NOVEL Rice Cooker

This NOVEL electric cooker is designed specifically to cook rice and congee. For consumer electronics and appliances interface, users are unlikely (usually unwilling) to spend a lot of time reading through a manual to figure out how to use them. They don't have as much patience as exploring the interface of an App, for example. Normally they just want to get some tasks done quickly, so avoiding user frustration is paramount.

This rice cooker is super high on learnability because it only has one control, which is the lever to press down to start cooking. Placing it on a prominent place on the interface increases the visibility. Visibility is also applied on the inner pot where there are lines and numbers to suggest how much water we should add corresponding to how many cups of rice we put. And users could clearly differentiate that the left marks refer to congee and the right ones are rice.

Although according to Ockham's Razor, simple designs are preferred, this cooker's simplicity is a result of its minimal utilities. The lever is not a multi-function control; it only serves one function. It could be argued that it was designed to provide this specific and most basic function, but it does run short of people's needs. While it is said to cook rice, it is in fact only intended for cooking one type of rice - white rice. It can be used to make brown rice or sushi, but users would not know how much water they should put and they would have to measure by themselves. There are no timer, indicator of how much longer it will take, or any other modes of cooking. Users are prevented from doing what they need or want. One important aspect that makes it less worthy to purchase is that although focusing on one basic function, it does not exceed other more flexible cookers in terms of specialty. It does not optimize the usability or user experience on this single function.

Constraint - burn hands everytime, safety

lid is made of glass, not heat-insulated

Overall I would hardly recommend this product to anyone.