1/10

Accountability is a strange thing.  If someone designs a bad product, and that bad product is then produced, offered for sale, reviewed and bought, is anyone accountable for what ends up being a poor decision to pay real money for a bad product?

In a market-driven economy, is it caveat emptor or die?  Do designers have a responsibility to their end users at all?  If I purchase a bad product that has no discernible use to me, is this my fault?  What if I was led to believe this product would improve my life in some way? Perhaps make me more efficient, or remove some irritating inconvenience in my life?

These are just a couple of the questions that I had upon using Josh Owen’s “Cube Jigger.”  For the life of me, I can’t understand why this product was created, produced and sold.

You’ve probably seen the Cube Jigger before, but if you haven’t, its essentially a 3 x 3 x 3 aluminum cube with a different volume measurement depressions on each of its six sides.  The sides are 0.50 oz, 0.75 oz, 1.00 oz, 1.50 oz, 2.00 oz, and 2.25 oz.  The Cube Jigger is meant to function as an “all-in-one” jigger that contains every measurement you could possibly need when making cocktails.  It was manufactured by Kikkerland Design Inc., and it costs around $25.00.

I suppose the easiest way to review this product would be to first ask, what is a jigger supposed to do?  A jigger is a fairly simple device, it really only has two functions: (1) Contain a specified volume of liquid, such that a user can measure said liquid, and (2) Have a form such that a user can transfer the liquid from the jigger to another vessel without spilling any of the now-measured contents.  These functions are what video-game developer Dino Dini would consider “non-negotiable constraints.”  If the jigger can’t measure one ounce of liquid and transfer the contents to a mixing glass without spilling, it ceases to be jigger.

Jiggers are designed to perform these functions quickly, under minimal lighting, and with the understanding that minor deviations in measurements are going to occur, on account of surface tension and efficacy.  If 1/32 of an ounce mattered to a cocktail, we’d all be using laboratory grade graduated cylinders and take 45 seconds to measure each ingredient.

The Cube Jigger breaks both of the non-negotiable constraints that I’ve ascribed to a jigger, even when relaxing the requirement for an exact measurement.  The product cannot be used to measure liquid for the following reasons:

(1)  The smaller volume depressions (specifically the 0.50 ounce and 0.75 ounce sides) are nearly flat.  As a result it is basically impossible to know when you have actually poured, say, a half ounce of liquid into the half ounce depression, on account of the incredible amount of surface tension that is generated due to the shallowness of the depression.  A half ounce of 80-proof vodka has an edge roughly 3/4 up the sides of the depression, and there is no clear delineation of this point.  This is further complicated by the different surface tensions of ethanol and water, and their relationship with each other.

(2)  It is incredibly difficult to hold the cube steady enough such that the liquid actually stays in the depression of the cube.  The cube is heavy, unwieldy, and oddly unbalanced.  Its akin to using your iPhone to measure a quarter ounce.  It can probably be done, but why bother?

The Cube Jigger also fails the other non-negotiable constraint, as pouring the liquid from the jigger into a mixing glass results in relatively significant spillage, even when pouring slowly and using the corner of the cube.

Distressingly, the Cube Jigger is simply difficult, if not impossible, to use. Making a cocktail with the thing is a demanding endeavor, and I’m not sure why anyone would choose to use this device after making even one drink with it.  It is difficult to pour spirits into a depression due to the shallowness of the measures, liquid rolls off the edge, the surprisingly heavy cube is not stable, and it is difficult to pour with.  Considering its sole purpose is to do that which it cannot do, I wonder what is instead defining the existence of this product?  Does it have an identity at all?

If it does have an identity, it won’t be found on the web or in media.  The supposed gatekeepers of our consumer culture could barely contain themselves copying and pasting the pointless and misleading product description in an attempt to one-up each other on cool factor.  That none of these presumably design savvy editors actually attempted to use the product is comically obvious.

Is an innocuous 3 x 3 x 3 aluminum cube that doesn’t do anything at all worth getting worked up over?  It is, because design is important.  Design is why we can fly from New York to LA in six hours.  Design is why I can carry the Internet and email and a phone and a camera in my pocket.  Design is everywhere, and its important that we recognize good design, as a separate vocation from bad design.

Design is not a one-sided craft.  It is necessarily the plans and specifications of a product, process, experience, system or structure that must interact with an end-user, even if its passively.  In the case of the Cube Jigger, the end-user’s interaction with this product is frustrating and challenging, and I’m not sure why.  You are after all trying to perform a relatively simple task.

Did Mr. Owen even test his product?  Did he speak to a single bartender about why the classic jigger was designed the way it was?  If you design something without any regard for or understanding of the end user’s interaction with the product, what exactly are you doing?

In every way except aesthetics, the Cube Jigger represents bad design.  It is form without function.  At best it’s a piece of meaningless art, conveying little beyond a masturbatory “look at me!” attitude.  In reality, it’s a chunk of aluminum that has no identity, no purpose, and no reason to exist.

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I can’t stand looking at this thing, so I’m sending it to whoever emails us the best, original, alternative use for the Cube Jigger (use the contact link in the right sidebar).  Winner also gets one of the few remaining copies of rogue cocktails, so send us something good.