Redesigning a familiar appliance through user research,
interaction design and usability testing
Where I Started
Microwave, Simplified
Microwaves are designed to make everyday cooking easier,
yet I noticed that people often use only a small number of their
available functions.
This made me curious:
Why do users avoid functions that are already available to
them?
As part of the team, I began exploring how people actually use
microwaves in everyday situations and where the interaction
becomes confusing.
A hybrid interface redesign exploring how a familiar microwave
could become easier to understand and operate. The project
began with user research and observations, followed by
persona development, scenario mapping,
interface planning, physical prototyping and usability testing.
Understanding the Existing Experience
I started by looking at existing microwave interfaces and
understanding how their controls, presets and feedback systems
work.
I was particularly interested in:
How functions are organised
How users understand button labels
How much information is presented at once
How the microwave communicates its current state
Where users are expected to remember rather than
recognise an action
I also looked at usability principles such as visibility of system
status, recognition rather than recall, consistency and error
prevention to evaluate the existing interaction.
Talking to Users
I participated in our primary research through user
interviews, surveys and observations.
We spoke to people with different levels of
microwave experience, including a college student,
an office worker, a domestic helper and a senior citizen.
One thing that stood out to me was that people weren't
necessarily interested in learning every function of the microwave.
They wanted to complete a simple task without having to figure
out the machine first.
One response captured this behaviour particularly well:
“I just press the 30-second button multiple times, I don’t even
know what other buttons do.”
This became an important direction for me:
The problem wasn't only the number of functions. It was
how those functions were communicated.
Personas
I translated the research into personas representing different
needs, including a home baker who needed more task-
specific controls and a senior user who needed a simpler and
more readable interface.