Milk Frother

When others ask me what engineering class is like, I reply that I’m taking adult kindergarten because I don’t remember another time since my Play-Doh and building block days that I’ve had so much fun in class. After building our own milk frothers (using Legos!) at the end of Class 2, we spent Class 3 taking apart and analyzing IKEA’s $2 version, comparing it to a higher-end model, and testing out our homemade versions.

IKEA Milk Frother

The IKEA milk frother promises to fully froth hot or cold milk within 20 seconds. I tested this to be true; the device efficiently frothed my cup of cold milk without making any splashes. Its handle is designed with a side push-switch that intuitively fits in the user’s right or left hand. The grooves on the switch and its visible sliding “slot” is an effective affordance. The battery slot at the end of the handle also has grooves that prompt the user to slide the cap out. Once the device is switched on, the most obvious feedback is that the wand begins to spin. I thought that the device’s main weakness was its lack of feedback for battery power. It’s impossible to tell if the device is running out of battery until, presumably, it stops working.


 I then disassembled the device and guessed about the nature of each piece. From taking the frother apart, I’ve learned how tricky it is to cram even a few “simple” functionalities into a device. For example, though the push-switch looks uncomplicated from the outside, on the inside it’s connected to the motor circuit by carefully assembled bits of metal.





High End Milk Frother

The IKEA milk frother costs around $3, whereas this higher end milk frother (first photo, to the right) costs $20. They are equally effective at frothing milk, but the higher end milk frother feels clearly made of more durable and aesthetically pleasing materials. The handle is made of heavy, polished plastic, and its bottom is made of rubber. The price differential comes from the high end frother’s use of these materials, but I’d guess that the difference in manufacturing costs isn’t actually that much—most likely, the frother is overpriced due to its market positioning, branding, etc. If I were to buy a milk frother, I’d stick with the IKEA one. Shiny plastic isn’t worth $17 to me.



Homemade Milk Frother

This is the homemade milk frother my partner Michelle and I made. It’s designed to be manually twisted up and down, which turns the wheel through the milk creating bubbles. Though our frother did create bubbles in the milk, it was slower and much more labor-intensive than the IKEA frother. The bubbles it created were gone quickly. Our product’s main affordance is its two handles and its wheel shape, which suggests to the user that they should grasp the handles and turn. The wheels are also visible, so the user knows right away that it’s working. While our product does froth milk to some extent, it fails in comparison to the electric frothers we tested out. In addition, it only works in cups with wide openings. To improve the device, I’d lengthen the handles, make the wheels smaller, and incorporate some mechanism (similar to those used by bicycles) to make the wheels spin faster.

Vending Machine



Introduction

This is a diagram of a Coca Cola vending machine located near the Emporium in the Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center. All drinks are priced at $1.50 and the machine takes cards, cash, and coins. After testing the machine out, I determined that its usage flow is: 1. swipe your card or insert coins/cash; 2. find your desired drink’s letter and number code; 3. enter letter and number combination; 4. receive drink. The machine’s clearest affordances are its payment options: the card, cash, and coin slots. Notably, the card slot is at eye level, while the cash slot is directly underneath and the coin slot even further down. This prompts the user to use their card whenever possible and establishes the hierarchy of payment options (card>cash>coins). Upon approaching the machine, it was unclear whether I should select my drink first or pay first. You actually have to pay first: once you’ve swiped your card (or otherwise), the LED display changes and prompts you to select a drink by entering the letter/number combination using the 18-button keypad. Though this 18-button keypad is not great in terms of mapping (positions do not correspond to drink positions), it allows for 27 different combinations. When it comes to letting the user know its progress, this vending machine’s primary mode of communication is the aforementioned LED display. Once you’ve selected your drink, of course, you can also see your drink being delivered from the shelves.


Pros and Cons

This machine’s pros are that it’s versatile in terms of payment options, and the labels next to each slot are nicely labeled to guide the user (e.g. the card sticker illustrates which side the card should face). The labels beneath each drink are bold and easy to read. However, many drinks are repeated under different labels, potentially confusing a user who's attempting to differentiate between two or more “options” which are actually the same. In addition, the flat price—$1.50—is unclear at first glance and only displayed in tiny letters next to the coin slot or on the LED screen after you’ve swiped your card. The machine’s accepted cards are displayed twice, which is redundant and confusing since the second sticker includes more accepted cards than the first. Once the drink has been delivered, you have to bend down to retrieve it, which is annoying if you’re carrying heavy things and prohibitive if you have a physical disability.


Suggestions for improvement

1. Prominently display the flat price; 2. move the drink retrieval slot to eye level; 3. separate the letter/number selection buttons from the coin slot and have them displayed much further up; 4. only display accepted cards in one location.

Introduction

Hello friends! My name is Vivian and I’m a Wellesley first-year interested in Media Arts and Sciences and Economics. In taking Product Creation for All, I hope to gain an understanding of the creative process from brainstorming to iterations to production to testing. I wish to learn about balancing user needs with production limitations. And having spent my whole life in apartments with no garages, I’m also very excited to learn fabrication in the lab. In the future, I see myself working in product design and user research.

Product Analysis: Shure Earphones

"R" and "L" labels

How do you put these on?

Now they're snug!

What's good and bad about these earphones?

These in-ear earphones have a bendable wire component that creates a tight sound seal customized to each user. Its purpose is two-fold: to noise-reduce and to keep the earphones snugly attached. It’s effective in all sorts of situations from studying in a loud room to exercising. On the other hand, these earphones are so confusing to put on! As illustrated in the photos, each earpiece is labeled with “R” and “L”, but there’s nothing to indicate which side is “up” and how to orient the wire. Yet having extra labels everywhere would also be confusing and aesthetically unappealing.

Questions

On a small device like a pair of earphones, how can we make usage intuitive without compromising aesthetics (as wearables are often also fashion statements)? A few ideas: color code top/bottom and right/left (color combinations could vary based on self-expression), or mold the earpieces to a thumb shape to help with gripping and inserting.
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