2026
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Studio Sprint
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Travel Gear
This project challenged me to reimagine the on-the-go meal experience for busy college students. Rather than treating a lunch container as generic packaging, the goal was to create a product proposal that improves the full meal journey (from preparation and transport to eating and reset) through user research, cultural reference, physical interaction, and visual brand language.
01 — Research & Concept Development
Research centered on what a student persona, Kevin, wanted from a lunchbox: a clean, dependable way to carry a home-prepared meal without losing the care and pride invested in making it. Bellroy provided an appropriate brand context because its material sensibility, product categories, and understated utility aligned with those preferences.
Product analysis across multiple categories, paired with studies of natural forms, generated three directions: an intuitive mechanism that reveals hidden complexity; a rigid, complete singular form; and a protective system focused on preserving its contents. While the first two explorations tested distinct directions, the selected concept unexpectedly combined the clarity, strength, and completeness of all three. It also offered a more realistic path to a usable product.
02 — Prototyping & Interaction Development
My design process focused on the sequence of approach, grasp, action, confirmation, and reveal. The goal was for opening the container to feel effortless and secure, then transform a packed lunch into an intentional meal presentation.
A functional interaction prototype, developed with 3D-printed parts and magnets, tested this transformation directly. It revealed where the digital model needed additional features, clarified which connections required material changes, and helped determine where those changes were necessary. This process refined the product from a formal concept into a more considered system of compartments, closures, and opening states.
Bellroy Noon is a meal container that reframes packed food as a prepared experience rather than leftovers in a generic box. A single release buckle supplements magnetic connections for secure transport, while the lid repositions during use to complete the serving arrangement. Three primary food volumes and smaller accessory compartments organize the meal, sauces, napkins, and other essentials.
The proposed construction combines a polypropylene shell and compartments with a webbing strap, acetal or nylon hardware, a stainless-steel hinge pin, and an expanded-polyethylene insulation layer. The result is a compact, protective product system that carries Bellroy’s restrained, material-driven character into a more deliberate on-campus meal ritual.
