What do Dalgona and Design have in common?

South Koreans love Dalgona coffee, a creamy, whipped coffee topping over a glass of milk. Here’s how it’s made:

1. There are four ingredients: Instant coffee, sugar, hot water, and milk. A classic proportion is two tablespoons of instant coffee, two tablespoons of sugar, two tablespoons of hot water, and a glass of milk.
2. To make the frothy coffee topping: Combine instant coffee, sugar, and hot water in a bowl and whip vigorously until thick and creamy.
3. To assemble: Pour milk into a glass and top with whipped coffee. Mix it up.

Now, let’s connect the process of making Dalgona coffee to product design:

1. A Dalgona coffee has specific ingredients, just like a product design needs to select the right components. A designer’s job is to choose elements that work together to create a delightful and functional user experience. In this case, the ingredients would be layout, typography, colour, and interaction.
2. Designers must craft and refine their designs to ensure they’re visually appealing and user-friendly. It’s about investing time and effort to make something that works and looks great.
3. Assembling the whipped coffee on top of milk is like a final product presentation. Building the various design elements creates the user experience in product design. It should be intuitive and pleasing, like Dalgona coffee’s final aesthetic.

10 Design principles from the world of coffee

1. Simplicity: Like a simple coffee recipe can create a delicious foam, design should strive for simplicity. Avoid unnecessary elements to make the user experience smooth and easy.
2. Consistency: The consistency of your design is like keeping the right balance between coffee and water. Users should know what to expect when they interact with your product.
3. Hierarchy: In a well-made cappuccino, the most important elements should stand out, like the espresso, while secondary features (like the milk froth) support them but don’t overwhelm them.
4. Feedback: Your design should give users feedback on their actions, like the foam on…