Reconstruction and Refinement

Introduction

The following report is a collection of 8 boards consisting of drawings, cad models, sketch models and more, all based on the AEIOU principle of design. These were made to aid the re-design of the toaster that was used in the first part of the project.

Activity

StoryBoard- Making Toast

CAD Modelling

When looking at users and how they make toast, the cleaning process of the toaster is rarely done and often over-looked. Regularly cleaning the crumb tray will increase the life span of the toaster. By changing the handles on the crumb tray, cleaning could be encouraged more by design. The protruding handle will force the user to unconsciously clean the tray whereas with the slotted design cleaning is not encouraged.

Activity Toaster Concepts

Slimline Toaster

When looking at the toaster available on the market they all have slot side by side (with the long side) and as a result often take up a lot of counter space. With this design the slots are laid out using a different layout.

Toasting Butter Knife

One of the most common used toppings on toaster is butter or margarine. This knife would toast the bread when in contact and butter the toaster at the same time, saving the user time and simplifying the method of which toast is made by using less components. The knife would melt the butter as the butter may be hard and so would be difficult to spread with a normal butter knife.

Kettle Toaster

Many users never have a piece of toast on its own its often with a cup of tea or coffee. This design uses the same heat used to toast the bread to boil the water.

Toaster Knife

There is no need for a toaster but a very hot knife that when cutting a bread of loaf toasts the slice of bread being cut like a light sabre. If this were to be a possibility the time needed to make toast would be much shorter compared to modern toasters.

Topping and Toast

Many users have a topping with toast that needs to be heated up and this is done using the microwave, with this design the toppings could be heated up using the same appliance saving user time and not having to move as much

Self-Making

much

The bread is placed in the waiting sec-tion and using a vacuum the bread is sucked into heating element, as the bread goes in one side it comes out the other toasted. The toaster was in-spired by the dyson fans.

Inverted Toaster

The traditional design of a toaster is changed, instead of putting the bread in from the top, the user slides the bread in a horizontal movement. This design could also encourage the user to clean the toaster more as the crumb tray would be a part that moves.

Modular Toaster

The amount of slots wanted are up to the user. With this design the amount of slots is completely up to the user, all toasters come with an even amount of slots and a user may want 3 or 5. This design could also be very useful for young expanding families

Environments

Kitchens vary in design meaning that some toasters may not look pleasing to the eye in certain kitchens. To combat this most toaster manufacturers use very simple materials and colour schemes so that is cheaper to produce different toaster so that the user can pick one they feel suits the environment the toaster would be placed in. Many would say that toaster manufacturers are playing it safe.

The image board showing different types of kitchens I am able to see why toasters on the market use very basic generic colours so that that are able to match as much kitchens as possible. A trend in kitchens that I have been able to see is that many people are starting to prefer the juxtaposition of retro and modern kitchen design. If moderns colours are used the user would normally accent the kitchen with a retro looking piece. A toaster can be made to look retro and modern so that it would be able to appeal the user, instead of using a fruit bowl to get the same accent in the room.

My early design idea is that I wanted to make a toaster that was easy to repair, as many toasters on the market are not recyclable or can be repaired very easily. When designing my toaster the effect my toaster will have on the environment needs to be considered. Re-cyclable materials should be used and spare parts as well as instructions should be readily available for consumers

In the past toasters have only been designed for kitchen and counter-top use many people including myself only think about toast in certain environments. There is a gap in the market for a small compact portable toaster that could be used on the go. Possible scenarios are camping or going on a picnic

As mentioned before the most common place a toaster would be found is on some sort of kitchen counter-top. Depending on the size of the kitchen the toasters location may change when not in use. In small kitchens where space is needed when cooking the toaster may be placed in cupboards.

The cardboard model was made to give me an insight into different places at toast-er could be used and placed when not in use. Making the model out of cardboard I realised that toasters in the model and all kitchens blend into the background and are not really given any thought other then when making a piece of toast. When designing my final idea I may go against this norm.

