ImmersiTea
Thesis Project | 2024 | Tools: Unity, Rhinoceros, Touch Designer
The escalating prevalence of high sugar content in commercially available bubble tea has raised health concerns due to its potential negative effects on well-being. Considering the significant role of visual inputs in the formation of flavor perception (Spence, 2015), this project aims to create a multisensory bubble tea product. This product includes a low-sugar bubble tea accompanied by multiple immersive VR environments. Through environments in VR specifically designed to evoke the sensation of sweetness, the project endeavors to reduce sugar consumption without compromising the taste experience. The ultimate goal is to enable consumers to maintain pleasure and satisfaction in their drinking experience of healthier bubble tea.
This project will be developed into my final work for Goldsmiths Final Exhibition (August 2024) , and I am aiming to submit the finalized project paper for presentation at Science Talk.
As the global consumption ofsugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) continues to rise, contributing to a spectrum of health issues (Popkin & Hawkes,2016), this project specifically targets bubble tea—a popular one within the SSB category (Min, Green, and Kim,2016) that is especially favored in urban centers by younger demographics (Rosen,2015). Notably, the consumption of bubble tea, which often contains high levels of sugar, is linked to increased risks of obesity, diabetes, and heart-related diseases (Min, Green, and Kim,2016). By focusing on the sugar content of this beverage, this project aims toaddress a significant component of the dietary habits contributing to public health concerns.
In addressing the above issue, this project explores the concept of crossmodal correspondences, which illustrates how tasteis influenced by visual cues (Spence et al., 2015). Research has shown that normal individuals associate different taste qualities with specific design features such as curvature, symmetry, directionality, texture, and movement (Spence,2023); some studies have even translated the temporal characteristics of taste into spatial representations (Ketelsen, Keay, andWiet, 1993). All of this indicates that using a synesthetic design approach todevelop multisensory products as interventions against unhealthy dietary behaviors is a viable strategy (Haverkamp, 2012).
Turning to the application of VR as a toolfor this intervention, this project emphasizes VR's unique capabilities that extend beyond other visual aids. VR provides an immersive and controlled environment where visual experiences can be manipulated to affect flavor perception (Bangcuyo et al., 2015). Unlike other visual tools, VR can create immersive environments that evoke a sense of presence and engagement, potentially altering flavor perception without physically altering the food product (Chen et al., 2020). Besides, the ability of VR to simulate environments that would be impractical or impossible to create in the real world—and to do so swiftly and cost-effectively—establishes it as a viable alternative for research and intervention.
In summary, given the detrimental effects of high sugar content in bubble tea, the potential of visual effects to alter taste perception, and VR's capabilities as an effective visual aid, this project aims to create a multisensory bubble tea product which could maintain pleasure and satisfaction in drinking experience of healthier bubble tea.
This product comprises two integral parts: a low-sugar bubble tea specifically designed to align with health guidelines, and VR environments engineered to enhance the drinking experience.
1.The Design of the Bubble Tea
The bubble tea in this project is designed with health considerations at the forefront, aligning with recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (2020). The guidelines suggest amaximum daily sugar intake of 38 grams for men and 25 grams for women. In contrast, a typical 473 mL serving of bubble tea contains up to 35 grams of sugar (Min, Green, and Kim, 2016). To address this, the sugar content of the bubble tea in this project is reduced to only 12 grams per 473 mL serving. This reduction aims to offer a healthier alternative. Apart from reducing the sugar content, the bubble tea is crafted to closely mimic the commercial versions by using black tea, whole milk, and incorporating tapioca pearls.
2. The Design of VR Environments
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For more information about this project, please email me!