Is it a coffee maker or an alarm?
Sheila Crosby / Consumer Products / Usability / User ExperienceI’m starting to pay more attention to how sound is used in product design. When it’s good, I don’t notice it. When it’s bad, it’s all I focus on. This brings me to my coffee maker.
Coffee is a big deal at my house. When it was time to buy a new coffee maker, I was concerned with two main things: how it looked (as it’s the only appliance, other than my mixer, that sits out on the counter) and an auto-start feature. I loved the idea of prepping the coffee maker the night before and having fresh coffee made and ready when I woke in the morning. Sounds good in theory, right?
Well, here is reality. My coffee maker also has an end-of-brew feedback sound that consists of 3 shrill beeps. I use that very apt description because you can hear this sound anywhere in my home. I have this great coffee maker that brews coffee without waking me up in the morning and finishes making the pot by playing loud beeps that wake me up. Huh? I guess the bigger question should be why the company felt an end-of-brew feedback sound was even necessary. Maybe it was a safety feature, you know, in case I didn’t smell the coffee being brewed and didn’t know someone made a pot? No, that doesn’t make sense because the coffee maker has a built-in timer that will automatically shut the appliance off after 2 hours. The auto-off feature comes with a display timer that lights up as soon as the coffee is ready and counts down to when the maker will shut off. This display gives me all the indication I need that coffee is ready.
Did the company say “hey, we have feedback sounds on all our other appliances so let’s include it on the coffee maker”? Or did people really want their coffee maker to serve as an alarm and I fail to see the wonderful benefits of such a design? If my coffee maker had the ability to burn cookies, then I could definitely see the need for loud beeps to let me know it was finished baking. Since it doesn’t, then let’s leave the feedback sounds on the oven and let my alarm do its job. Better yet, if there is some wonderful benefit to having a coffee maker that plays shrill beeps, at least give me the option of making it silent.
With UI design, so much focus is placed on features, navigation and visual appearance. Sound, as it turns out, can be a critical asset or a disappointing user experience.
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Debrah Davis
My husband and I have a Cuisinart 10-cup automatic grind and brew coffee maker. The end-of-brew beeps are quiet and never has woken us. Even several of my friends who are light sleepers did not hear them or the grinder grinding the beans. I have one friend who is an extremely light sleeper. I can’t wait to have the opportunity to see if the coffee maker passes her test.
With all that said, since I do make coffee throughout the day and the maker percolates quietly, I am glad to have the “come and get it while it is piping hot!” notification.
It seems the optionto turn it off would work best.
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