Interaction

Being an online shopper for quite some time I never understood the want to go shopping and look at the product. We live in a digital world where reviews and videos about any products can be found. Covid 19 has strengthened my belief in this point. My toaster will be only available online and so the packaging can be very simple.

The bread is released into the toaster section of the toaster. There are many benefits of having a toaster design that can be controlled and implemented into a smart home system. The benefit is that it saves the user time from physically interacting with the toaster and can be done when doing another task. Parents with young children could spend time getting other breakfast foods ready instead of making toast. The area in which the bread slices are kept in the design would be air tight preventing the bread from going stale.

When a toaster stops working users will throw away the toaster as there are many toasters out there available for cheap. If a user feels that they would be able to easily repair the toaster it would have many benefits such as gaining a better understanding of how a toaster works as well as decreasing the individual carbon foot print as many materials are not easily recyclable.

On the left is a CAD model of a normla toaster mechanism with the lever, its not complicated but can be very difficult to take apart as many of the parts are very small and brittle. On the right is also the internals of the toaster but with less parts, by having less parts there are decreased areas of failure and easier to repair. Standard flathead screws with a bolt would also be used instead of security screws.

Toasters all is physical dials to be but in the future of toaster may be a digital interface that will allow users to select the type of bread being toasted and visually be able to see the level of brownness rather than guessing on traditional designs.

Object

In the ﬁrst half of the project the toaster brought was taken apart and as a result a better understanding of how a toaster works was gained. The standard toaster consists of the housing which is predominantly made out of aluminum or ABS plastic and the internals.

The internals of the toaster which that holds the heating elements together are very thin and were not designed to be taken apart as they were used tabs that needed to be bent back and forwards depending on if it was being deconstructed or constructed.

In the UK the toaster as an object is are all the same, they are all made of the same basic fundamental parts and only real differ-ence is the housing and the look of the toaster. 2 years ago I went to Canada as my brother was getting married and whilst staying in the accommodation instead of toasters they have toaster ovens, which are essentially small ovens that don’t only toast but also can be used for grilling and oven use. A toasters only purpose is to toast and does its job very well but the toaster oven is a bet-ter design as it serves other purposes. The toaster oven design is horizontal meaning that toppings can also be warmed up and placed on the bread when being toast, which is a pain point a user of a traditional toaster have

One fundamental part is the nichrome wire that heats up and toasts the bread. This wire is very thin and ﬂimsy making it easy to break. There are many scenarios in which I can see the wire breaking.

There are numerous ways that the wire could be designed and engineered so that it’s more durable as well as being easier to repair. A cardboard model representing a michrome sheet was made and some spare electrical wire represents the pattern and thickness of the new wire design. Having a thicker wire may also improve the efficacy of the toaster as it may take a shorter amount of time for bread to be toasted saving the user some time.

User

There are some users that may not be able use a toaster in the normal way and this may be due to disabilities. A user that has arthritis may ﬁnd it very difﬁcult to use the controls on a toaster and take the toast out of the slots. The type of arthritis that will effects users the most would be those suffering from it on the hands, wrists and ﬁngers. The image board below is a collection of products that were designed for these users in mind. Many users that don't suffer from this disability prefer the design as some ﬁnd it more comfortable to use. This will be taken into consideration when designing the ﬁnal toaster.

A wheel chair user would struggle to make toast if they are not in their own kitchen. A wheel chair users kitchen would have shorter countertops making it easier for the user to reach the intended item. There are small changes to the way a toaster is designed that can be made to not necessarily ﬁx the issue altogether but would make it easier for a disabled user to use the toaster.

For a toaster the average user or users would be a family. The toasters itself is simple and can be used by anyone that understands how to use it including little children.

When doing the collage task there were some parts like whether household pets could have use of the toaster or could eat any pieces of food that are made from it.

