Microwave Interface Redesign

Find problems people face with existing microwaves and redesign the interface to mitigate the problem

For primary research we visited eateries around campus and homes. While it was worrying that for homes inside IIT Bombay, microwave usage might be less of an issue, since it is far from an ideal demographic of average users, we decided to go ahead with it due to logistical reasons. A simpler phone interview was also conducted for 11 more users to help triangulate the findings. It was helpful in determining that the detailed observations from the limited demographic were similar to the nature of issues faced by wider base of people.

The study consisted of

The interviews were semi structured and conducted in the context of their homes. The key points around which the interview happened were:

Following the interview they were asked to perform a few operations using the microwave(ranging in time required & perceived difficulty) depending on time availability and their willingness, namely:

The collected data was analyzed and segregated using affinity mapping to find patterns.

The buttons placement should make sense for the users and show their relation to each other.

The start and pause button has been modified to a more (now) universally identified media symbols standard (Namely, ▶️, ⏯️, ⏹️)

The limited interactivity and the lack of colour made me appreciate the importance of Gestalt Principles and careful consideration. It forced me to reconsider every small detail and action at every step. The synthesis of the Instruction manuals helped to condense the long descriptive steps to a quick reference that proved very useful while designing the process chart. The process charts were then considered together to create a list of elements with their priority and relevance to each step. Because each element was not required at each step,

This enables elderly, people with household help and kids to be able to use the microwave to its full potential without assistance.

Working with the constraints of an old microwave panel technology proved to be quite a learning experience!

That’s all folks

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