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The Huel Shaker: Pretty and Designey, But Looks to Have Usability Issues

By Rain Noe - May 18, 2021

in Object Culture

Huel, a company whose name is a portmanteau of "human" and "fuel," manufactures a plant-based meal replacement formula that comes in bar form, as a ready-made shake, or delivered as a powder for making shakes yourself.

For the latter application, they've come up with this very designey Huel Shaker:

The idea is that you add water and the powder to the white receptacle, then screw everything together and the grate mixes it appropriately while you shake it.

While they've gone to the trouble of having their own vessel designed, I do think they've missed two opportunities to improve the experience. The vessel itself looks nice and makes you want to touch it, but watching the "How to use" video reveals the usability issues:

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As you can see, the fill level marker is on the outside--but the bottle is opaque. How are you supposed to accurately fill it? You can also see that the demonstrator holds the vessel at an angle while filling it, as we might if we were doing it over a sink full of dirty dishes, for instance; how are you meant to hit the fill level then?

The second missed opportunity is with the scoop. It's huge, about the same diameter as the vessel itself--and you can see in the video that even the demonstrator, filming a non-live commercial where you can shoot re-takes, spills the powder outside of the vessel and onto the countertop.

The Huel Shaker is eye-catching and attractive, and the prominently-featured logo promotes their brand. But by not tackling the basic usability issues highlighted above, they've only scraped the shallow surface of design.

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Spencer C

3 years ago

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Unfortunately, this is typical of Huel. Look at the basic packaging as a prime example: looks great, however there's always waste and it's made of glossy non-recycable materials... They have the platform and opportunity to set the standards, but prefer superficial image. And if you're bored, take a look at their site... UX is not really their thing

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Nathan D.

3 years ago

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When you subscribe to Huel you'll be too busy running to the bathroom to care about the mess on your counter.

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- Michael Bernstein
  
  Nathan D.
  
  3 years ago
  
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  Huel is for people looking to optimize their caloric intake...also sounds like Hurl
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