to figure out. The design addresses the complete cycle in six steps, from the first squeeze to storage in the fridge. The object begins closed and ends closed. Nothing is left over, nothing unaccounted for.

Two materials, two roles. The squeezer head is stainless steel — formed through turning, drilling, milling, and welding. The manufacturing process is legible in the form: the blade geometry is what those operations naturally produce. The cup is resin: white, matte, quiet. The material ±0 already knows how to use.

"Just right" extended from the object to the experience.

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hojo

Brand strategist and designer working at the intersection of systems thinking, identity, and experience

You can also email me at:

hojo@hojo.im

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The right answer begins with a better question

Whether it's a brand, a system, or something harder to name

Let's talk

hojo

Brand strategist and designer working at the intersection of systems thinking, identity, and experience

You can also email me at:

hojo@hojo.im

Home

About hojo

Works

Contact

The right answer begins with a better question

Whether it's a brand, a system, or something harder to name

Let's talk

hojo

Brand strategist and designer working at the intersection of systems thinking, identity, and experience

You can also email me at:

hojo@hojo.im

Home

About hojo

Works

Contact

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