the hero picture of the soyuz coffee machine prototype

SOYUZ

An inverted take on the coffee machine. No hidden containers. All the mechanical features aredisplayed in a vertical, comprehensible architecture.
Setup
Design Area
Tasks
Tools
Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin
Semester Project
2018/19
Experience Design
Interaction Design
User Research, Reverse Engineering, Concept Developement, Prototyping
Rhinoceros 3D, After Effects, FDM & SLS Printing, CNC Lasercut & Milling

Creative Storming

To avoid narrow stereotyping or perceptual blocks, we approached the topic “coffee ritual” with a broad creative scope. We captured the social, environmental, and technical factors that shape the interaction with the matter through Situational Storytelling and clustering our little storyboards thematically.
a gif of different doodle sketched for situational storytellingan image of the group clustering the doodlesa gif showing the different clusters
Situational Storytelling through little doodles to broaden the scope.
Clustering the act of “drinking coffee” thematically.

Spatial Research

Behavioral Mapping visualized every activity connected to “making coffee” in the kitchen. Spatial details, including where the person moves and why helped to identify pain points beyond the artifact of the coffee machine itself.
a gif showing where every step of coffee preparation is located in a kitchen

Scenario

This Scenario visualizes every step of interaction with an automated coffee maker. It shows critical pain points in which the machine governs the user (blue) and presents no alternative other than to follow its commands, such as heating, cleaning, refilling, or emptying. These undermine the user's coffee experience and elicit strong negative and inpatient emotions.

Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering helped to understand the automated coffee machine. We where able to identify importand components such as the heater spiral and the oscillating pump and how they could be rearranged.
a picture of me dissassembling a automated coffee machinea timelapse of disassembling an automated coffee machinea disassembled automated coffee machine

Research Synthesis

The automated coffee maker is not automatic by any means. It is just very good at hiding what it constantly needs. It covers it's inner workings and hides containers and their filling levels. Only a tiny LCD Display orders the user to clean, refill or empty certain components.
a animation of the automated coffee machine as a black box: one does not see or know what happens inside

Findings

The Autmated Coffee Machine is a Blackbox

Its needs and filling leves, i.e. water, beans, grey water and pulp are hidden.

Automation is an Illusion

Automation is an Illusion!One button for one coffee mightbe followed by multiple steps of cleaning, refilling and general maintenance.

Out of Sight out of Mind

Cleaning often gets neglected. Mold tends to build up in dark and moist areas.

The Coffee Maker is King

Demands by the coffee maker are sudden and unskippable and turn the user into a slave to the machine's needs.

Concept Developement

The coffee machine drops all unnecessary components. Its inner workings are revealed to the user through an externalized, vertical structure. The vertical design allows the user to easily follow the brewing process, as the liquid flows through each phase, leading to a more engaging and tangible coffee experience.

Clear Affordances

Easy Maintenance

an animation of rearranging the main parts of the coffee machine into a vertical architecturea animation of how the main brewing unit is easily cleaned
Its vertical architecture emphasizes a clear structure. The user interacts with a component directly to manipulate the machine.
Water, beans, and pulp are not hidden in containers instead are added deliberately throughout the brewing process.

The machine is open and lets its components breathe to avoid mold. Just the brewing unit is easily detachable to clean under water.

How it works

Turning the switch, the user starts the coffee process or steams the milk. It directly affects the valve and water flow through either cavity of the heater spiral. This simple functionality allows for an precise mapping and mental model by the user.
an animation how to interact with soyouz and how coffee is madean animation how to steam milk with soyuz
Making Coffee
Steaming Milk
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