5 September 2017 Christian Caldato
Always keenly attuned to innovation in the sphere of household appliances, Candy has created an oven that has revolutionised the cooking experience. Its name is Watch & Touch: the first oven equipped with an interactive digital screen instead of the traditional glass door panel for looking inside the appliance. This is a highly innovative development that the Italian manufacturer wanted to test with TSW and our Experience Lab prior to its launch on the market.
Candy’s mission is to provide smart appliances that can really make life easier for the people who use them. This is why the brand has called in TSW to study the experiences of people who use a product as revolutionary as the Watch&Touch: certainly, the company wants to discover the reactions of people who use it for the first time, but above all, Candy wants to find out if the new oven concept can meet the needs of those who use it daily in the kitchen.
So, what are the features of the new Candy Touch&Watch? The most revolutionary aspect compared to all other ovens available on the market before its launch is the introduction of the Total Control Screen display on the door.
This entirely touch-operated display allows you to manage every step while preparing a dish in the oven, offering features never seen before. These include options where you can select and set cooking processes and recipes with a choice of customised programmes, or even access video recipes and tutorials that you can watch right on the oven door.
The oven also integrates an HD camera, allowing you to monitor the cooking progress directly on the oven display. You can also view it remotely on smartphone or tablet – all without having to open the door.
Why is this product revolutionary? Because it brings mobile device interactions into a totally different context, changing the well-established modes of oven operation.
Candy, working with the TSW Experience Lab, wanted to test its revolutionary oven directly with the people who would use it in everyday life. This was seen as the best way to bring to light any shortcomings and also any possible doubts arising in people faced with handling such an innovative object.
TSW devised a test in which people could work with the Candy Watch&Touch oven in an environment as similar as possible to their kitchens at home. These environments were then simulated in the Lab. The test participants were therefore faced with a completely new product. We wanted to see how they would interact with it in performing normal kitchen tasks, suggested in this case by a moderator.
The goal was to find out how people would feel when dealing with such an innovation and how long it would take them to learn how to use it. It was particularly important to be able to measure the cognitive load required to figure out the new way of interacting with the appliance, which means ascertaining what it costs people to learn to use the product.
All this was possible through the use of wearable technology such as eye tracking glasses, the stress bracelet and EEG instruments, supported by qualitative analysis carried out through in-depth interviews conducted before and after the test, in order to gather people’s opinions.
The survey carried out by Candy and TSW needed to establish whether this highly innovative product had operating issues or created doubts in the minds of people who would actually use it in their kitchens.
During the testing, Candy representatives watched the test sessions from an adjacent room, watching in real time as people used their product, listening to their views and gathering their feedback.
Hearing people’s views is essential in order to understand how to improve a product and really satisfy end consumers; this is why we at TSW believe that it is crucial that the client takes part in usability testing in order to have a first-hand experience.
Only by allowing target users to try out a product or service and recording consumers’ expectations can we see whether it really fulfils the functions it was designed for.
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