Toaster usability study

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[[Image:Twotoasters.jpg|right]]
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[[Image:toaster.jpg|right|200px]]
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= Executive Summary =
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= Product Use =
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= Product =
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Here is a series of photographs depicting a typical customer's interaction with a toaster:
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Our product to dissect and analyze was a toaster. For this part of the project, we purchased a $9.99 Chefmate toaster to dissect.  We also purchased a $29.99 Hamilton Beach toaster that we hope to compare with our first toaster at a later date.  
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{| border="0" style="background:transparent;"
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[[Image:Toaster_step1.JPG|192px x 155px|thumb|left|Step 1: Plug in Toaster]]
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[[Image:Toaster_step2.JPG|192px x 170px|thumb|left|Step 2: Get some type of bread]]
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[[Image:Toaster_step3.JPG|192px x 155px|thumb|left|Step 3: Place bread in Toaster slots]]
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[[Image:Toaster_step4.JPG|192px x 155px|thumb|left|Step 4: Set desired toasting amount]]
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|}
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== Function ==
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<br />
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[[usability study]]
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== Stakeholders ==
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{| border="0" style="background:transparent;"
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|-
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[[Image:Toaster_step5.JPG|192px x 155px|thumb|left|Step 5: Pull down handle to start toasting]]
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[[Image:Toaster_step6.JPG|192px x 170px|thumb|left|Step 6: Wait while bread is toasting to desired level]]
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[[Image:Toaster_step7.JPG|192px x 155px|thumb|left|Step 7: If you want to stop it early, press cancel]]
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[[Image:Toaster_step8.JPG|192px x 155px|thumb|left|Step 8: Bread pops up when done or cancel button is pressed]]
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|}
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There are at least four major stakeholders in the production and distribution of a toaster:
 
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* Customer
 
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* Company
 
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* Distributors
 
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* Engineers
 
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The customer is only interested in a product if it fulfills their specific needs.  In this case, the users need to be able to toast their bread easily and quickly. This is why they are going to purchase a toaster.  Although the toaster does fulfill their basic needs, the customers also have minor needs that go along with using the toaster.  If these types of needs can be met (ie. containment of crumbs, easy to use, easy retrieval of bread, cool-touch exterior), the toaster would be in much higher demand. A [[usability study]] was done to help identify the specific needs of the customer and understand the customer's interactions with the product.
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The company needs are mostly limited to marketing and finance. They main interest and need is to make a profit. This requires finding customers, low manufacturing costs, and low material costs. This requires the company to decipher customer needs and apply them to their product. It also requires the company to work with the engineers and suppliers to ensure a low-cost product that can easily be sold to stores, or distributors, and thus bought by customers.
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{| border="0" style="background:transparent;"
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[[Image:Toaster_step9.JPG|192px x 155px|thumb|left|Step 9: a beautiful golden brown ]]
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[[Image:Toaster_step10.JPG|192px x 170px|thumb|left|Step 10: Enjoy]]
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[[Image:Toaster_step11.JPG|192px x 155px|thumb|left|Cleaning: remove crumb tray to throw away crumbs fallen in toaster]]
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|}
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The distributors have similar needs to the company, they are looking to make a profit.  Thus their need is to purchase products from various companies that fulfill needs of their customers.  So they depend on the company to have come up with the lowest cost product possible.  
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= User =
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For a toaster, users fall into a wide range of people.  This includes all ages and economic status, but tend to be limited to people who own or have access to a kitchen.  The only major restriction is that toasters requires a user to have a supply of electricity in their household.  
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The engineers are critical stakeholders, since every other stakeholder's needs has to be met by the engineer's design. The engineers needs are to decrease the amount and cost of material used in the toaster design.  It is also the engineers job to design the product using cost and time efficient methods of manufacturing and assembly. Another need of the engineer is to balance cost and design of the product with the environmental impacts caused by the products production/use.
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For this usability study, we sent around a survey and interviewed several people who have interacted with a toaster on a regular basis.  The results of this study is shown below.
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== Needs ==
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* to toast bread
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* low cost
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* easy usability
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* ability to use a wide variety of bread
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== Likes ==
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* golden brown toast
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* cancel button
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* well-defined settings
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* [http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/12/scan-toaster-puts-the-power-of-miracle-toast-into-the-hands-of/ custom printed toast]
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== Annoyances ==
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* bread gets stuck inside the toaster
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* unreliability of toaster settings
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* hard to clean
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* burned sides of wider bread
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* toast doesn't come out of the toaster high enough to grab it.
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= Possible Usability Improvements =
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From our usability study data we have come up with several possible usability improvements:
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* including a cancel button on the toaster to give more user control (already part of our dissected product)
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* have toast lifted higher after toasting for easy and pain-free removal
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* widening slots after toasting in order to remove wider bread products easily
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* allow toaster to fit a wide variety of bread sizes, keeping bread from either not being toasted or being burned on edges.

Current revision

Contents

Product Use

Here is a series of photographs depicting a typical customer's interaction with a toaster:

Step 1: Plug in Toaster
Step 1: Plug in Toaster
Step 2: Get some type of bread
Step 2: Get some type of bread
Step 3: Place bread in Toaster slots
Step 3: Place bread in Toaster slots
Step 4: Set desired toasting amount
Step 4: Set desired toasting amount


Step 5: Pull down handle to start toasting
Step 5: Pull down handle to start toasting
Step 6: Wait while bread is toasting to desired level
Step 6: Wait while bread is toasting to desired level
Step 7: If you want to stop it early, press cancel
Step 7: If you want to stop it early, press cancel
Step 8: Bread pops up when done or cancel button is pressed
Step 8: Bread pops up when done or cancel button is pressed



Step 9: a beautiful golden brown
Step 9: a beautiful golden brown
Step 10: Enjoy
Step 10: Enjoy
Cleaning: remove crumb tray to throw away crumbs fallen in toaster
Cleaning: remove crumb tray to throw away crumbs fallen in toaster

User

For a toaster, users fall into a wide range of people. This includes all ages and economic status, but tend to be limited to people who own or have access to a kitchen. The only major restriction is that toasters requires a user to have a supply of electricity in their household.

For this usability study, we sent around a survey and interviewed several people who have interacted with a toaster on a regular basis. The results of this study is shown below.

Needs

  • to toast bread
  • low cost
  • easy usability
  • ability to use a wide variety of bread

Likes

Annoyances

  • bread gets stuck inside the toaster
  • unreliability of toaster settings
  • hard to clean
  • burned sides of wider bread
  • toast doesn't come out of the toaster high enough to grab it.

Possible Usability Improvements

From our usability study data we have come up with several possible usability improvements:

  • including a cancel button on the toaster to give more user control (already part of our dissected product)
  • have toast lifted higher after toasting for easy and pain-free removal
  • widening slots after toasting in order to remove wider bread products easily
  • allow toaster to fit a wide variety of bread sizes, keeping bread from either not being toasted or being burned on edges.
Retrieved from "http://wiki.ece.cmu.edu/ddl/index.php/Toaster_usability_study"
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