Malyssa Mavetz - Lucky Charms Marshmallow Mill

Lucky Charms Marshmallow Mill final product shot

Objective: Work as a team to create a product for Lucky Charms. General Mills sponsored the product innovation lab in search of a new direction to take the brand.

Team Dynamic: The interdisciplinary team included a mechanical engineer, product designers/industrial engineers, graphic designer, Korean language/technical writing major. As each member brought a different skillset and experience to the project, we each took on a specific position to lead. I knew I would be helping with graphics, packaging, and presentation, so I wanted to also expand and gain more experience working on user experience/research as the UX lead.

The project kick-started by brainstorming and then conducting market research on the top ideas. We worked in Miro to visualize all the ideas and organize them. We used a Pugh chart to move, compare, and rate which top six ideas to present to GMI.

ideation sketches

Mira board to organize all team ideas

Pugh Chart

Powers in bloom idea - growing plants in the colors/shapes of charms

Lucky Land idea - Plushie charms that live in a digital Lucky Charm World

Magic Marshmallow Mixing Machine - Add the color to the charms to give them their magic

Pivoting and prototyping: General Mills provided each team with feedback on the ideas and chose which to continue with. After receiving more negative feedback and learning that the ideas weren't meeting the needs of the client or being presented clear enough, we needed to pivot. We worked on modifications of the color machine and powers in bloom to begin prototypes.

Sketch models: Testing various modifications gave GMI a better understanding of where the two ideas could potentially go. The team had about two weeks two produce functional sketch models. The powers in bloom's iterations were to grow plants into the shapes of the charms and create a lucky garden where they live, and growing plants out of charm-shaped pots that house the powers. The biggest challenge was testing materials that could grow the fastest, as children wouldn't have the attention span to wait too long.

The Marshmallow grinder was the second idea which used two different mechanisms to crush the marbits. The two-step grinder created a fine powder that could be shook right onto other foods, and the other iteration used a crusher to smash the marbits into a sentcil and create new shapes/powers.

Charm shaped pots to grow the plants

Stencils to grow the plants in charm shapes

Marshmallow mill mechanism to grind charms into magic dust

Marshmallow dust press to turn the charms into new shapes

Choosing the final concept: GMI chose to move forward with a the grinding concept. We began once again brainstorming, but with more focus on aesthetic and UX, rather than functionality and engineering. As the UX lead, I created surveys to gain feedback on how fun each render would be rated, gauge interest in the product and cereal, and see which render best reflected the Lucky Charm brand. I also had the opportunity to survey/interview a second grade classroom to understand what the target audience might think.

Render 1

Render 2

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Results of user research and testing

First 3D printed model prototype

CAD model

Final Product: The final design reflects the iconic Lucky's hat in a sleek, fun, and functional product that allows the Lucky Charm marshmallows to be crushed up and added to other foods. Looking at a greater market and use for the product to expand past children, we compared Lucky Charms' potential to that of Pumpkin Spice and Shamrock Shakes. We created another survey geared toward industrial uses and occupations such as bakers, baristas, or chefs that could use the product. Additionally, we collaborated with Glam Doll Donuts to use the lucky dust on their products.