Possible Design Solutions-

Bigger dials and buttons will make it easier for people with disabilities to use a toaster com-fortably. Having bigger text may also make it easier to use the toaster for those who are visually impaired.

Pressing the lever to begin the toasting may be hard but once the toast is made disabled users may ﬁnd it difﬁcult to take the toast out. Inspired by the deep fryers the user would able to safely place the bread in the grate system and lower it down to begin the toasting process.

Final Design - The Mayoos

Once the first half of the project was completed I knew that I wanted to make a toaster that was easy to take apart and reparable. In order to do this I needed to simplify the already simple design of a toaster as well as the materials being used.

In my experience with repairing electronics and mechanisms the more complicated it is the more points of failures are present. I wanted to simplify the lever by getting rid of it. The mechanism is not at all complicated but is very fragile, if the user moves there toaster when not in use then if dropped this would be an area of concern.

Instead of the lever the heat dial would work as both a dial and a button to start the toasting.

I realized that the toaster was never designed to be taken apart and would be extremely difficult to put back together. This was frustrating as after doing research the part of which that breaks first on a toaster is the wire from the PCB to the heating nichrome wires. So if a toaster was to stop working and this was the problem instead of being able to repair the wire that would cost less than a £1 the whole toaster would be thrown away.

A pain point that I have always had with all types of toasters is that they are not really designed to toast anything that isn’t a thin rectangle shape. For example, a crumpet falls to the bottom, and the only way to get it out is to use a knife, which is extremely dangerous. However, many users, including myself, still do this, putting ourselves at risk as well as the life of the toaster. As mentioned before, the lever mechanism that normally takes the bread down would not be included in my design. Instead, I am going to use a small cage that the user will have to manually put in and pull out of the toaster's slots. By having this design, it fixes the problems that would be found in a normal toaster and also addresses smaller problems. My father has a form of eczema that causes his hands to bleed when they come into contact with heat. With this design, there is no need to touch the toast.

CMF & Market Context

Persona

Name- John Jordan

Age- 24

Occupation- Google Coder

Hobbies and interests-

gaming
sports
health and ﬁtness

Nationality- German

Location- Las Vegas, Nevada

Thinks breakfast is the most important meal of the day

Materials

When taking apart the toaster I realized that the toaster was never designed to be taken apart and would be extremely difﬁcult to put back together. This was frustrating as after doing research the part of which that breaks ﬁrst on a toaster is the wire from the PCB to the heating michrome wires. So if a toaster was to stop working and this was the problem instead of being able to repair the wire that would cost less than a £1 the whole toaster would be thrown away.

Sustainability

When designing my toaster I wanted it to be easily repairable and I believe that I have been able to do that by simpli-fying the toaster design and redesigning components to be more durable. This was the ﬁrst method in which my design was sustainable the second was the material used for the body of the toaster is used chopsticks. Chopsticks are one time use items and so after use would be thrown away. By re-using the chopsticks the design is more sustainable.

Packaging

If the toaster design was ever to go into production I would only want to sell the toaster online. As a result of being sold online I don’t really see the point of having packaging other than a cardboard box with the logo of the toaster on it. Many people enjoy the unboxing experience of a product but after that initial unboxing the packaging has no purpose other than to take up valuable space or to be thrown away and recycled.

Trends

In the modern day homes are going towards becoming smarter with near enough every device that can be connected to WIFI and used through an app. My design goes against this but a smaller trend is being environmentally friendly. My toaster being designed around the idea of being easy to repair, using premium materials that are sustainable may appeal to the small population that follow this trend.

Manufacturing

For the most part the internals of the toaster will be made using the same manufacturing processes. One of the main changes is going to be the body of the toaster as the material has changed. Compression moulding would be used, in order to do this a mould would need to be made, chopsticks will be placed into the mould along with the epoxy glue and pressed. The epoxy glue will decrease the ﬂammable level. The chopstick body would be ﬁnished with a range of stains that mainly differ in darkness.